Vegan? Vegetarian? Carnivore? Flexitarian? Raw-foodist? Locavore? Pescatarian? Fruitarian? Bee-gan? Gluten-free?
At this moment, I’m not sure that any of those words could accurately describe my eating habits without someone writing me a rageful email about how I can’t really call myself “that” because I don’t follow it with religious integrity.
I enjoy vegetarian food, but I eat meat too. I enjoy vegan food, but I eat cheese and honey. I love raw food and I love cooked food. I try to eat locally, but I sometimes buy out-of-season fruit from half-way across the globe. I eat fish and tofu; kale chips and potato chips; green smoothies and milkshakes; veggie burgers and grass-fed beef burgers; cashew cheese and cheese from a cow and even things that might be better spelled “cheeze.”
It’s not correct to say that I eat everything and anything though. My diet, more often than not, is in the pursuit of optimal health. I will choose a snack of something like raw veggies and hummus 9 times out of ten above a cookie (or two.) I’m eating way more fruits and vegetables than any other food groups, but I’m not subsisting on salad alone either. I haven’t had any fast food in at least 3 years or even a glass of milk in 2 or 3, though I’m still using other dairy products infrequently.
I just try not to worry about it. I make positive choices about what I put into my body most of the time and I dont’ dwell on it when I eat something “bad” or over-compensate with overly-obsessive eating afterwards.
My diet is still a work in progress though. I’m still learning about all kinds of interesting new foods to try, and others to try to avoid. How I eat today may differ completely from how I eat a year from now, and that’s ok.
So, I’m not really a vegetarian, not vegan, not shunning gluten or praising omega-3s. I just try to eat healthy. I don’t think there’s a word for that, but I guess I don’t need one.
