That’s so Susan.
“Here” she said. “Open this one.” as she handed me a gift bag with two small hand wrapped gifts in a sea of white tissue paper. I pulled out the first gift, a thin flimsy rectangular thoughtfully wrapped with generous tape. I ripped the paper to expose a generic off white canvas makeup bag with the printed message “Just a girl who loves potatoes.” and a small simple cartoon potato graphic with a smile.
“Thank you.” I said as the smile widened across my face and my heart filled with gratitude. I realized, yes!, this was the perfect gift for me.
I would never have picked it out, but I love that bag! I am a woman who loves potatoes because potatoes reconnected me to my inner child, that little girl who, if I only knew what I know now, would have lived a much better life. That little girl who grew up and was nearly destroyed by life’s biggest lemons. She finally learned how to make lemonade…with potatoes.
My friend saw me in a way I couldn’t see myself. The second gift was just as thoughtful as the first one. A small square block that says “I am just so thankful for all the different ways to eat potatoes.” Squeeeeee!
I never thought I would be so thrilled over potatoes. That is why I never thought to buy anything that centered a potato.
I admit, potatoes aren’t very exciting. They are just a blandish boring root vegetable. Right? But that bland boring root vegetable restored my health. Restored my connection to nature and seasons. Restored my memory as it cleaned the fatty streaks out of my arteries and allowed blood to flow more freely. It gave me energy and vibrancy where there had once been a daily sluggish struggle. It helped me heal my relationships with my children and with myself. Potatoes have also been an integral part of my finding my happily ever after life partner and believing in love again!
As I sat there admiring my gifts, another friend commented, “That’s so Susan!” and I realized how much all my friends really saw me. Again, I was filled with gratitude but then, it was followed by sadness.
My friends saw me and yet they were not moved to try a potato hack or follow my lead. They made attempts but fear prevented them from embracing and thus, benefiting from, a dietary change. It is true, social situations are hard. Fear of change is difficult to overcome too. I know eating disorders, emotional eating and abuses around food control are hard to overcome. We all have some cognitive dissonance around food. Watching others eating and enjoying all the food you used to eat can be a challenge. But not for the reason most people believe.
It is difficult because you know that eating these food results in pain and inflammation. It manifests as chronic illness and suffering. I am well into my fifties and my closest friends are older than me. Everyday, I watch friends, neighbors and strangers struggle. They go to multiple doctor appointments and drive hours and sit in waiting rooms. They spend money on gadgets and disability aids, and try the latest and greatest medical interventions, only to be let down. My heart aches as I watch them ride the hope and disappointment coaster. I have ridden that roller coaster so many times and I know the ride well.
As a mother of three children who were born with a genetic illnesses. I heard about the cure that was coming soon when I had my first child in 1994. After 30 years, all we got was a medicine that slows the disease progression but only if you catch it before it manifests. I didn’t even know my baby was sick until he stopped breathing for the first time.
During that pregnancy, I suffered with gestational diabetes. Despite my best efforts, predictably, it developed into type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, chronic eye and ear and bladder infections, plantar fasciitis, muscular atrophy and loss of strength, range of motion and neuropathy in my legs and feet, a diseased gall bladder, irritable bowel syndrome and high blood pressure.
I celebrate and welcome medical research but, I have yet to see miracle cures. Most of the latest and greatest innovations are guinea pig experiments. They sometimes bring hope and if you are lucky they will buy you a little more time. The cost is your life energy, multiple checkups and time spent getting painful invasive treatments that steal your comfort and joy, and leave you struggling more than before.
Where the medical field shines is acute care and compassion. Most people who go into the medical field are genuinely caring people with intentions to helps others. Nursing is the most trusted profession. Professionals with experience realize they are essentially helpless. All they can offer is words of encouragement, and an arsenal of pills or treatments that bring only temporary relief. By the time they get through the trail and error periods, it is a disappointment that most of the patients don’t recover.
Patients don’t take accountability for their actions and choices but it isn’t their fault. Our medical model reinforces that by not educating people because most people don’t want to hear how they contributed to their own illness. All of us are doing the best we can do in a society that profits from us not having the correct information about our food, It is so prevalent that even our medical professionals are often sickly. Dietary advice is relegated to the latest common trends fueled by compromised industry funded research. The medical model and training supports this facade.
Imagine a world, where we all ate food that supported our health. Where we all reached our highest potential and lived productive lives in fit, healthy bodies. Where we gathered around gardens and share the cornucopia of thy bounty. Where we raise our children on fresh fruits and vegetables and grains and teach them how to sustain their own food supply. Where we can freely move and not be shackled with disability, shame and blame, but nursed back to health with soup and supported in learning how to eat good tasting food that supports our health.
This is the future I believe is possible if we all started to appreciate that little root vegetable known as a potato. Because, that is “so Susan” to want to heal the world.