Maine: The Way Life Should Be

Those of you who know me, know that I have been suffering through a five week intensive Spanish course to finish up my language requirement. I took the final today which means tomorrow morning I am on a plane home to spend time with my family for the first time in 18 months. So of course the question arises: how will six days outside of my "routine" change how I eat and workout?

My family has a weird relationship with food. I don't think it's much weirder than most Americans' relationships with consumption, particularly working-class Americans, but it is worth thinking about before I leave. My father is huge. He used to be huge and fit--a 3 times/week swimmer at the local YMCA but he hasn't done that since I was 14 and we moved to Maine (where there was difficulty finding an accessible, affordable pool membership). My mom is terrified of water but walks. She's also a public school teacher so she has a job that is relatively active. She had her slimfast periods during my childhood and both my parents went on Atkins while I was in college. Last year, my mom found out she was diabetic, which runs throughout the maternal side of her family. She was able to lose a few pounds (going from a 12/14 pant size to more like a 10/12) and with some attention to sugar consumption, she maintains her health without insulin. But she's never been huge. She's regular American-size.

At dinner, my family eats in silence.

My mom tells people to "finish what's on the table" because "it's not enough to put away". She grew up on hodge-podges of leftovers in a working-poor, sometimes-homeless, single-mom household with french-canadian food (read: meat pies, maple syrup, stuff with gravy and potato). Not a green vegetable in sight.

And of course, dessert is the way we reward each other.

It's also how we know we are not economically desperate.

My family knows I eat differently than they do. I eat primarily vegetarian and have been much stricter about it in the past (a year ago I figured out I was allergic to processed soy products like Morning Star stuff so I have been incorporating more fish and some chicken into my diet). They also know I try to be active.

But the house is small. Too small to work out in.
The fridge is still light on fresh veggies and fruit.

And my dad and I have pretty much one thing in common (I'm a lesbian, he's an evangelical preacher): black coffee. And coffee makes you hungry. And goes well with sugar.

So in the next week, I will work on not giving up but not obsessing. And return in time to celebrate my 28th birthday.