(no subject)

mrissa's got a good meme going. Er, I feel a bit like this LJ is turning into some sort of feel-good, new-age, PSA type thing, but I guess that's what I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Anyhow, watching people be so cruel to their bodies in the name of thinness or beauty or whatever seems to be something that's really going on around me lately. My mom and my sister are here, which means I am thinking more in the Taiwan mindset, which means I have to make a conscious effort not to feel bad about eating or having a tummy or not being a certain size. I just... well, I just really strongly dislike watching people deny themselves food and the like to fit into clothes or to look better. Of course, a great deal of this is probably because I connect food with a whole bunch of good things in life; food is my friend, food is a comfort, food is one of the basic joys of living.

It's sort of odd, because fannishly has mentioned several times that I am much more seasonal or connected with nature, or whatever that means, but I suppose that just means paying attention to certain things. Or else I just have a strange system. I know the way my appetite will respond throughout the month, I know what kinds of food I'll crave throughout the year when the seasons change. Right now is the season for fresh fruits and vegetables, for the light, for vinaigrettes and cold tea and watermelon and did I mention the fruit? Later on, when it gets colder, I'll start craving the starchy and the meaty, but right now, I feel like eating mostly fruits and salads. I feel like going out and walking all the time; I want to be out in this weather, with the sun on my face and the blue sky above me. In the winter I'll be a couch potato who never ventures outside of my blankets, but this weather, this is crying out for being out with the grass and the trees and the flowers.

I don't quite understand denying your body food. I do understand stuffing myself full of good food when I shouldn't because I don't know when I'll get it again, but in general, I try very hard to eat only when I'm hungry, to sort of listen to myself and test out what I'm craving at a certain time. I don't know if I actually eat healthily or not, and I do know that free snacks out in the DMZ at work (the free-for-all table for food)) I definitely grab stuff, but if I don't listen to my stomach and end up missing a meal, my stomach really makes me regret it later. I figure it is better to let it be and not fight it. I can always tell when something has hit me very, very emotionally in a bad sense when my appetite disappears.

So, I guess things that I like about my body: I like that it is very good at telling me when something is wrong with it. I like that it knows what season it is. I like that I am not at war with it most of the time (though sometimes I still feel I am too fat, particularly when trying on clothes I can't fit, and I am irritated with my nose right now for being stuffed up). I like that my feet go where I want them to go. I like the way my skin feels in the air. I like the way I taste things. I appreciate the fact that my knees work. I like that my fingers can knit without much thought from me, allowing me to watch TV. There. Usually I do not think that many good things about my body, so this is good. I suppose it's like one of those things that you don't appreciate until it doesn't work anymore, because really, who thinks about walking or seeing 20-20 (that's theoretical for me, since I have really bad eyes) or unplugged ears or unitchy skin most of the time?