Foodie

noun Slang.
a person keenly interested in food, esp. in eating or cooking.
Origin: food + -ie, perh. in part extracted from junkie

Ok, I was born to be a foodie...not in a good way... more like the junkie part of the definition. I was sent to my first diet group at 10 years of age. This has definitely been a life long issue. In fact my mother's milk dried up on a trip across the Atlantic by military transport heading to New York, so they fashioned a baby bottle out of a soda bottle and a nipple made out of the tip of a rubber glove.

I have been on various diets, tried virtual every synthetic food out there and have lost vast amounts of weight...not all in a good way.

But the last year has been the best adventure of my life. I have spent the time looking at what I am eating and why. This past year I have purged every last diet food out of my life...no more snack bars, baked chips, frozen diet meals, fat free this or that. I have also given up filler foods...I no longer purchase vast amounts of popcorn, rice cakes, crackers that taste like cardboard....which now leads me to my next adventure.

How to fall in love with food. How to not look at every bite I take as the enemy.

First, I have done research. Watched documentaries called, "The Future of Food", "King Corn", and "Eating for Optimum Health." Lots of reading material including, "The Omnivore's Dilemma." All of which have given me food for thought! I can't suddenly call on my French genes to eat small portions with love in my eyes but I can start looking at food differently...as a good friend.

Next step, I cleaned out my house of as much processed food as possible. This part proved to be labor intensive because I had to read all the labels to get down to those things that have 3 or less ingredients and preferably organic. I was on the path of purging chemicals out of my body. It is truly amazing at the changes in your bodily functions when you stop putting chemicals in it on a daily basis. I endeavored to decrease the amount of corn syrup, corn by product and corn crap in my body....truly corn is in everything. There is nothing wrong with a sweet ear of corn but do you want your body chemistry to be predominately corn.

With the change, came the move to try and go totally whole foods, as local as possible. It truly is expensive, challenging and a goal....oh and how I know myself and goals...

The best part...I am enjoying my meals.