Calories eaten Thursday: 1690Fat: 74g (41%)
Carbs: 53g (13%)
Protein: 117g (29%)
Calories burned in exercise: 254
Calories eaten Friday: 1701
Fat: 69g (39%)
Carbs: 57g (14%)
Protein: 99g (25%)
Calories burned in exercise: 119
I hope my pastor doesn't read this. I am a bit upset with his wife, Becky. I know I am the black sheep in the church. I am no matter where I go. I wasn't raised with good hygiene habits or anything else. Learning them as an adult is difficult and sometimes impossible. I am the definition of white trash.
But where the problems at church really occur is over my diet. They can seem to eat carbs without worry, but I can't. (Come to think of it, Becky does seem to have a roll around her middle. It startled me when I noticed it with a certain dress she wore a few weeks ago.) If I bring food it is sometimes ignored because the church folks don't want anything low-carb. I think they figure it couldn't taste good. And if I bring my own meal I get strange looks - even if I also brought a dish to share.
This is not the first time this has happened. It's happened anytime I've brought food for myself that they think looks good.
But yesterday just beat all. I brought sugar free chocolate cheesecake to share (photo to the right; click to enlarge it). It went over pretty well. Because I wasn't bringing a main dish, and there is often nothing I can eat (or very little), I also brought a slice of flax bread I had made, and some strawberries. Someone commented that I had strawberries and I said yes, I'd brought them from home. Becky held up a pot sticker with her fork (one of the potluck offerings yesterday) and said she had brought those from home; the implication I got was that I should have brought enough strawberries to share. Um...I brought a cheesecake and it's sitting on the potluck table and you are welcome to some, Becky. Jeez. I'm sorry I can't eat the pot stickers, french fries, and chicken nuggets and all the other bad food. I brought strawberries for myself. You have high carb, high fat food on the potluck table to eat.Oh...as it turns out the only other food on the potluck table I could eat was some raw veggies with Ranch dressing that Becky brought. I had some, but I eat so many veggies during the week that they didn't interest me too much. Saturday is my day to relax my diet just a bit.
I never get "that" look when I bring a shake or the flax bread because they think that's nasty food. It couldn't possibly taste good so they don't want it. But oh no - if I bring strawberries I'm suddenly evil because I didn't bring enough for everyone. I try to "fit in" by bringing something to share and I still get "that" look because I have to bring my own food, too. I know I don't live up to your expectations, Becky, but I never will. I can't. I am me, with all of my past, baggage, and blue hair. I will never be the "good little Christian girl" that so many church folks think I should be, and I don't want to be. I want to be ME.
See the name of my blog? I am a carbohydrate addict. I love carbs, but they don't love me back. Please respect that I sometimes have to bring my own food without giving me that you-should-have-brought-enough-for-everybody look, especially when I brought an "enough for everybody" dish that is sitting just feet away!
Technorati tagged: atkins, diet, atkins diet, low carb, weight loss, health, health and wellness, obesity, obese, overweight, fat, exercise, fitness
5 comments:
From one black sheep to another ... keep up the fight!
Dunno why it is, but *I* don't fit in in church either. We are both very templates of the lost sheep. We don't fit in with the rest of the flock, but it is for folks just like us that Jesus will leave the ninety and nine to save the one.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
This little black sheep commiserates with you too. Only, I tend to dye my hair in shades of red that rival the autumn leaves in your background. ;)
I hear you on the potluck food issue. Oh, the sinking familiarity of the problem. I have noticed that a lot of people think that a lifestyle dedicated to being intentional about food and health is eccentric at best--diseased and abhorrant at worst. This really confuses me.
Amazingly similar story: I once brought a little cup of pomegranite and pumpkin seeds to a potluck--for me--because, well, you know. That look got flashed at me a lot--as if they ever actually eat such seeds as side dishes rather than condiments (if they ever eat them at all), and as if not sharing them were some horrible social crime. I brought the green salad to share. And their food wasn't Lira-edible. The fruit salad had a cream sauce all over it and no one brought a veggie platter (which surprised me). And the hot foods--if it wasn't a meat entree outright, it was breaded, battered or noodled into oblivion. All empty carbs, eggs, butter, and fying oil. Yum yum.
Would they prefer that we just sit there not eating anything in their presence? Surely eating a meal together is an act of fellowship as much as an act of hunger appeasement. And heaven forbid that anyone should think to bring something that might accomodate the needs or preferences of known black sheep amongst the flock. This can be done, with gracious humor and love; my reading group is learning to do this for me and it makes me feel like I really belong among them. But of course, we can't be the ones to suggest such kindness. That would be another social blunder, wouldn't it?
*sigh*
All this to say: I understand.
And your cheesecake looks divine.
Lira said:
Would they prefer that we just sit there not eating anything in their presence?
Actually, I think they would prefer that. Eating with them only highlights that we eat very differently (and healthier) and I think that's something many people don't be reminded of.
*nods*
That is so sad, though.
Additional comment:
My wife, Susan, was invited to a church tailgate last Sunday.
She's diabetic. They offered her fried chicken.
*Sigh* let's face it ... although church has many good things going for it, in food it reflects the world. And not even the good world, oh no, it reflects the world of 1955, where white bread, artificial soda, and fried chicken are good, wholesome things to be consumed all the time at every church function.
Dunno about you, but quite a few elders and pastor types are considerably overweight. It doesn't speak well for their self-control. And these are the same people who will happily accuse you of being a drunk if you are not a teetotaler.
American church. Wildly strange expectations. Sin all you like as long as it's the "right" sin. But pick the wrong one and we're on you like a ton of bricks.
Sadly,
Brian P.
Post a Comment