January 16, 2012

No, I'm not deprived.


People find out the way I eat. First, they are stunned. I can see the gears turning as they try to imagine it.

If they are successful at imagining it (and some cannot do this very well) they are then amazed. 95% of the time, they say, word for word, "Oh, I can't live without bread!"

I know they probably won't listen from this point on; changing their diet has just, so to speak, left the table.

But either way, they always ask me, "Don't you feel deprived?"

I'm so deprived!
That's a fair question. I answer it with a question.

I ask them, "When's the last time you had bacon? Salad with real dressing? A steak with garlic aioli? Coffee with heavy cream? Vegetables with butter?"

Their eyes start glazing over and they get this faraway look. Because they rarely eat those things.

Those are "treats." They are indulgences that happen on rare occasions. Daily life is different.

Every day, they eat bread, with fake butter. They drink coffee, with powdered creamer. They eat naked broccoli and skinless chicken breasts and fat-free yogurt.

Either they eat things that have been rendered "health-safe" by taking foods that are supposed to be rich and creamy and luscious and making them cardboardy and watery and tasteless. Or they eat things that are already considered  "health-safe" like whole grains and starchy vegetables and sugary fruits that drive up their blood sugar and lead to metabolic syndrome.

I gave up certain stuff, and it improved my health, and now I don't miss those things.

They gave up different stuff, what they eat now is making them feel sick, and they still miss the stuff they gave up.



They are "deprived" far more than me.

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