From a young age I’ve had a particular opinion about food, or rather, a very particular opinion about the few foods that I would eat. This posed some challenges for my adventurous eater parents who wanted to expose me to “culture” and “the good stuff” but they managed by just pouring loads of ketchup over whatever new thing I tried.
I was underweight so I could get away with eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and however much I wanted until I reached the third grade. Suddenly, I started to get bigger even though I was eating the same quantity of food? I was so confused. There were a few years when I could abandon my inner thoughts about food and just eat whatever but by the time I was in seventh grade I became obsessed with fad diets. I would do weeks long cleanses, limit my calorie intake, and even go on a plant based diet simply to lose weight.
No food could change my desire to look a certain way. For nearly 5 years I constrained myself to eating peanut butter and nature valley bars to prevent that fat 13 year old from emerging again. I challenge myself to eat 3 whole real meals a day of food I actually like. It’s definitely a weird adjustment but I’m slowly putting on weight as well as taking in all that Houston has to offer in terms of cuisine.