I won't be your drug dealer

This process of changing my life by the food I put into my body is opening my heart and eyes.  My husband and I joked that I'm "becoming a hippy." 

Yesterday was the 4th of July and we had friends and family over.  We grilled and played in the sprinkler, made big bubbles, laughed.  I had a total of 5 nieces/nephews here and it was great!

I did grill meat for my omnivore folks, but was proud to translate old favorite recipes for side dishes into vegetarian options.  I have embraced the notion of control into I can't stop you from eating meat, but I can offer tons of other options that don't include it.  Everyone had a great time and was stuffed :)

What struck me was the difference in the two sides of nieces/nephews.  Let's keep in mind, neither is perfect.  But for one side, they have a mom who offers lots of choices (veggies, fruits, meat, even McDonald's) and the other side, while I am not familiar what they eat, seem to be strongly drawn to junk (for lack of a better word) and until yesterday did not even know what a fresh blueberry tasted like.  And, having come with their grandma, had brought with them candy bars, chips, soda, etc.  None of them ate hardly anything....a little meat, no veggies or fruit....just chips, candy, and soda all day.  And when theirs was gone were actively seeking more candy from us (and surprised we didn't really have much)!  They were under the care of grandma so, although mortified, I left it at that.

I don't bring this up to judge anyone but myself, honestly.  While I don't agree with what they consumed, this picture brought up emotions for me I wasn't expecting.  I too have bought junk, fast food, candy, etc for people in my life and ate it with them.  And it was my own junk addiction that made me offer it to these people so I had company consuming it. Even though I knew feeding kids I work with cupcakes was not good.  Even though I knew a Happy Meal was a horrible dinner for my niece.  I still used my money to buy it for these kids!  And as an adult that means I also used my influence in a negative way to show them how to eat.

I cannot control anyone but me.  I can't control what people eat.  That's OK.  I've made my choices for a long time.  But this weekend I have made a new pledge to myself and the people I (reportedly) love (reportedly because in the past I have freely given out foods that are harmful...how much love was that?). 

My pledge is this:  I won't be your drug dealer.  I will purchase, prepare, and offer healthy foods.  If there are sweet or salty foods we love I will try to have a healthy alternative or version (we all love french fries, but roasted potatoes are yummy too!).  I will model and support healthy choices.

If I truly love people, I want us all to be together a long time.  There is enough propaganda for the opposite.  I choose life.

As for meat, I see myself slowly pulling away from cooking it for others too.  While grilling up some burgers and chicken didn't bother me, it didn't hold the same spiritual experience for me that I LOVE about cooking.  And if people want it, that's fine...and they should do what is right for them...which to me means they should also prepare it so that they too can be connected to the food they consume. 

So my lesson this week is that I can't and don't care to change people's minds....but I also won't be your drug dealer.  I take control of me and my cooking...for me and also for those I love.  Because I do have absolute control over that.  I choose life.