Fit with Fave (A Shiny New Series About Health)

Right.  So I married Captain Cabbage.  It’s a beautiful thing.

If there’s one thing I’ve heard from women time and time again, it’s that their husbands are a terrible influence on their diet.  Allow me to be the first to admit that, in our household, I am the bad seed.  I’m the one who likes McDonald’s breakfast burritos, has an insatiable sweet tooth, must try every new hipster donut shop that enters the hood, and, until our wedding two and a half years ago, fed myself on a diet of cereal, spinach and egg burritos, and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Favorite, on the other hand, is sort of a nutrition master.  He legitimately enjoys eating healthy food (blessed by God),  loves spending time in the kitchen experimenting with things like “how to make soy milk” and “replace rice with wheat berries” and “almond butter for everybody,” and (AND!) the man enjoys reading scientific studies on nutrition for fun.  That’s right.  For fun.

Me, I’m swayed by celebrity.  It worked for Jillian Michaels??  Maybe it’ll work for meeeee!  I can get suckered into a fad diet or a quick fix as easily as the next kid, but Fave?  Fave wants only the facts.  Fave doesn’t have a clue (I guarantee it, though I haven’t asked him) who Jillian Michaels is, nor does he care about her opinion.  He cares about science and living a long time and not having his back hurt.  That’s about it.  (Well, and me and Faby and Jesus and you get the point moving on)

Which brings us to our shiny new blog series, Fit with Fave!  Catchy, no?  Fit with Fave will be a journey, during which I will relay to you weekly bits of Flavor Fave’s scientific findings as filtered through my completely unscientific brain.  Every week, I’ll dare you to take one more step toward a whole new way of eating, and every week, you’ll decide if you want to go one more inch down the rabbit hole or stop where you are, thankyouverymuch.  Some dares will be food related, some will be relational, some will be just for fun.  Some will require no planning, some will require a big change.  Opt out any time.  Each change will bring you closer to what Fave has concluded is the best way to eat based on his ridiculously long list of wordy sciency studies.  One or two or twenty, it’s all good.

The goal?  Eating heathful, real foods, in healthy, real quantities as the basis of your diet, so as to enjoy the fun part of life (like ice cream and donuts) without having to worry about it.  Because even though Fave could go vegan tomorrow and eat only beans and red cabbage for the rest of his life, I’m a ritual gal.  I need to take my baby girl for ice cream on hot summer days, or enjoy a quality cookie, or bake birthday cakes, or have a hamburger at a barbecue, or try hipster donut places because those things make me happy.  Sure, eating only plants might lead to the longest possible life, but I want quality and quantity.  I don’t want to spend as much time worrying about food as I do enjoying it.  Are you with me?

So.  Why should you listen to me?  Hell if I know.  I don’t have a clue, but I’m passing on what my informed, helpful husband is teaching me, to you.  We will learn together.  For the record, trusting Fave did de-babyweight me in about five months, but that’s just me, and that’s not what this is about.  This is about science.  Say it with me!  Science!  And ice cream!

If you have been wanting to start taking steps toward healthier eating, but don’t know where to start and hate fad diets and don’t want a life without donuts but are sick and tired of worrying about food and are just ready to do this thing for the love of all that is holy – this is your game.  If you’re ready to try some new things and eat like a frickin’ grown up – this is your game.  If you want to make some slow, serious changes to your habits and your taste buds and keep them changed – not for two weeks or three days or six months but seriously forever – this is your game.  If you’ve spent this whole article stuck wondering what the heck a wheat berry is, Fave is your soulmate, and this is soooo definitely your game.

Our first dare will show up on Monday, yours to accept or ignore.  Who is with me?

love.