Gluttony or “Just Living”?

This weekend was definitely gluttony.

Disclaimer: If you are struggling with disordered eating, I ask that you please read with caution or not read this post at all. Please take care ♥︎ 

But let’s talk about guilt over gluttony in the context of recovering from an eating disorder. I’ll start with a little fact about myself:

Before I developed disordered eating habits, I experienced guilt over eating more than I thought I should, because I felt that I was being selfish if I ate to the point of satiation. What about all the children my age who have nothing to eat for dinner tonight? My parents shut that down really quickly, but this is a real sentiment that I had when I was younger.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s prudent and good to avoid gluttony and to be mindful of our brothers and sisters who have less to eat than us. However, I know from experience that there can be uncertainty between two thoughts during recovery:

“Am I eating all this for the sake of recovery?”

vs.

“Am I just being gluttonous?”

I am neither a dietitian nor a priest, but I do know that “gluttony” is necessary for recovery from an anorexia-type eating disorder. I put “gluttony” in quotation marks because eating a lot— an amount greater than you feel like eating—during recovery from an anorexia-type eating disorder is essential for healing the mind and body. It is the only way to get yourself to reach a healthy weight and challenge restricting behaviors.

(This doesn’t mean eating until you get sick, but many of you probably understand what I mean.)

So what happens once you are completely recovered (or even 99.9% recovered)? Personally, I believe I am well past the point of “eating more food for the sake of my health”. If I eat more than I think I should at this stage of my life, it’s probably unnecessary. But am I gluttonous or “just living”? 

I think it can be argued that “just living” involves a little bit of gluttony. Most of us don’t need that extra drink or dessert, but those extra treats that put us a little over the top can be good for our mental health and social experience.

According to Google, gluttony means “habitual greed or excess in eating”. I certainly believe that eating more than you really need is not a terrible thing every now and then (if you are at a healthy stage in life). However, for ME, once it becomes habitual — once excess eating becomes…excessive — that is where I’d say I’m being a little bit gluttonous.

This is a self-reflection. I do not mean to speak for anyone else! But I’m curious to hear if anyone has similar reflections.

So let’s look at the amount of food my family and I ate this weekend.

Friday Night

Dinner at Shiki with our family friends.

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some bites of my parents’ yakitori

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squid appetizer for everyone to share

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gigantic mussels for everyone to share as well

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sushi for me!

Saturday

Back story: We and our family friends are HUGE foodies, and for whatever reason, it’s a tradition for us to go into NYC and do a “food crawl” to many different food vendors. Rule: We must walk.

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light breakfast (light for my standards): Greek yogurt with half a banana, cinnamon, nutmeg, blueberries, and pb

First stop: Chelsea Market! Also known as the land of “I can’t choose what to eat.”

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We all parted ways and bought our own dishes before reconvening, but we also shared a bunch of things. Many little bites here and there!

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little bites of a couple kinds of doughnuts from Doughnuttery — delicious!

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one of my favorite bites of the day: ginger pecan pie

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egg, ham, cheese, scallion corn muffin — totally up my alley

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Ben’s Mexican plate with cactus and beef

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I couldn’t even finish my salad after bites of all the other things!

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After Chelsea, we walked uptown towards Broadway via High Line for a more scenic route. The weather was overcast, cool, and absolutely perfect!

We watched a matinee of Book of Mormon, which is a pretty esteemed musical. It was definitely hilarious, but it was also so vulgar and blasphemous that every time something funny happened, all I could do was stare with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. I may have smiled too.

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I do appreciate it as a musical, however. The music is super catchy and the acting was phenomenal.

We headed over to Koreatown for our post-show/pre-dinner snack. Madre and Pop suggested a Korean food court called Food Gallery 32.

I had a bite of taiyaki, which is a pastry shaped like a fish, stuffed with red bean paste. Fresh out of the iron, this thing was FANTASTIC. Crisp exterior, gooey interior, rich filling.

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Colby, you’d love this.

Plus a sip of Ben’s taro bubble tea.

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Dessert before dinner (but don’t worry, we ate dessert after dinner too).

My uncle made reservations for us at Momofuku Nishi, a trendy, modern Japanese restaurant.

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#minimalist

We were basically sitting on wooden boxes, but I wasn’t mad about it.

Family style all day!

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cold shanghai noodles

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some magical fried chicken

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butter noodles that tasted cheesy but weren’t actually cheesy

Then there was this “Impossible Burger” that we split into eight little pieces.

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Perhaps you are asking, “What the heck is this sad looking burger doing at an upscale Japanese restaurant?” Well, the burger is vegan (the patty at least). But it 100% looks and tastes like meat. Hence, the “Impossible” Burger.

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The only wow factor was that it was vegan, because otherwise, it just tasted like a really mediocre fast food burger with subpar french fries.

The main event was this 10 lb. pork roast that my uncle had to order ahead of time for our party of seven.

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the bone literally slid right out

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Ben rolling up the sleeves

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We ate it in lettuce wraps with many delicious condiments, herbs, and sticky rice. There was a good amount of meat that we got to take home for leftovers! It was a heavenly piece of meat.

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Then it was time to walk our way to dessert. Our family friends stopped at Momofuku Milk Bar to pick up some cookies to go. Then we headed to Van Leeuwen ice cream. On our way though, we got distracted by a place called Snowdays, which sells “shaved cream”.

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It’s a frozen block of cream that is shaved. My aunt shared her black sesame shaved cream with coconut and mochi with all of us. Pretty unique! It’s like ultra light ice cream.

