You have to find a way to eat your greens
If you’re not a fan of vegetables, I’m not gonna mince words here, you’ve got a problem. Because vegetables contain the nutrients your body needs to do it’s thing. If you’re not eating your greens, your body is running on empty, which it can do with amazing agility – for a time, but at some point it’s gonna blow a gasket.
You simply have to work out a way you can get those foods in.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Good news is, oftentimes we think we don’t like something because we had it one time and it tasted awful. BUT, more times than not, that’s just because it was cooked badly, or you don’t like that particular way of preparing it.
Sometimes we think we don’t like it because our child brain decided it was a certain way and we never tried it as an adult to find out – I knew someone once who never ate bell peppers because he thought they were HOT. My Mum just looked at him and said “try it”. So he did, because she didn’t exactly leave him much option and he couldn’t believe how sweet and juicy they were and how he’d been missing out for 20 years! What a gift, good on you Mum.
So whatever the reason, my recommendation is – try it again. Try it cooked a different way, try it raw, or cooked less, like not half to death.
Acid/Alkaline – It’s a delicate balance
Very often the good things take a little getting used to because your body is so acidic and used to the sweet stuff, that the alkaline flavors are abnormal and weird to your palate. These days we eat so many refined and over processed foods, junk foods, quick foods, coffee and straight out sugars. These foods are very acidic and create an acid environment in the body.
Disease thrives in an acid environment, by the way, and the human body should actually be slightly alkaline on the pH scale. But it will always strive for homeostasis. And if it has found a balance, even if it’s not a particularly healthy one, balance is better than nothing. So it will work hard to maintain the status quo, even convincing you you need more sugar if it needs to.
Because, sugar, and wheat for example, are incredibly addictive. They operate on the same part of your brain as heroine, so that’s a powerful pull, and your body will avoid going into withdrawal symptoms, even though the acid environment is not beneficial.
Detoxing can help you rebalance and this is why detoxing is often uncomfortable – you are upsetting the balance, in order to restore a better balance.
Anyway, sometimes that’s why you don’t like your greens. Your body looks at sugar – white, empty, calorie only, devoid of any actual nutrition, give-you-a-rush-for-a-moment-and-then-crash sugar, and then it looks at green veggies – loaded with vitamins and minerals, fiber, chlorophyll and all sorts of things it needs to blink your eyes, and defend you against bugs, and pump your heart and think thoughts – and it goes ‘yep I’ll have the dead white stuff thanks’.
If you’ve ever looked at a green drink and gone “ugh”, or tried one and spat it out, or you refuse to eat your greens because they taste weird – that’s a sign. You are out of whack.
And don’t go blaming your poor body on this one, it’s just doing the best it can with what you’re giving it. Just like a junkie’s body is going to say ‘gimme the drugs, I prefer that to withdrawal, I’m not sure we can handle withdrawal’.
But when it comes to food, you are in control.
I urge you to get back to your instincts.
- Get your body back to neutral if you can – do a detox or a cleanse to find neutral (always get help when going through something like this for the first time, detoxing is not necessarily easy and is different for everyone)
- Try cooking greens yourself, don’t boil them half to death. Prepare it differently, try it raw if it’s something that can be eaten raw.
- Maybe try green drinks instead of eating greens, maybe roast your veggies instead of steaming, or saute them in coconut oil, sprinkle on some cinnamon, or paprika or herbs.
- Or, my favorite, blend up a bunch of spinach or kale, or a bunch of broccoli florets and a carrot or two, some onion and peppers and chop it all up really small and hide it in your ground beef or beans next time you’re making burgers or tacos or bolognese.
Baby steps, small changes, one thing at a time. You don’t need to be perfect, but your body needs you to try!
