GranolaBox

Up until I met the woman who eventually became my wife, I always thought I ate pretty healthy. I ate three square meals a day, and tried to cover all the basic food groups. My salads even earned the “oohs” and “aaahs” of my coworkers at lunchtime. And, despite addiction, high blood pressure, depression and being sick most of the winter, I was pretty healthy.

As a single guy, I thought I was doing okay simply by not eating out every night. Oh sure, I’d have chicken wings one or two nights a week, and pizza when my daughters came over. For the rest of the week, I’d try to make big, healthy meals that would last for a few lunches. I became an expert at stretching out a box of Hamburger Helper. I knew Hamburger Helper had a lot of sodium, so I balanced it out by mixing some real or sometimes frozen vegetables in it. Or I’d have spaghetti with frozen, store bought meatballs and sauce. Obviously, nothing I ate was organic.

When I met my wife she was a vegetarian. Not just a vegetarian, but a vegan. It took me quite a while to wrap myself around that one. Thank God she never wrapped herself around my diet.

I remember a phone conversation early in our courtship in which I described what I was eating for dinner. It was some variation of Hamburger Helper. It wasn’t just silence on the other end of the phone; it was a void… a black hole. When she recovered, I felt the need to allay her fears by pointing out that I’d put fresh tomatoes and mixed canned vegetables in. Her reaction didn’t change much.

When we got married and lived together, my dietary habits starting changing, but not completely. I still had my share of chicken wings, and was still eating Sausage McMuffins with Egg three or four times a week for breakfast. I had however given up the Hamburger Helper.

This winter was a tough one for my health. I started getting some sort of bronchitis in October and it continued through until January. All the drugs my doctor prescribed for me weren’t doing much of anything. I still felt like crap.

My wife has a great talent for pointing out the obvious. This is good because I’m one of those people who doesn’t often see the obvious. Most alcoholics are. At first she drops subtle hints, and then when she knows I’m ready to listen she’ll cut right to the chase. She suggested that one of the reasons I wasn’t making a very good recovery was because I don’t have a very good diet. My body felt like crap because, even with my self-proclaimed advanced nutritional faculties, I continually put crap in it.

Then, just like when I’d hit my bottom with addiction, I hit my bottom nutritionally. I surrendered. I was ready to do whatever it took to restore myself to dietary sanity. It’s been a great story of progress and not perfection since, but I haven’t touched any entree’s requiring powder. Indeed, I seldom venture into the middle aisles of grocery stores. I began the process of restoring myself to dietary sanity.

Comment!

Have you hit your nutritional bottom yet?

Do you have any good nutritional nightmare stories - a’ la’ supersize me?

Technorati Tags: addiction, high blood pressure, depression, Hamburger Helper, organic, vegetarian, vegan, Sausage McMuffins with Egg, bronchitis, alcoholics

Filed under: Food, Recovery on March 22nd, 2007