I know that I talk a lot about food. My entire life has been one great big obsession with food. Fatty, salty junk food and anything sweet. When I bought junk food the wait to drive home to eat it was unbearable. My car was a moving restaurant and garbage dump.

I remember reading an article that said if you ate fast food more than three times a week it was extremely unhealthy. I laughed. Three times a week, really? If I had the money I would eat fast food three times a day along with a box of donuts and candy bar after candy bar! A six pack of bottled (yes in glass bottles) of coke would last two days at the most.

Most of this eating was done alone. I was so embarrassed of my weakness. If I wasn’t eating, I was planning my next meal. When I say obsession, it truly was.

My health reflected my eating sins. I was always sick and pale. My heart was always racing. My mood was generally foul. My teeth slowly rotting. My bank account was as depleted as my health.

Then came Covid. No more going out…I didn’t know what to do. I knew how to throw a few things together. Nothing healthy or even very tasty. Then I found Jamie Oliver and I started changing one meal a week to a veg based meal. Then it was two days, three days and it finally became a lifestyle change.

My health blossomed, my bank account was not always empty, I was not throwing food away and I started to crave healthy food. Now I am obsessed with cooking, stretching my food dollar to get the most I can from what I buy and making up my own recipes. I have embraced prep work and doing dishes. It’s all part of the creative process.

I am learning more about farming practices. About organic food. I know actual people involved with growing food and they are some of the greatest people I have ever met.

I would never eat anything if it wasn’t plastic wrapped and on a Styrofoam plate. Now I eat things I never dreamed of and the less packaging the better. I used to scrub and scrub everything. Vegetables seemed dirty and full of germs. Now I’m not as crazy about it and prep work is actually fun.

I know I have talked about this before. I am not sure why I feel so compelled. This change has changed everything for me. I eat slower and enjoy food more. I don’t waste precious food like I used to. I control what my husband and I eat to a much larger extent.

Meals are planned and prepped. Dinner is ready when we get home from work which alleviates the temptation to eat out. It has centered me in ways I had not imagined. I feel creative and connected to something.

I know quite a few people who would not feel like this would be a positive change. I get it. Having a positive experience from a nonstop pile of dishes would not have been in my thought process previously.

I guess I’m just trying to say that finding that thing that makes you happy and savoring the time you can participate is one of life’s gifts. It could be reading, writing, knitting, playing guitar, painting or any of a multitude of things that center you. Even if you aren’t particularly good at it now, you will get better and will enjoy life a bit more. Find that joy in your life. Keep looking if you can’t find it. Experiment and learn, these simple pleasures in life have huge impacts. Go enjoy!