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Had to take a picture for ol’ Disney Channel’s sake. Did anyone else watch Wizards of Waverly Place?

Finally, Van Leeuwen. Ben and I shared three scoops (I was greedy. We definitely should have just gotten two scoops). I chose ginger, honeycomb, and vegan banana nut. They were all so good! I couldn’t choose a favorite.

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Obviously, humans don’t need this much food (unless you burn calories like Michael Phelps). I did feel gluttonous (especially with that ice cream at the end), and I do not condone eating like this every day of course, but it happened, it was a wonderful time with family, and I am grateful for all the food.

So tell me:

Have you ever struggled with discerning gluttony vs. “just living”?

Have you ever done a “food crawl”?

What are you doing today? Happy Labo(u)r Day!!! 

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Five Minute Friday #13: The Trait I Value Most in People

Upside: It has been utterly GORGEOUS this week!

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morning workout with Rachel yesterday // she’s so stretchy

Downside: I could use more sleep. I know this because a) I’m nodding off in lectures more this week than ever before; b) I’ve been kinda out of it from 2-4pm every day (what I call my “dead period”); c) There are times when I want to do something (eat? exercise? talk to someone? dance?), but I have no idea what to do with myself to satisfy that urge.

Answer: SLEEP.

I also need to go on a social media cleanse this weekend, mostly because I need to buckle down and focus academically. On schedule this week: 2 exams, 1 paper due, 1 project due, and 1 lab exam.

Other upside: My family friends + Mom took me out to dinner on Wednesday night at the best Asian food court in Boston.

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Mom: “Alison do you want a taro bubble tea?” // Me: “No…but I know you do.” ← how she gets me to share a bubble tea with her.

REAL BIG UPSIDE: THIS DISNEY ORIGINAL MOVIE MARATHON AT THE END OF MAY. It’ll be one of the best birthday presents a girl could ask for.

Five Minute Friday time! (My brain cannot make this post coherent, I’m sorry.) This week is about the trait I value most in people, inspired by this post!

link to the video!

Hope you all have a rockin’ weekend!

So tell me:

What is the trait you value most in another person?

What is the trait you find most attractive in another person?

Do you have a “dead period” during the day when all you want is a nap?

What are you doing this weekend? Work, spring formal, SafeTalk training for suicide prevention, possibly an a cappella concert, HOMEWORK/STUDYING, Mass, and hopefully catching some extra zzz’s.

Is Boston Home Now?

Monday funday! (ha.)

We’re back to the grind here at Boston University, and I’m kind of happy about that. Although we only drove back and forth between Boston and New York, I felt wonky and jet-lagged back at home. When I arrived back in Boston last night, I couldn’t help but feel like BU was “home.” It’s where I have a routine, most of my belongings that I use on a regular basis, lots of friends, work, school…

It’s just weird to think that I’ve become attached to Boston already. I don’t know how I feel about that, but I’m just goin’ with the flow.

Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time in New York as I got to take naps, cook, eat some scrumdiddlyumptious breakfasts, and see family and friends again. I didn’t see everyone I wanted to see, but five days goes by a lot more quickly than you would think! My first reunion was with my fellow former dance company member, Susie! We caught up on life over some dang good peppermint tea. The tea warmed my belly as the conversation and company warmed my heart. ♥ {it’s easy being cheesy}

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It’s also easy being green. I thoroughly took advantage of the avocado toast, green smoothies, and brussels sprouts at home. Mm mm good.

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My favorite smoothie: Amanda’s oatmeal cookie dough smoothie with spinach added

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Oh and Madre’s cooking hit the spot every single time.

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She’s my hero.

On Friday I met up with the one and only “core four” for breakfast at the exact same restaurant as where we said our goodbyes before going off to college. How precious!

I ate a huge meal there because I was hungry and it was delicious. I had a big, fat Greek omelet that included spinach, tomatoes, and feta. It came with breakfast potatoes and whole wheat toast, and I pretty much housed all of it. I don’t play when it comes to my favorite meal of the day.

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Later on Friday night, I found this idea of placing leftover stuffing + egg in waffle maker. B.r.i.l.l.i.a.n.t. (I have no idea why I put periods in between each letter there, but I already did it. So be it.) But seriously, which one of you stuffing lovers wouldn’t absolutely adore crispy-on-the-outside stuffing in the shape of a waffle??

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C’mon now.

And if you don’t have a waffle iron, I would still approve of stuffing muffins. The real goal is to just maximize the surface area of crispiness.

I saw Daliza on Saturday and it didn’t even feel like a reunion because of her epic surprise two weeks ago. But we had a lovely time together as we always do! We don’t even need to take a picture together for proof. 😉

Sunday morning breakfast. Amanda’s banana bread breakfast bake OMG DO IT.

Then Sunday came and it was time to drive back up to Boston in some dreadful traffic. We rewarded ourselves with rockin’ ramen and bubble tea once we arrived after the 5.5 hour drive though!

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I miss home in New York, but I’m happy to be back in Boston, and I’m torn as to which place I really want to be at right now. Home is where I’m with people who make me smile and thrive, so I guess I am blessed to say that both NY and Boston are my homes.

I hope you all have a marvelous day! Hug a bunch of people…just because.

MiMM

Linking up with Katie!

So tell me:

One thing you did this weekend!

What is your favorite green food at the moment?

How did you use up some of your Thanksgiving leftovers?