Happy Ridvan!!!

Arlene's Ridvan Message

Good morning, everyone. One year ago I attended the observance of Ridvan at my friends Jay and Kristina's home and came home resolving to adopt a whole-foods, plant-based diet. I remain completely convinced that this is the only and best way to maintain physical and mental health. Every conviction requires two parts: belief, and obedience. In obedience, I have failed.

So, how did my year go? I came home wondering, if I stop eating meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt and ice cream, what on earth was I going to eat? No more grilled cheese or quesadillas or stew or hamburgers or pizza or cheese and crackers or . . . omigosh. I literally was terrified. For two weeks I ate stir-fry with beans or tofu; then I ate lentils. Then I obtained a terrifically expensive set of pressure cookers [Kuhn-Rikon, the best in the world] and learned to soak beans overnight, then cook them in ten minutes in the pressure cooker. I steamed roots and ate a lot at Ruby Tuesday, Thai food, and the dreaded veggie burger.

In short, I learned to cook. If I stayed in my home and cooked, and if I shopped at the Natural Foods section at Fred Meyers and the produce stands, and lived in a stress-free vacuum [that would be too dusty for me], I would have no problems staying with a plant-based, whole-foods diet.

The one major thing I have learned in this year, especially from taking a college Nutrition program online from eCornell, is that I do not need to eat any foods from animals to be completely healthy and happy.

However, in practice I strayed away. I kept craving burgers. Not because there is anything nutritional in them that I need, but because I missed the taste, the texture, the rush of the first bite, the warmth of the sandwich, and the perception that someone besides me was cooking for me [even poorly paid stressed out teenagers] and it relieved my anxiety with a burst of pleasure to the brain.

I missed the fellowship of partaking of whatever foods were provided in social gatherings. I missed the flexibility of eating whatever was available in convenience food restaurants or wherever I was passing by when hungry. I hated to draw a line in the sand: I am this but not that. Labeling myself a vegetarian or a vegan.

So, this is how I am one year later: call me a Selective Eater. Sometimes I select what is healthy and sometimes I don't.

Happy Ridvan.