I remember many years ago when my kids were little, their dad and I noticed how all the kids’ vitamins and medicines came in different flavors. We were jealous that our vitamins and meds didn’t come in yummy flavors too. Yes, those liquid cold medicines we used years ago came in flavors, but none of the other things we were taking did.
We started joking around and imagining how great it would be if medicines tasted like real food. He wanted his to taste like spaghetti, his favorite “comfort” food. I wanted mine to taste like beef stew, something we didn’t have that often that I loved. Little did I know that that dream was going to become my reality years later when I found The Suppers Programs!
Before Suppers I suffered from chronic depression and anxiety. I had no normal sleep cycle and labeled myself a “night-owl.” I used to eat and drink whatever I pleased and never had any idea how my feeling sluggish, moody, wired and tired all the time was related to what I ate and drank. All that changed when I started my Suppers journey. After doing the Suppers breakfast challenge, I discovered my own personal antidepressant in a bowl of breakfast chili. That day changed my whole life for the better. I learned how to cook a few different things that could stabilize my moods while increasing my energy levels. In the first few years I used to rotate those foods. But for the last four years or so I have been eating my absolute favorite ground turkey stew day after day, week after week, year after year. I LOVE this stew! Breakfast is now my favorite meal of the day. I look forward to it and feel disappointed if I travel and can’t take some with me!
When people hear how I eat every day, the reaction is the same. Shock. Confusion. Judgment. I don’t judge others for how they deal with their depression; I would like to not be judged for how I deal with mine. Food is an antidepressant too. The simplest way for me to explain why I eat this breakfast every day is to say, “Prozac doesn’t come in cherry”. No it doesn’t. It also does NOT come in yummy flavors like Turkey Stew.
I am on the receiving end of labeling, comparing and judging for eating habits that others find boring. Oh well, at least I’m resilient because I have a belly full of my personal antidepressant. I am forever grateful to Suppers for opening the door to my early-adult fantasy that meds could come in my favorite flavor.