Mediterranean Miss

I really love food. I love preparing it, savoring it and imagining the things I’ve eaten spreading their vitamins inside of me to keep my skin glowing and my body healthy and strong.

My favorite things to eat are the freshest: robust kale, spinach, creamy avocado and spicy parsley; hearty nuts, rich grains, fresh green grapes, a crunchy apple. I love that the foundations of my diet are essentially gifts from nature. Many of the fruits and vegetables we consume begin as flowers, and as flowers obtain their nourishment from the sun. I’m always awed by the fact that in eating a vegetarian diet, we’re living off of sunshine. How magical is that??

Eating Sunshine

You’ll notice that I use words like “love” and “magic” and “glowing” when I describe my relationship with food, but a year ago my situation could not have been much more opposite.

I’ve always been what you’d call a “healthy eater.” As luck would have it, I’m not big into starches, and would rather indulge in fruit than in junk food. When I left for university, however, college life made following the diet I grew up with difficult. I ate worse – and ate more of everything; I drank, something I never, ever did before; I rarely exercised. In short, I neglected my body, and my body began to change, taking my self-esteem with it as my measurements got bigger and wider.

At 5’4”, my top weight of 135 pounds doesn’t seem like that big of a deal – but to me, it was devastating. I was also in a program I hated and when I wasn’t stressing about what I ate, counting calories, or weighing myself, I was worrying about exams.

In the Spring of 2009, I made the decision that changed my life in the best of ways. I left Commerce and opted instead for a degree in Journalism, where my passions ~truly~ lie. I moved back home (leaving my boyfriend and friends behind was horribly difficult) and buried myself in applications. During this time I went travelling to the Mediterranean, skipping around Greece and Italy.

As always, I was completely enthralled by the beauty of the place, but I was still struggling with disordered eating. I ate secretively, snatching bites out of the fridge, skipping lunch so that I could “bank” those calories for later.. I didn’t enjoy what I ate, and as a result, didn’t eat well. My weight began to drop, but my relationship with food grew more and more sour as I restricted.

While we were travelling, however, things changed. I remember, in Capri, being handed a beautiful bunch of grapes wrapped in a paper cone by one of the island’s market vendors. Immediately my mind went into overdrive: what had I eaten that day? how many calories had I consumed? Was this okay to eat?

As I stood there with the sounds and tastes of the sea all around me and this beautiful gift in my hands, I understood.  What I was holding was pure, sweet, and good. I was in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the sun was shining, and my body desperatedly needed me to realize that it was time to love what I was eating, and to cherish myself.

Beautiful foods to be savored and appreciated

That trip was a revelation as I began to sample delicious foods. I ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was sated. In eating little meals (not snatching snacks out of the fridge), I consumed less, and felt healthier overall. Instead of running, shrieking from fats, I indulged in fragrant olive oils, avocados, nuts and fish. My energy levels skyrocketed, my metabolism kick-started and I began to lose weight in earnest.

When I returned home, I found it difficult to maintain my new lifestyle. I plugged away on the treadmill, which I hated, and was completely uninspired by the food that surrounded me. The American mindset when it comes to eating is so impersonal; grocery stores weird me out to this day. When I was accepted to the top journalism program in Canada, and moved to Toronto, I decided to adjust my attitude again to get rid of that: “you just can’t get it like that over here” mentality. The Mediterranean lifestyle that brought me back to life is just as obtainable here, in Canada.

Today I’m living as though I were still roaming through the winding streets of Capri, or tasting freshly-grilled Octopus in Andros. I walk whenever possible, and I avoid grocery stores like the plague. I’ve discovered a number of tiny organic vendors who are always eager to offer a new product and point me in the direction of their best produce. I found the nearest markets in my area, and visit them once or twice a week to ensure that my fridge is always bursting with green. I savor, I appreciate, I admire. I do not weigh myself, I do not count calories, I do not restrict. I eat the right amount of the right things – the amount my body wants, and the beautiful gifts that nature provides us. Processed foods need not apply!

Here are the things that I wish somebody had told me, tips to live by that draw directly from timeless Mediteranean culture:

• You are what you eat, so eat what is vibrant and beautiful
• Find organic produce, if possible, best if from a small vendor. Get to know each other on a first-name basis. You’ll find that grocery shopping becomes a joy when you’re among friends.
• Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you aren’t. There’s no need to stuff yourself.
• Walk! Walk to school, walk to work. If you’re going to run, run outside.
• Exercise a little bit each day. Do something that you enjoy, because if it becomes a chore you won’t see the positive results you want.
• Don’t weigh yourself. Go by how you feel, and recognize that your weight is a completely temporary state of being. If you want to lose a little, you can!
• Love your body, nature made it just for you.

Today I can honestly say that I’m happier, healthier, stronger and slimmer than I’ve ever been. I owe it to that trip to the Mediterranean, and will always have a soft spot for fresh green grapes.

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