I was in High School grade 10 and pretty depressed. I was losing interest in my studies. My grades began
to slide and I started to skip classes. I used food to placate myself and I gained 20 lbs. My mom was concerned and always a big advocate of weight management and took me to our family
The doctor prescribed an 800-calorie-a-day diet. I tried the diet because I didn’t like the weight gain. My mom measures my food portions and explained
what I could and could not eat. I was so hungry I could barely function I couldn’t sleep and had headaches. I was already depressed and
now hungry as well. I can remember sitting in our living room with my mom and little sister coddling a cup of instant soup
when I somewhat sarcastically asked my mom if I should eat the noodles. My sister jumped and said “No
no no, you spit those noodles out!!” We all roared with laughter. A much-needed giggle in a dark period
of my life. I had to do something. I went into our kitchen and got a large bowl I went into the fridge and got out all of
the fresh vegetables. I found lettuce, carrots, green pepper, radishes, celery, tomato, and green onion. I
hard-boiled an egg and found some cottage cheese. I used a yogurt-based ranch dressing and topped
it all off with alfalfa sprouts. It was delicious and really satisfied my hunger pangs. I ate lost the 20 lbs in less than 3 weeks. I had been
suffering from heartburn and indigestion and eating this salad healed my gut. I learned that food could
heal you. I still disliked school but I wasn’t as sad. Down the road, I also became aware that an unhealthy gut could cause mental health issues. I will go
over this in my next post.
