All of the recent discussions in the vegan / vegetarian / omnivore debate caused me to recall an incident that happened to me nearly 15 years ago.
Newly married and transplanted to Dallas, my husband and I were determined to make a new way for ourselves which included breaking away from many of the attitudes and habits that we had grown up with. This included paying attention to our health and we experimented with many new foods and ways of eating.
These included vegetarian / vegan and macrobiotics (to name a few).
I was also not a well woman at the time, I was struggling with Chronic Fatigue, depression and Fibromyalgia and was searching for an answer.
I spent a great deal of time at the Whole Foods Market which was, at the time, a tiny store in a strip mall on Coit Road. I pored over books and attempted to educate myself.
On one of these trips, I was standing in the bulk foods aisle loading up on lentils, mung beans, rices and some other whole grains when this lady just kind of wandered over to me.
She was probably in her 40's, but looked much older. Her blonde hair was disheveled and loosely arranged on the top of her head. Her face was heavily lined and very pale. It was clear that she had attempted to apply some makeup, but her mascara ended up mostly on her cheeks and eyelids, her lipstick was quite far outside of the lines, and her rouge made it as far as her jawline and stopped there.
Her clothing was of good quality, but it was clear that she had picked up what she could find in order to cover herself.
She rather shuffled when she walked and looked incredibly lost. Her eyes were completely "blank", if that makes any sense.
She approached me with a complete look of puzzlement on her face, so I asked her if she needed help.
She stammered out that she needed to buy food and proceeded to take wads of cash out of her purse to show me that she had the means to purchase it. It was falling all over the place, so I picked it all up, handed it back to her & told her not to take her money out. This was Dallas, after all.
She then said something about needing to eat other things. Of course, my next question to her was what had she been eating?
She straightened up and as proudly as she could muster, stated that she had been a vegan for 20 years. I nodded & smiled and asked her again what she had been eating.
Her answer? "Mostly lettuce".
I struggled to keep my jaw off of the floor.
I told her in the simplest terms I could that she needed protein. Her eyes glazed over again at that point, so I simplified my strategy.
I took her over to the book aisle and placed a copy of "Cooking The Whole Foods Way" by Christina Pirello in her hands. I asked her then if she would be open at all to eating at least a little fish or some eggs to boost her protein levels. She nodded vehemently "no".
Based on my reading up to that point, I knew that a grain and a bean combined generally provides a fairly complete protein. I asked her if she knew how to cook lentils and rice. She nodded "yes". I then proceeded to take her back to the bulk aisle and poured out 2 baggies. One of long-grain whole rice and one of brown lentils. I handed them to her. She looked as if she had been handed two bags of gold.
I told her that she needed to visit her doctor and have some blood tests done. I told her to read that book and that she would do well to make sure she ate lots of different things.
She nodded in what I assumed was semi-coherency and shuffled off.
I often think about that lady and wonder what happened to her.
That experience solidified in me the desire to gain as much knowledge as I could with regard to nutrition as it is clear that action without knowledge can be very dangerous.
It also taught me that none of us can possibly know everything and that it is much better to share information and help one another than to judge and criticize others' choices.
I hope she got the help she needed and just maybe, I was a stepping stone to helping her regain her health.
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