Eat Living Food

Trying to mother me is making me more aware of how I have neglected me for years. 

Starting with food.

What a basic ingredient in self care.

Give your body fuel.

I don't let my car run out of gas, but I let my body regularly get at or below empty.  

I used to go to the grocery store with a finite list. Now I take a vague one and let the food choose me. 

When I shop the perimeters of the grocery store, I find the best fuel. Live healthy nourishment. Not boxed up, canned up, frozen solid food. I want food that feels alive, that recently came off a tree or out of the ground (okay, so out of the ground then off a truck.)

I try to avoid the cookie and cracker aisle, the canned goods, the boxed treats. If you just don't walk down those aisles, temptation can't find you. 

Recently on a day where I didn't do enough to take care of me, at least I took good care of me at the grocery store. First, I didn't go there hungry. Good call.

Second, I took time in the produce department and felt the food. Squeezed the avocados, the lemons, the honeydews. The strawberries called to me, "Take me home!" So I did. The avocados jumped in my cart. The lemons tumbled in. I can't live without lemons. Fresh lemon juice is like a shot of whiskey in a glass of icy water.

And arugula. What a name. It sounds like the beep of an old fashioned car horn: Ah--oo--gah! Ah-roo-guh-lah!

Squeeze some lemon juice on top, toss on a handful of pine nuts, a little olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper, and my taste buds are happy. So is the rest of me.