Day 9

Doing SO much cooking gives you a lot of time to think. And I’ve been surprised this week about how, as I’ve been chopping away, my thoughts have turned to my mom. My mother died suddenly and unexpectedly when I was 22. I’ve been thinking a lot about what she would say if she were here, what she’d think of this crazy diet.

The way we’re eating now is 100% opposite of how I grew up eating. Processed foods comprised much of my diet. I ate (flavored) instant oatmeal for breakfast, PB&J sandwiches for lunch, and cookies for an after-school snack. My mother was not a cook. She would prepare our dinners, but they would usually consist mostly of foods that came out of a box or a can. She did not experiment. She made what we would eat. She tried to sneak a vegetable in, but “the vegetable” was usually corn or potatoes. We never ate salad. Never.

I say this not in criticism of my mother, but in reflection. She knew so little about nutrition and I’m sure she never really considered that she was doing any harm with the way she fed us. I was watching a TED talk the other day, and the speaker said something along the lines of, “I was just a mom, feeding my kids from the grocery store. I always assumed that if it was on the grocery store shelves, it must be safe.” I am certain that my mother thought the same.

But, as Oprah says, when you know better, you do better. Or at least you try. This 30-day experiment we’re doing is a great crash course in nutrition, time management and kitchen skills. But it’s not sustainable. There has to be some sort of compromise between optimal health and convenience. Moms need convenience, too. So I’m already starting to think about what it’s going to look like next month. What do I want to continue, where do I want to make exceptions. I guess I have 21 days to figure that out.

For now I’m just going to keep at it, believing that my mother would be proud of me. Caring for her family was her priority, and it’s the greatest attribute she passed on to me.