I've had people say to me throughout the years, "Oh, I could never do that (referring to eating high-nutrient, plant based food); especially during the holidays!"
And that's perfectly fine for them.
But for me, by living just five minutes away from my elderly parents, I got to see the "bird's eye view" of what suffering from nutritionally related diseases was like.
I met the ambulance at the ER when my mom suffered a major stroke. I saw the sheer panic in her eyes as paralysis set in and she couldn’t move, speak, or swallow.
I was there to caress my dad's forehead when he woke up in the recovery room after heart bypass surgery; tubes and wires protruding from his body and hooked up to life-saving machines. He communicated by blinking.
I observed my parent's kitchen counter full of meds they had to continually organize. I saw the multiple prescriptions--some mail order, some local pharmacy.
I witnessed my dad's confusion when he swatted imaginary flies off walls . . . a side effect from a pain med prescribed due to diabetes complications.
I held my mom's hand as she writhed on an ultrasound table, while the tech demanded that she lie still—but she was unable to due to intense pain from a urinary tract infection turned septic.
I saw the astronomical medical bills and paperwork their diseases created.
I put the last twenty years they were alive on hold; never knowing when I'd have to rush to the ER; never knowing when an ICU nurse would call. And I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat for them. I have absolutely no regrets, except my youngest child expressed his frustration one time in the midst of those years.
While raising my own family, I tended to my parent’s multiple heart attacks, a major stroke and all that entailed, diabetes complications, surgeries and procedures, ER and hospital visits--too numerous to recall--and enough doctor appointments to make disease management nearly a full time job at times.
Today at the holidays, I do not make fudge . . . like my mom did . . . and like I did for many years.
I do not make traditional Christmas cookies . . . like my mom did . . . and like I did for many years.
I do not make sugar-laden desserts and candies . . . like my mom did . . . and I did for many years.
Today, my young adult children are passionately pursuing their dreams and careers. I do not want them to drop everything to tend to emergencies due to my nutritional carelessness and gluttonous indulgence.
For me, eating for health—and especially during the holidays—is an easy decision.
Emily Boller, artist, mother, and author of Starved to Obesity, lost 100 pounds more than fifteen years ago by eating an abundance of high-nutrient, plant-rich food. Today, she’s certified in whole plant food nutrition from the Nutritarian Education Institute. She’s on a mission to combine practical, no-nonsense and cost-effective tips—with easy to understand science—in order to help anyone escape the addictive grip of the Standard American Diet. And now, she’s on a mission to bring awareness to the suffocating and potentially deadly trap of eating disorders as well.