Skip to main content

Fixing the System Before It Breaks You

 

Fixing the System Before It Breaks You...




Let me get this out of the way: I don’t want to live my life counting macros. I don’t want to scan barcodes with an app that cheers me on for logging a “protein cookie” made in a lab. I don’t want to weigh chicken breasts or enter “0.25 cups lentils” into MyFitnessPal like I’m preparing for a math exam. Food is not supposed to feel like homework.

Here’s what I’ve come to believe: our systems get disrupted long before we ever see obesity. Long before the scale groans at us, satiety signals get muffled, gut microbes get cranky, and cravings sneak in like bad roommates. One day you’re eating pasta because it’s dinner. The next day you’re eating pasta because some bacteria in your gut won the shouting match. By the time you’re “overweight,” the system’s been hijacked for a while.

So the solution isn’t another round of food journaling or a diet with its own Facebook group. The solution is to fix the system before it spirals. And that means doing things that sound weird in a world where fast food is normal:

  • Eating zucchini with kimchi and nooch instead of grabbing chips.

  • Snacking on walnuts with coffee and milk instead of a protein bar.

  • Frying green bananas with chickpeas and calling it dinner.

None of this is glamorous. It’s not even “recipe-worthy” half the time. But it works, because it bypasses the apps, the macros, and the obsession, and gets straight to what the body (and those little microbes inside it) actually needs.

I’m not trying to outsmart my metabolism. I’m just trying to stop losing arguments to it. If I fill my kitchen with things that naturally feed the system — fiber, ferments, healthy fats, foods with actual texture and not just crunch dust — then my grab-and-go instincts stop being the enemy. Suddenly, even my weird snacks are doing me more good than harm.

In a food environment designed to keep us hungry and buying more, maybe the most rebellious act is keeping it simple. Or at least, simple with a side of strange. My meals might look questionable. My food photography will definitely never win an award, which is why I’m perfectly happy to clown around in Canva and make the ridiculous images that accompany this blog.

But here’s the kicker: I was gaining. It was progressive. That slow, steady kind of gain that sneaks up and tells you, “This is just who you are now.” Only now, I’ve lost a few pounds. Which means my future self has technically already lost 50. Maybe even more. And if my gut bacteria are cheering me on and my psoriasis is calming down, I’ll take that as proof I’m moving in the right direction — even if I get there one weird zucchini-and-kimchi snack at a time.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weird Sh*t I ate: Cabbage Chickpea Tilapia Bowl

  Weird Sh*t I ate: Cabbage Chickpea Tilapia Bowl... This isn’t chef food. It’s food-now food. The kind of thing you can throw together after work when the fridge looks sad and you don’t want to babysit a pan. A piece of fish, some cabbage, a can of chickpeas — microwave, air fryer, done. Weird combo? Maybe. Doable? Absolutely. Ingredients (serves 1) 2 cups cabbage, chopped 1 Tbsp olive oil (light drizzle for cooking) 2 garlic cloves, minced (or ½ tsp garlic powder) ½ cup cooked chickpeas (canned, rinsed if needed) 1 Tbsp sunflower seeds ½ tsp paprika ¼ tsp turmeric Pinch black pepper Pinch red chili flakes ¼ tsp chili powder 1 tilapia filet Sprinkle of Badia Sazón Completa (or any all-purpose seasoning blend) Instructions Heat a pan with olive oil. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Toss in cabbage and spices (paprika, turmeric, pepper, chili flakes, chili powder). Sauté until cabbage softens but still has some bite. Stir in chic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Firmicutes, Psoriasis, and Me: Notes from a former pasta addict who found hope in green tea, lentils, and a changing microbiome

  Firmicutes, Psoriasis, and Me: Notes from a former pasta addict who found hope in green tea, lentils, and a changing microbiome... I think my psoriasis is trying to heal. One of the larger lesions that has camped out on my skin for years is almost gone. I don’t know if I should credit my diet or chalk it up to hormonal shifts—at 47, I could be sliding into menopause, though I won’t know for sure for months. Either way, I’ll take the improvement as a good sign. Over the past several months, I’ve reshaped how I eat. I drink green tea every morning. I take fish oil and vitamin D. I eat lentils so often that my husband jokes he’s “down with the Lentil Life.” (I keep trying to make #LentilLife trend, but I have zero social media game.) Fermented foods are regular guests in my kitchen—kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, even the occasional Yakult. Olive oil and avocado oil have become my default fats. I eat fish regularly. Red meat isn’t banned, but it rarely shows up. Artificial sweeteners ar...
Post a Comment
Read more