Feast or Famine: Fully Embracing Flexitarianism

 Dear Reader,

Happy MLK Day! Hope you had a lovely Sunday! You've probably noticed by now, that I'm an almost-daily blogger (sometimes twice a day!), but skipped posting yesterday. This was to honor my son's birthday.

On to today's blog article, which also provides you a sneak peek at my book "Unconventional Trauma Healing from a Broken System/Set of Systems: An Ultra Coastline Experience". (I'm still not 100% set on this title... so many ways to go with it!)

Specifically, this article focuses on my diet last summer. Not 'diet' in the sense of weight loss, but rather ‘diet’ in terms of what I ate and drink, while living in my car, a beautiful white Alfa Romeo. In addition to the experiences below, I was given a few free meals, snacks & beverages and also visited a nice soup kitchen in Santa Paula, CA in April of 2024.

What is The “Flexitarian” Diet?

I've often described my diet as "Flexitarian". Funnily, when I mentioned this concept in a therapy session, my counselor recommended I apply this concept to my mind and encouraged to be spiritually elastic in my thinking.

To further clarify, I'm not a traditional 'flexitarian', in which Healthline.com defines as "a style of eating that encourages eating mostly plant-based foods while allowing meat and other animal products in moderation.' When I label myself with this term, I have an expanded definition. My simple definition is: "eating the best I can under the circumstances, with gratitude." Depending on circumstances, this could mean I am feeling stressed out and I eat an entire package or two of Red Vines or if I'm at an friend's home, I simply eat what they're serving - no questions asked. Or maybe a few prep and sourcing questions, as I'm a curious person, especially when it comes to food! But overall, I don't want to be a fu$$y a-hole, so I accept with gratitude what's served to me. :-)

The summer of 2024 truly tested my flexitarianism... sometimes it was feast or famine. I had one person sending me a grocery delivery every week to two weeks... and let me tell you, I had zero stipulations on what they were sending. I had a cooler, but ice is expensive, so often shelf-stable foods were the way to go. Also, clean water was essential for both my pup and I, so I kept an eye on that. 

I am not exaggerating when I tell you.. I had to use all of my skills and knowledge to date (including my years of studying nutrition) plus acquire new skills to be able to safely feed my pup & I. Even though it got quite stressful at times, I also refused to 'suffer' in my mind any more than I had to - so I had fun with some nutrition aspects, including enjoying a libation here or there. *Story time!*

I didn't consume that much alcohol last summer but every now and then, I would indulge. I had a cute shot glass for my pup, so sometimes he'd join me for a taste! :) One particular day, we took our usual morning walk along the shoreline and found a $20 bill. It felt like hitting the lottery! Part of the $20 was spent on making 'Car-garitas', where we enjoyed a yummy pre-mixed marg inside my car, purchased at Ralph’s. Don't worry, my fluffy companion only got a few licks - the rest was for momma! :-) We played Jimmy Buffet in my car, and took a restful, chill lounge with this tasty treat after a few miles of brisk walking and playing in the sand.

All kidding aside regarding ‘Car-garitas’, I NEVER would have imagined myself in the spot I was: accepting a grocery delivery every week or two, living in my car, sometimes grabbing fresh apples left for a local homeless woman, Vanessa, but I did what I had to do to survive. And wouldn't you know it, I got back to a very fit, svelte figure as I barely ate out, consumed whole foods and did many light workouts outdoors. Very OG :) I'd laugh to myself as I smeared peanut butter on rice cakes, thinking of all the body building competitions I attended as a young girl. My first glimpse into sports nutrition was in the 80s... including 'cut time' - Ha! So a nutrition throwback, indeed. Plus, I share the same birth day (7/30) as former Governor of CA, Arnold! Life sure can be ironic.

May we all work together to cohesively live in a world where good & love wins and no one goes hungry. There’s zero excuse at this point that anyone should go hungry.

*This blog post is dedicated to my friend, Lloyd, who’s featured in my 1-1 book. I met him in June of 2023 and he kindly thanked me for my mental health content published on my website, emphasizing I really woke him up. We enjoyed a few, friendly meals after our initial meeting in Palo Alto, where we both volunteered our time at the Byxbee 5k. Llyod is a strong kindred spirit connection and over the many hours we spent discussing topics, both nutrition and brain health (which are incredibly related) were our top two! I had to laugh out loud when he asked if I was bringing a massage therapist or medical doctor as part of my crew for the 2023 Hawaii Ultraman Worlds event. He played football for the University of Miami and told me his athlete days were far behind him... humbly mentioning he wasn’t like “me” as an athlete, though, even in his younger years. As kind as his comment was, I said responded: “Llyod, I’m no pro!” (Nor did I have that much expendable funds available for a race!) But wouldn’t a crew like that be nice? Funnily, during my healing period over 2023-2024, I met many massage therapists who could be right for that job, should I ever find myself competing in ultra long-distance events again.

With Aloha, 

Heidi