Going all granola

Ever since I moved to California, many of my friends have accused me of "Going all granola". I like argue that they're wrong. I was a fairly healthy eater back when I lived in Chicago. I had steel cut oatmeal for breakfast, tried not to eat fried foods and kept a semi-vegetarian diet. Except when I craved a really juicy burger; then I was a carnivore all the way.

After I moved to California, I found it was easier to live a healthier lifestyle. I upped the ante on my steel cut oats, creating my own meusli, full of oat bran and flax and wheat germ. The sorts of grains that will clear a person's colon in a matter of minutes. Then I added some sulfate-free dried fruits and mixed it with unsweetened almond milk. I would wash my grainy concoction down with a fresh fruit smoothie or organic veggie juice. Lunch would be organic Greek yogurt mixed with some raw wildflower honey made by happy local bees and a bowl of fresh fruit. Dinner might be fresh made sushi (with brown rice of course) or perhaps a big spinach salad with avocado and steamed salmon.

I swore up and down that this was not at all out of the ordinary, and by no means "going all granola", but the truth was I didn't eat fresh, organic, raw foods back when I lived in the Mid-West. Partly because I didn't have access to fresh picked local fruit and veggies all year long. But mostly because I ate like a mid-westerner...happy to eat pizzas thick with cheese and burgers every week. Yeah! But somehow, after moving to the land of thin and healthy, eating like that seemed less tasty. And homemade meusli looked better than ever.

I'm still going to argue that I haven't "gone all granola". After all, I don't have hairy armpits or smoke pot. I just eat well and exercise. Oh, and I wear my Uggs in the summer, but whatever.