To Each Her Own: And Why I'm NEVER Giving Up Bread


The past couple of weeks have been crazy, to say the least. In my never-ending quest for normalcy, I took myself for a post-Hurricane manicure to try and get back into the groove of things, because frankly, I have no choice. 

While me and my nails were getting buffed back into reality, the girl next to me started talking to her nail technician. At first, they were chatting about casual things, but the conversation quickly shifted gears and the girl began talking about weight loss and fitness. My ears perked up, naturally, after the girl said she had lost 40 pounds. She was in great shape, super energetic, and seemed knowledgeable about the topic. She went on to talk about her workout routines, where she boxes (I love boxing so I was all ears for that part), but then she began talking about what she eats. As it turned out, she had become a gluten-free, carb-free vegan a year prior. Whoa. Not for me, but that's a personal decision which I can respect, of course. But here was where my feathers began to get a bit ruffled. She suddenly started saying things like:

"You cannot eat cheese. Cheese is why people are fat."

"Bread? No way. That's sooo unhealthy."

"Oh my god I NEVER have sweets. That's so gross!"

"I work out every day at 5 am, then I go back at night for 2 classes, and on weekends I work out for at least 4 hours."

Now, I may not be Twiggy, but I am a wellness coach and I do know a thing or two about nutrition. It took every single ounce of my being to not turn to her and tell her just how wrong she was about every single one of her statements. There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating cheese (in moderation, of course, we're not talking blocks of manchego for dinner), and carbs are actually crucial to our mental and physical health. But that's not even what got me. It was the fact that she was imparting her views on all of us, very loudly, and in a very judgmental tone. It's one thing to talk about what works for you, and share your experience, but to basically insinuate that your approach health and fitness is better than anyone else's is well, just plain annoying.

I listened to her go on and on about all of her wonderful recipes and how she is forced to cook "gross meat" for her boyfriend because "that's what he's into" and I caught eyes with another woman in our vicinity. We both gave each other that "I get it" look and I took a deep breath. So in short? Whatever flips your taco is fine by me, but please, please don't make anyone else feel bad about their personal choices. We've all gotta do what works for us, and right now me and my bread are doing juuuust fine.

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