Memoirs of Marginalized Health Advocates in My New Life

By the time I was 13 I was 200 pounds and depressed. I ordered tacos from Taco Bell with no lettuce; just meat and cheese, and sweet cereal for breakfast. I was bullied and belittled by my brothers. By 15 I had taken on the challenge of changing my life. I would jog my hilly, country one lane road in Kentucky before I left for school in the mornings. I would stretch and touch my toes every night before I journaled and slept. I would not be counted out. I would be an athlete. I would be a snowboard instructor by age 16.

Diet and exercise were not a part of any of my family’s lifestyles. Mom always wanted to eat healthier, but dad didn’t support it and wasn’t satisfied with dinners that did not consist of a 85% meat and maybe some frozen vegetables in a pot pie.

Becoming a vegetarian was easy for me. I turned 18 and never looked back. One of the best parts of my life was plant-based and still is. I have found in my numerous health conversations and debates a lot of folks associate good times at grandma’s house with the smell of honey ham roasting in the oven. I was lucky in this faucet because meat reminds me of being bullied, aggressive verbal fights, heckling and all the things I left when turned 18.

By 22 I had began my yoga journey including a plant-based diet. I had gone through a complete metamorphosis from the person I was at 13. Back then I was a lethargic, television and snack food junky. But at 22 I was a rocket ship. I had a jet engine. I would wake up and spend as much time outdoors, baking in the sun, kayaking, jogging, night walks through the woods, go go go. And actually it was not a metamorphosis. I was becoming the person I was when I was a young child. Excited by life, enthralled with nature and animals and the magic of being alive. The person I was when I was 13 was a poisoned version of myself with bad food, and negative psychology. When I shed myself of those things it was pure magic and serenity.

I saw my sister today for the first time in 6-8 months. I would not have recognized her if I had passed her in public. She is morbidly obese, and in a danger zone. She came over to mom’s while I was there to have my mother check her for ticks in places she can’t see on herself. Previously I had attempted to convert my family to my new found lifestyle and “radical” beliefs about diet and exercise. My life was/is so amazing that I had to share. I tried teaching yoga, nutrition and more or less positive psychology. One of my greatest changes was changing how I thought, my priorities and goals. For instance, when I woke up I may have had a million things to do that day but my one thought was that I had to break a sweat that day or my day was not completed. Then, whilst I was sweating my thoughts changed from “counting down until it was over” to “What else is there really to do? I may as well just stay in this state and get ahead for my next session.”

My family didn’t take my change too well. They saw it more as an attack on them, their lifestyles and beliefs and they took it as a challenge to prove me wrong and attack my character if they ever see the chance. They preferred the 13 year old version of me that was depressed and dealt with their abuses in a quiet, self destructive manner (namely with food.) Part of my psychology change was growing a back bone and being able to draw a line and bucking up when I’m being pushed around. I learned that from the Greeks. Maintaining a healthy ego is normal. Being pushed around and never standing up for yourself is unhealthy. Greeks talk about that difference in cultures from Europe to America. Europeans will get into your personal habits. In America it’s super taboo which I am experiencing now. My mother who is in fantastic shape for 63 and who fixed me a flaxseed, spinach and fruit smoothie this morning. She has since divorced my father, and eats all the healthy food she wants now. She still gets upset for my sister when I talk about my sister’s weight. She says “It shouldn’t affect you. It’s not your business.” It does affect me. It affects one’s choices in mates. 5 of my 7 immediate family members are obese. A person marries into a family. Our family gatherings are shaped by this. When I go on vacation I go to yoga studios, surfing, snowboarding, play tennis and go hiking. But with a big family there is always some family event I have to take time off work to go to or I’ll be shamed if I miss and my character will be attacked if I’m not there to put on a strong representation. This is a big difference in European ideology and American Individualism. The individual’s personal choices and habits do affect their family and network. If I bring health food to a work function potluck where few eat healthy then I am cast into a “weird, or different from us” category: resentfully “that perfect family who has it all together.” If I am affected by those choices I reserve the right to make a comment about it if anything just to cleanse myself of their psychology. Normality is subject to the majority, and I refuse to allow someone to shove the Fast Food Nation’s psychology into me as “normal.” The same “normal” the poisoned 13 version of me had shoved into him. Shove it back with a yoga posture, and and Forks Over Knives reference.

Last updated June 19, 2023