Obey My Blog

This year I became a pescetarian.

I know, a what?

I usually just tell people I’m a vegetarian since pescetarian sounds kind of pretentious (and fishetarian just sounds gross). Which is silly really. I usually end up having to explain it anyway. Regular folks  just look at me in bewilderment and vegans nibble on their quinoa and silently judge me.

I don’t feel it’s necessary to identify with my diet though. I’m not interested in wrapping my whole identity around being a crunchy granola person. Really, all I’m trying to do is be conscious of what I eat and conscious and appreciative of where that food comes from.

Just as I try to maintain awareness of my body while doing Tai Chi, I try to be aware of what I put into it. It’s all about balance and that differs a little for everyone.

There are all kinds of diets out there – the Yin and Yang diet or macrobiotic diet being the most talked about among martial artists it seems. But are these really necessary? Do they make a difference?

According to the macrobiotic diet (or the Yin and Yang diet),

“…people living near the freezing North Pole (Yin) eat mostly animal foods (Yang) to stay warm and ‘contracted’. If someone is living in a hot (Yang) climate and they eat a lot of animal protein (Yang) they might find themselves too ‘contracted’ and uptight (Yang).”

Which kind of makes sense when you think about the very obvious relationship between you, your food and your environment, but I have to agree with William C. Phillips over at Patience Tai Chi, when he suggests that it’s probably best not to be too dogmatic about diet, since everyone’s needs are different.

Personally, I find that simply eating more natural food makes me feel better in general (they make me feel like a natural woman, hahaha).

And it also seems pretty obvious to me that I wouldn’t last very long in my Tai Chi class if I gorged on pizza and sweets every day (mmm…pizza).

It’s not just that though. I care about where my food comes from. Your food becomes you – literally. So to me, it’s worth giving some thought to… Not only has Tai Chi made me aware of my own body, but it has made me more aware of what’s going on around me. The food on my plate and the fact that it was once alive (unless you’re eating canned cheese) would be one of those things.

So, I try to be conscious of the foods that I eat. Whether they are yin or yang, I don’t know. But I do know that certain foods make me feel more balanced and healthy, not to mention, by being aware of the food in front of me I actually enjoy eating it that much more. And that to me is enough.