Mariela

Mariela describes herself as respectful kind friendly sincere easygoing. She grew up in South America, in a country where getting a higher education is part of the culture, and now lives in a Gulf Coast suburb with her husband, a daughter who has just turned eighteen, a younger son and a husky. She likes board games, streaming shows and travel with her family. Her faith, she writes, is the major influencer on my personality.

Her food world is the one she was raised in. At home We rarely ate junk food and didn’t eat at restaurants much. We always ate at home, low in salt , low in sugar , 100 % organic. She keeps to that as an adult, and finds it harder and harder. She cooks low in salt and oil, tries to stay gluten-free, and the family chooses restaurants around her needs. Her plate: coffee with oat or almond milk, rice with chicken and avocado, a chicken salad, Greek yogurt with granola and honey. Her food words carry a wry contradiction: Simple healthy satisfying not appealing flavorless. Her children usually complain about it and describe me as a bad cook. Her answer is to build flavor with sauces from scratch and smart swaps, sweet potato for white, spaghetti squash for spaghetti, because you don't have to miss the flavor. She still makes arepas: it is important to keep your country traditions alive. Bourdieu (1984) argued that taste carries social history; for Mariela, careful eating seems to be part of what she brought with her, and keeping it is a quiet act of continuity.

She is sharp about the price of that continuity: You can buy an 1800 Kal burger for next to nothing, while clean, organic food costs 4 to 5 times what you normally would spend. If she had the power, I would reverse the situation and make health farm to table food the most accessible food. Her son is the person she would least take food advice from; he just wants to eat junk food. Her husband works long hours outdoors, and sometimes he has to make bad food choices.

Her defining moments tell of a family coming apart and coming back. Her parents left the country so her mother could be treated, and for a while I thought I was never going to see than again. Then they came back, though her mother, she writes, is still sicker everyday. Her daughter turned eighteen, which taught her to let go of my control and trust. And she writes, with restraint, of years of a really hurtful relationship with my husband, then couples counseling and a decision to treat ourselves like never before. Forgiveness took years, and prayer: I am so happy I am living free of hate and pain but compassion. She worried this might sound too religious.

Under stress her neck stiffens and she feels like crying. She breathes, exercises to lower the cortisol, has a glass of wine, watches a show. Chocolate relaxes me incredibly. On animals she is frank: I rather not think how we use animals for food. Her 2 a.m. person is her husband. One reading is that this answer, about the same marriage she says hurt her for years, is the clearest sign of the repair she describes.

Her Day 5 goal is eating less sugar and carbs; her obstacle, Time. Her vision board says I am capable , I am strong, I can do this! Her letter ends: to change the future I have to make changes today.