My Life with Food

Food has played a large role in my life. It is what I gather around, when I'm with people I love. Food has been with me on countless first dates, many trips to the movies with my family, and dinners with my family around the table. While growing up I loved and at times hated food, depending on whether my mom was trying a new recipe or not.
     My favorite meal is Chicago style deep dish pizza  and will always be my favorite. I found this love for this pizza when I was only 7 years old. My family and I were on vacation to Chicago and had walked for hours that day, my dad thinks taxis are a scam. One of the nights after walking for what felt like years, we stopped at Giordano's in downtown Chicago. My family and I had not eaten since 11:00 am central time which is 10:00 am back in Michigan and it was now 7:00 pm in Chicago. My brothers and I were starving and that's when it was served! The most glorious thing I had ever laid my eyes on, and that is when I fell in love with Chicago style pizza.
   Another way food has played a role in my life is later on in High school and early college. I was always the chunky one out of my brothers and learned to embrace that tole, and took that as a challenge to be the biggest eater out of us three. As you can probably assume my diet was nowhere near healthy and far from hitting all categories of the food pyramid. Once I hit a growth spurt in late high school I started to thin out and work out a lot. I would run or bike twice a day and life every other day. I got into doing triathlons and hated knowing I used to be chunky, this is when I made controlling what I ate basically an Idol. Food was no longer my companion and role in life it essentially became my enemy and I thought I was being healthy. I got so consumed by completely cutting sugar and sweets out of my life and eating what I needed to fuel my body that I stopped enjoying dinner with the family, I stopped visiting my Girlfriend at work, which was Plainwell Ice Cream (best ice cream out there), and became a health freak! It was not until my best friend called me out on it that I snapped out of that phase, which lasted about a year.
Now food and I are on good times and in a healthy relationship together. Our past was love/hate but we've moved on.