I know, this might make you hate me.

Skittles, mommy??

I've never been on a "diet," per se, before.  I've been conscious of my overall diet as I grew up and especially during my track & cross-country seasons, and I credit my parents for providing me with a very good example of what are good and healthy foods and being healthy individuals themselves.  My mom cooked us dinners almost every night of the week growing up, packed our school lunches, and never overloaded on the sweets (as compared to many a friends' house).  I think that is one of the reasons why I feel like I've had a generally healthy relationship with food and with body image, and I'm very thankful and blessed for that.

Yet, like I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to a lecture about digestion and the immune system a few weeks ago and really felt like someone--a medical doctor--was really talking sense to me.  And she wasn't hating on certain foods we've all grown up enjoying.  She just simply said, "Sometimes good foods just aren't the right fuels for your body."  And over time, that slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am attack on your gut can cause not-so-fun things to happen.  And so while it's no one in particular's fault (and I'm not really looking for someone to blame, sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles), there are a few things in my diet I'm looking to tweak.  I'm writing about it, because while overall, it may actually be easier than I think to change my diet, when I consider a few of the miniscule details, like sugar or no sugar or milk/cream or no milk/cream in my coffee, I start to panic a little bit.  How will I handle this?  Unlike the rest of my Wiley family, I don't take my coffee black.  It's a pretty caramel color, minus the...caramel.

I've found through life (and through blogging!) that people are more alike than they are different.  There are some things we aren't sure of how to share or communicate in real life or on the internet, but from time to time, as I eventually launch this new diet (I'm still gradually getting used to the idea and still have some more research to do before I fully commit to it), I may blog about it.  I know these aren't blog posts about the chiquita, but in a roundabout way this will affect her too, so you can say it still falls under the umbrella of the chiquita bambina, and our epiphanies along the way!
And just to clarify--this diet is not to lose weight. That's not my goal.  I'll get more into details later, probably, but the goal is actually to heal parts of my digestive system that have been tainted over the years by various things.  This is not a "I-feel-fat" diet, so don't worry. Nobody has said anything mean or cruel to me to make me feel like "I'm not good enough."  /Disclaimer!


I feel like communication and connection are important and help bridge gaps.  I'm the sort of person that when I discover something new, I either a) want to share it or b) find out who else does this / knows about this / wants to do this too!  So, my hope is that by sharing about it, I'll find others who are in a similar boat, maybe a few waves ahead of me or coasting right along or behind.

So, wherever you're at, feel free to tag along, ask questions, make comments.   I ain't no expert but I'm a firm believer in learning through experience.
And you better believe this Carrie Underwood song was intentionally chosen for this post. "Undo it!"

And with that, she tossed the expired Junior Mints into the abyss.