On Life As A Picky Foodie

Dear Friends;

It’s been a bad week for body image in America. 

First, the trainer of one of the popular weight-loss reality shows talked about not wanting to “ruin” her body with pregnancy.  Then, two major networks refused to air lingerie ads featuring full-sized models. 

Finally, one of the hosts of a popular entertainment show touted her “failure” to get pregnant despite a 7 lbs weight gain.  She does, however, do intense cleanses as well as work out every single morning and so considers herself extremely healthy.

I am by no means a fertility expert.  However, due to my personal history, it did all hit pretty close to home. 

We expect things to happen immediately, at the click of a button, a flick of a switch, a snap of the fingers.  But the body does not work that way.  It takes its time – to heal, to change, to create.

A few years ago, I was told that there was little chance that I would be able to become pregnant.  I had been working in stressful jobs for a decade and had recently lost a lot of weight very quickly.  In my mind, I was living a very healthy lifestyle: eating “well,” working out a lot.  I was also constantly on the go, with little time for myself.

Then my period disappeared and the pronouncements about fertility (or lack thereof) began.  My progesterone was low, my ovaries were lazy, my body wouldn’t be able to hold on to a pregnancy if I was even able to get that far. 

I took supplements and put myself through countless tests, and nobody could give me a conclusive answer.  Worst of all, I started believing that there was something wrong with my body.  After all, how was it possible that a strong, healthy woman in her early thirties would not be able to conceive?

I worked out a little harder and became even more religious about my food choices. What I didn’t do was slow down.

When the body is overworked and overstretched, the first thing it shuts down are all the non-essential parts -- like reproduction.  Many people live in a constant state of stress without even being aware of it.  Our hectic lifestyles are so ingrained in normality that we don’t feel the effects anymore.  And when different health challenges arise, we don’t connect the dots, because we have no idea that we are, in fact, doing too much, sleeping too little, constantly pushing our bodies beyond the realm of what will keep us functioning at our peak.

For my part, I did everything they told me to do: I took every pill as if my life depended on it, ate as “perfectly” as I could.  But it was only when I stopped trying so hard, when I relaxed – both in my life as well as my attitude – that things slowly started to change.   

And now, at 37 weeks pregnant, I feel that my body is anything but “ruined.” I know that that tummy will not be as taught as I would once have wanted, that those thighs will get jiggy with every step I take, and I will never be as small as I used to think was attractive.  But it matters little these days.

Because body image is in the eye of the beholder. 

7 lbs is not a switch, or a magic pill.  In the scheme of things, on an extremely skinny lollipop-head, 7 lbs. will probably not make much difference, nor will anything happen overnight.  And I have little hope that someone who sees pregnancy as the ruination of their body will ever be able to grasp what is actually important. 

Just because these camera-obsessed creatures buy into some computer-generated, airbrushed image of perfection doesn’t mean we have to. 

With love and a sincere desire that every woman who dreams of motherhood be granted that wish, and every person dealing with health challenges through diet and lifestyle achieve their goals.

Gabriela

P.S.  As of this week, The Friday Night Dinner Blog is on maternity leave.  But stay tuned for more awesome, delicious, gluten, dairy and refined-sugar-free recipes (and possibly a redesign) later this year.  Thank you all for your support, comments, emails and input in these past few months.  I’ll be back!