When I was growing up, my dad had a flooring business—tile, carpet, hardwood, that kind of thing. My two older sisters both worked in his office during their summer breaks, but because of my tomboy style and general ability to bro down, I got to go into the field to do repairs and stuff with my dad’s right-hand man, Jerry. If I’m being honest, this was probably the most cush job I’ve ever had, because it was mostly just riding around in Jerry’s truck with him in between doing repairs at construction sites.
Jerry—then in his late thirties—is a jolly, rosy-cheeked man who has never in his life driven anything other than a truck. He is a total ham and loves to throw around off-color jokes to get a rise out of me, but he is kind and smart and has been through enough in his life that he knows that none of the little stuff matters. He is also diabetic, so he always had a black leather fanny pack in his truck.
Jerry eats like a ten-year-old boy without adult supervision. We would stop at a gas station on our way out in the early-morning hours, and he’d go inside to get a Big Gulp, beef jerky, and some Fritos. We’re talking like 7 A.M. here. He would make fun of me for my bag of almonds and I’d make fun of him for his cholesterol. I do feel like this was good training for what I do now. I have heard literally every joke in the world about how dumb, uppity, and snobby vegan food is. I’ve heard it while riding around in a giant gas-guzzling truck blasting the air conditioner on the freeway going 90 mph; I’ve heard it on construction sites surrounded by dudes who were even more rough around the edges than Jerry. I’ve heard it while sanding down a floor wearing industrial-strength kneepads. COME AT ME, YOUTUBE COMMENTS, because I’VE HEARD IT ALREADY.
And you know what? Jerry had a lot of good points. First off, it’s hard to eat well when you’re in your car or on job sites all day. Sitting down to a full meal is almost impossible, and you’re already so tired you don’t want to have to put more work and energy into getting food into your body. Second, you want to eat something you actually like. You don’t want to have a Tupperware full of something that you’re dreading eating, because then you’ll just eat half of it and either end up at a drive-through or running down the candy aisle, guns blazing.
One of the best things we can do for our bodies and minds is to focus on nourishing them. I don’t mean that in an abstract way, either. Let’s be honest, a lot of us have a lot of fear, anxiety, and guilt about food. With all these tricky emotions involved, it’s easy to become obsessive about food, bargaining with oneself about what to eat or admonishing oneself for eating the wrong things. First of all, THAT IS EXHAUSTING, and second of all, you deserve better.
When you start thinking about what foods you want to eat in order to best support your body and mind (you’re on the same team, remember?), you start to feel more taken care of, less panicked, and more nourished.