[Sugah]

I always hesitate to enter discussions like this because if anything, I'm underweight (5' 5", 103lbs). But that doesn't mean I don't have food issues. No, I'm not anorexic or bulimic. I've always had a very high metabolism, and other than jumping to about 135 straight out of rehab (wheelchair bound, wolfing anything in sight) and being pregnant (gaining from 92lbs to 160 with my first child), I've been 103lbs since high school. I'm now 40.

Before you hate me, consider this. When I'm with my family, cooking nightly, I do pretty well with a balanced diet. I eat the fruit I buy for them. I drink juice. I eat vegetables with my meals. But, I head off to grad school, and things change. Oh, I do alright at first, taking fresh garden produce down and cooking several times a week (eating leftovers on the nights I don't). Then the fresh produce runs out. I go to the grocery store and reject fresh stuff as inferior or something too expensive to go to waste before I can finish it all. I load up on salty high carb easy meals--French bread pizzas and such.

This morning as I was packing up to go home for winter break, my gums start to bleed. I realize that I've been existing the last five days on bread, pop tarts, canned tuna, bean soup and potato chips. My first stop out on the highway was for V-8 juice.

I've got to wonder, too, if my diet had anything to do with the brain fog I've had a good bit of the week. It's easy to blame it on my fibromyalgia, or end-of-semester exhaustion.

So, thin doesn't necessarily mean healthy. I think the quality and variety of food we put into our bodies is just as important as the quantity. Be careful if you're scaling back. Don't cut out the good stuff!

Peace & Love,
Sugah