This is Homework

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING, this is a homework assignment and has potential to be a snoozer.

This week in one of my classes I was tasked with the assignment to explore creativity and answer a question in a unique/thoughtful way. The question on the chopping block is: What is the difference between your choices now and your choices before you started school?

Folks let me just preface by saying I am probably the least creative person on the face of the earth. When I read the project description about thinking outside of the box and trying something new, the only feeling that came over me was complete and utter dread. But thank goodness I had a stroke of inspiration this week and the question posed seemed to answer itself.

The tomato.

I took this picture of tomatoes on a table at the last farmer’s market of the season. They had holes, were dirty, not uniform, and smelled like they had just been picked. This week I was cutting up a tomato that I picked up at Whole Foods. I was so disappointed when I popped a slice in my mouth because it wasn’t juicy, it had very little flavor, and it was not well ripened. I thought back to the dirty old tomatoes that I had picked up at the farmer’s market practically every week of the summer. They were packed with flavor and perfectly ripened even though they didn’t look like mosaics. I missed them.

But why? Why did the dirty old farmer’s market tomatoes put the Whole Food’s picture perfect tomatoes to shame. It hit me. THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I AM GETTING A MASTER’S DEGREE IN NUTRITION! The beauty of the farmer’s market tomato was not in it’s appearance but in the hours of work put in by local farmers to grow it. The beauty was in the raw, organic, pesticide free taste. The beauty was that whatever I put the farmer’s market tomatoes in, they seemed to magically make anything richer in flavor. The beauty of the tomato was that it had the possibility to be so many different things and make so many new creations. Standing in my kitchen this week I thought to myself, wow, I had no idea how much I undervalued those tomatoes.

I had answered the question for my assignment without even realizing it! Nutrition is more than just what you eat. It is understanding, appreciating, and respecting your body enough to value what ingredients you are putting into it. Before I started my program a tomato was a tomato, regardless of where it was purchased or grown. In my head it all went to the same place, so why did it even matter? My program has changed the way I value and respect food and ingredients. For so long I chose to eat foods that disrespected my well oiled machine of a body. If you’ve read my post about Why I Became Vegan then you know that my health took a gruesome beating and paid for it. But no more.

Starting my program was a huge leap of going from simply just eating healthy, to eating consciously and with intent. I love my runner boy, Clay, and I want him to live a long healthy life, with me! So together we choose not to have processed foods stocked in our pantry. We choose to make a weekly produce run to fill our fridge with fresh ingredients. We choose to prepare meals that are plant based and nutrient packed. We also choose to sit down at the beginning of every week and plan what our meals will be so that we can stay on track. It all boils down to us choosing to change our lifestyle and truly understanding that nutrition plays a vital role in doing so.

I appreciate and realize the importance of well grown food. I also look at ingredients and see the potential that they have. This humble ingredient, the tomato, has the possibility of becoming a garden fresh salsa, a spaghetti sauce, topping on a salad, a pizza topping, a soup, a sandwich ingredient, ratatouille, and infinitely much more! Starting school took the blinders that I didn’t even realize I had on, off. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE my program and am so grateful for the knowledge I have attained up to this point. Knowledge can help you lead a better life and educate others to do the same. Like the simple tomato I now have the possibility of turning into something greater.

The End.

Please give me an A. Thank you.