food for thought and thoughts on food.

i've been thinking a lot about food and wellness lately, especially after being sick to my stomach for a chunk of the last two weeks (and feeling not-well in general through most of the month of march, thanks to a cold that preceded the stomach bug). and after reading this interesting interview in whole living magazine, with yogi seane corne, i started thinking about both of those things even more this past weekend.

here's a little background info you may or may not know about me: over the course of the past two years, i lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40 pounds (i don't weigh myself, ever, so i don't know the exact amount, but i'm estimating that number due to clothes sizes dropped). i did it by giving up a lot of dairy (i used to be a huge milk drinker), eating healthier and upping my exercise ante. i was also a pretty strict vegetarian from the time i was 20 until the end of 2009, when i reintroduced fish into my diet, so that helped. and while i still don't eat red meat or pork (with the exception of the occasional bite), i have incorporated chicken and turkey again, as well.

i was mostly happy with this until a couple of weeks ago, when i went to a farm sanctuary event honoring the co-founder of twitter, biz stone (this was also the day i met martha stewart). i was really impressed with the emphasis farm sanctuary places on the concept of empathy, and as someone who was vegetarian for so long and who is an avid animal lover, i started feeling a little guilty about so quickly dropping the vegetarianism because of the siren song of a piece of fried calamari (true story). so that's when the change-your-food-lifestyle thoughts really begin swirling, coupled with the fact that my job that feeds me quite a bit of delicious-but-not-always-healthy food on a fairly regular basis.

(before i go any further, please note: i know vegetarianism is not for everyone, and i know that eating meat doesn't make someone any less of an animal lover, by any means. this is just my personal experience, and it relates to my bigger point about health, which i'll get to shortly.)

basically, long story short,  i've been contemplating going back to fish-only, and limited fish, at that, for the last couple of weeks. and then i got the stomach flu and, as we all know, that really takes it out of you. and while being sick was gross, the recovery process has allowed me to rebuild my daily diet. i've been off coffee for a week, and i actually mostly feel better for it -- less anxious, less jittery. i've also had to be really careful about the processed food i'm eating, and while i've had a couple cans of soup, i've realized that soup is something i can easily make pots and pots of and eat throughout the week. plus, it's something i love doing, so why not do it more often?

i'm also really into the idea of being gentle with yourself, so in conjunction with the food detox, i'm going to try to incorporate more yoga, pilates and walks into my routine, as well.

so, what's the end result, you ask? i'm taking a page from jane's "healthy march" plan and a page from that whole living interview and committing to the idea of healthy april, with a big emphasis on getting back to pescetarianism and foods that are as whole and real as possible. it should be an interesting -- and, ultimately, super beneficial -- process, and i'm hoping that by the end of the month i'll have developed some new habits/behaviors that will stick with me for the long haul. (and yes, i'll be completely honest: i wouldn't mind toning up and dropping a few more pounds -- but it's the breaking bad habits and building better ones that's most important to me.)

i'll check in here periodically, probably on mondays, but the theme of our monthly project on little life changes this month is, in fact, detox, so if you're interested in reading more, you can do so right here.

what's your best tip for making healthy choices? have you ever done a food detox?

photo: tartelette