Last night I went out with a friend to a Mexican restaurant that I hadn’t been to in years. In perusing the menu for something suitable to eat, I noticed that the only smart choice was the raw veggie platter. I was thinking about ordering that when I saw NACHOS on the menu, full of black beans, corn tortilla chips, cheese, tomato salsa, sour cream, and jalapeños. Not only does this restaurant have fantastic nachos but my husband and I often came here for nachos while we were dating so I have quite fond memories of the nachos in this place. So, what’’ll it be... rabbit food or nostalgia? Well, nostalgia won this round and I chose the nachos but I also agreed with myself to watch how this food choice affected my body and mind.



Now, I will occasionally eat corn or beans or even sometimes tomatoes, all of which are lethal for B’s but I never eat them all at one meal. Boy, was I in for a ride! The first thing I noticed was feeling like I was drunk, and I had only had a tiny sip of my margarita (honest!). I had difficulty tracking our conversation and when I stood up to leave the restaurant after about an hour, my legs felt shaky (and no, I hadn’t had any more alcohol beyond that one sip!) I felt dizzy getting into the car and by the time I returned home I was feeling irritable and agitated which stayed with me all evening and into the wee hours of the morning.

As I lay in bed trying to will myself to fall asleep, feeling like I had eaten the nutritional equivalent of wallpaper paste, or worse, for my evening meal, it suddenly dawned on me... this is how I used to feel all the time. All. The. Time. I had forgotten... I had forgotten the physical sensations and mental agitation of those years when I was eating vegetarian, macrobiotic, low-fat, you name it all in the name of “healthy”. And all it was doing was making me miserable.

Sometimes it’s good to have a little reality check. But this is one choice I am not likely to choose again.