In the spring of 2012, I was inspired by vegan friends and the film Forks Over Knives to eliminate all animal products from my diet. Writing eat food. began as a way to share my journey and hold myself accountable to the new choices I was making in my diet and life. To develop knowledge and skills, I completed a certificate in plant-based nutrition through Cornell University online and began assisting at vegan cooking classes through PCC Natural Markets. What my foray into veganism turned out to be, though, was the beginning of a much larger journey.If you’re doing a journey of self-discovery right, you never know where you’re going to end up. You try a lot of different things and ask yourself a lot of different questions like, what do I think about this thing? Do I like this thing? Does this thing feel right, or wrong? How right, or how wrong? Annoyingly, there are never rarely any clear answers. It can feel like going up and down over mountains. Some days you’re like, “I’m on top of the world!” and other days you’re like, “wading through this stupid bog totally blows.” But you keep going up and down until things sort of level out, or not, but you keep going.
I’m glad that I tried 100% plant-based eating because it is indisputably the most environmentally friendly way to eat and is, based on what I’ve learned, very healthy. But part of my journey has been the discovery that veganism is not what works best for me. Yes, it might be the healthiest for my cells, but I have a soul too, and that part was starving.
In Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats, quoting Aristotle, said:
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” — that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
The way I interpret this in terms of food and nutrition is that if you feel great (beauty) then you’re doing something right (truth). And feeling great has to do with a lot more than how your organs are functioning. It has to do with your spirit, soul, being, or whatever it is that makes us humans with a capacity to enjoy and feel happy.
One of Aristotle’s goals was to find an answer to the question, how can people achieve happiness? His Golden Mean, a place where happiness is possible, is the balance of excess and deficiency. Applying this thinking to the American diet, we tend to find excess in eating only for pleasure and deficiency in eating only for nutrient content. In order to really be healthy–physically, emotionally, psychologically–we probably need to be somewhere in the middle: enjoying the right amount of wholesome food. What this looks like for me is probably different than what it looks like for you, and that’s awesome!
So, to summarize, this is where my blog stands: I’m trying to find my nice, golden mean of food and life. I want to dialogue with you as you do the same. I’ll share some recipes, reviews, and information that I think can help. Let’s learn a lot, get to know each other, and have fun!
xo,
Sara
I want to hear from you! Please shoot me an email using the form on the Contact page and let me know what’s up. What’s your story? What do you want to know? What do you want me to teach you? I can’t wait for you to join me on this crazy journey.
