A Delicious Life

Diet is such a personal thing. Many people define themselves by what they eat. A steak and potatoes kind of guy. A crunchy granola girl.  Try to change them, taking away the foods they know and love, and they become massively defensive. Because you’re not just taking away their food, you’re also taking away part of the essence of their being.

Add love into the mix, and things can get tricky. Can a vegan ever love a carnivore or vice versa?

“Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won’t, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.”

I remember when I started living my delicious life. I was in transition - just started dating this guy who was really into health food, and I was starting a strict regime of Ayurvedic cleansing and rebuilding. I said to him, “I don’t want to become a vegetarian!” As if that was such a bad thing.

I did go vegetarian for a while - and it felt great for that time. Then I learned so much about eating and diet - and that, for me, vegetarianism might not be the best thing, but not for the reasons that had detracted me from it when I was starting my adventure.

Changing your diet when you’re in a relationship can be difficult. You and your partner start out eating a certain way together as a couple, and life is good. And then you decide that maybe you want to eat better, get healthier, lose weight, or whatever. You’re making a change.

If your partner is supportive, great. It will still take some lifestyle adjusting, but it’s not such a big deal. You learn and figure it out. If your partner doesn’t like this new change, however, watch out. They might try to subconsciously (or worse, deliberately) sabotage you. You’ll keep trying to change but feel torn. What’s more important? The relationship or the diet?

Food has a strong subconscious link to love, said Kathryn Zerbe, a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. That is why refusing a partner’s food “can feel like rejection,” she said.

As with other differences couples face, tolerance and compromise are essential at the dinner table, marital therapists said. “If you can’t allow your partner to have latitude in what he or she eats, then maybe your problem isn’t about food,” said Susan Jaffe, a psychiatrist in Manhattan.

Quotes from I Love You, But You Love Meat found in the New York Times.

I went to see Donna Eden speak Monday night. She was pretty amazing. In her book, she says something like, “My mother said I was born smiling…” and it seemed true - she just radiated positive energy, especially when she was smiling which was most of the time.

I had just picked up her book, Energy Medicine, a couple of weeks ago from the library on recommendation from a friend. A week after I started reading the book, I picked up a Learning Annex catalog and saw that she was teaching a class in a week  - I couldn’t believe it. And it was going to be the only night that she was in New York. I had to go.

The class taught a lot about how to perform the basic exercises outlined in her book and why they were good for you. She gave us a basic routine to do each day that will restore and balance our energies. Then she took many volunteers from the audience, quickly diagnosed their energy issues, and helped them solve the problem through various exercises - tracing meridians, tapping trigger points, visualizing, and using acupressure on different parts of the body to stimulate or calm the energies of different organs or systems.

Her husband, David Feinstein, was also there teaching alongside of her. He is an energy psychologist, and he also taught portions of the class and answered questions. They are both very knowledgeable about energy balance and control. By the end of the class, the mood had shifted from drained and tired to awake and alive.

I highly recommend her book if you want to learn more about how to revitalize your energy, from balancing your chakras to redirecting your meridians to strengthening your aura. Also, check out her website, Innersource, for some very good information about how to solve energy issues (look in the questions and answers section).

tulum 011

My boyfriend and I went on vacation to Mexico for two weeks. We traveled from Mexico City to Playa Del Carmen on a GAP Adventures tour, seeing many ruins and pyramids, enjoying Mexican culture and mouthwatering food.

At the very end, we went to Tulum, the famous Mayan ruin on the Caribbean Sea. In front of, and with help from, our whole tour group, he proposed to me behind the pyramid. This photo is of the moment after I said yes.

Pause today and give thanks for all that you have. Reflect on all of the gifts and wonders of this life. Smile and enjoy the holiday.

Merry Christmas!