My History of Mal-Nutrition

My health problems started when I was very young. I attribute this to my diet of powdered sugar, white bread, and dill pickles. Seriously, that was a balanced meal for me.
I was the eldest of six children. Honestly, I can't remember a time when my mother was not pregnant or nursing. It was her dream to have six children and she accomplished her goal by having one almost every two years from 1981 thru 1995. I blame the pregnancy cravings for my diet as a child. If my mother was craving pickle juice for breakfast, we all had pickle juice for breakfast. If my mother wasn't hungry the rest of the day due to any of the aliments from "being with child", then none of us ate. This is partially why my mom has never weighed more than 110 lbs. in her entire, not carrying a bun in the oven, life.
Needless to say, I was a skinny kid. In junior high, when I reached 5'8", I was often called "beanpole" or "toothpick". Like most girls, I started getting curves around age 15. This traumatized me as I was convinced that my curves were "fat". I know now, that I am very decidedly not "fat". But at that time, I did not understand that it was okay to weigh anything more than my 5'3" and 110 pound mother. Thus began the dieting.
I hate the word diet. There is such a huge difference between eating healthy and dieting. Dieting often involves self deprivation. In my experience, self deprivation leads to mal-nutrition. Mal-nutrition causes numerous health concerns, including low immunity, longer healing and recovery times, and inability to effectively fight infection.
I never considered myself not to be on a diet. I was never skinny enough, as I was never as skinny as my mom.
I graduated high school at a fairly healthy 125 pounds. I gained the usual 10-20 pounds my first couple of years after high school which only frustrated me and increased my desire to completely avoid food. I lost a dramatic amount of weight, and reached 115 when I was 23. I will not tell you how much lower my weight got, lets just say it got low enough to cause extreme fatigue and weakness, and almost destroy my immune system. Colds and viruses that my co-workers would catch for a day or two would make me bed ridden for weeks.
Regardless of all this, I honestly thought I was healthy simply because I wasn't overweight. In my mind, skinny was healthy. I consistently wanted to lose more. More, more, more. I didn't think it was possible to ever lose enough. I felt good, because my family and friends were asking me for tips on how to lose weight. I was obsessed.
The reason I'm giving you this history is because I truly believe that if I would have had healthier eating habits, and been able to maintain a healthy weight as a child and young adult, I never would have suffered the illnesses that have forever changed my life. (More on those later...)
I am still 5'8 and fluctuate between a healthy, if on the leaner side, 127-132 pounds. Old habits die hard, so I prefer the 127; while my doctor and nutritionist constantly push me towards the 132. Either way, it's only five vanity pounds, and I'm happy with my weight.
I don't diet. Nor will I ever diet again. But I do eat healthy, lean foods that are rich in the nutrients that our bodies need to SURVIVE, be strong, and resist disease.
The purpose of this blog is to be able to share what I have learned.