Jiayu Song
Mara Earley
Essay- Draft1
Date: 09/20/2012
Food Is My Friend Not Enemy
I am twenty years old this year, in the past of my twenty years especially in the past of 10 years; I changed the attitude to food a lot. I used to be a picky eater, I was picky is not display on I have high quality requirement to food; it’s because I had lots of food that I did not like to eat, like vegetables, fruits; or I was lazy to eat some laborious food; such as fish, shrimp. However, after I had contracted acute hepatitis, my stepmother is a doctor that she was very care about my diet; she let me even forced me changed my attitude to food. I spent nearly two years to change my eating habits; more than that, my family used many ways to find healthy food and let me learn how to cooking. Since then, I am not picky eater anymore; I eat all kind of food.
Furthermore, I have healthy eating habits nowadays.
Before 10 year-old, the types of food that I eat is single. I only ate some meats, a small amount of vegetable and fruit. Actually the food for me is just something to fill my stomach, whatever I eat is the same. Since at that time I did not eat various foods, my nutrition was disequilibrium thus my immunity was poor.
When I was eight years old, my father took me out to dinner with his friends. I

remembered I drank somebody’s tea, after that, my stepmother found I don’t look well that she took me to the hospital as examination. The inspection result showed I had contracted acute hepatitis. After that two months, I needed transfusion therapy and drink Chinese traditional medicine every day. Further than that, my stepmother forced me change my eating habits that to eat many kinds of food. However, habits are very difficult to change; therefore, I used almost two years to change my eating habit; also my family tried their best to let me eat natural healthy food.
I really hate to eat some vegetables, I hate their flavor even hate their looks; that made me have no appetite to eat them. In order to let me eat vegetables, my stepmother told family nanny cooks at least six kinds of vegetables every day. If I don’t eat them, I could not watch TV and play outside. This is like vegetables are my enemy that I must kill them. I know this method is funny but it was the fastest way to let me change my bad eating habits.
Each girl all want to be beautiful, I am no exception. After my stepmother told me that fruit is the source of beauty, I began to let myself fall in love with eat fruit.
The reason that I believed my stepmother said is true is because she loves fruit very much and she is beautiful. Although my thinking in that time was childish, my stepmother’s words made sense for me that eat fruit was no longer the problem for me.
After I learned to eat all kind of vegetables and fruits, the new problem appeared. That is, many people talked about food safety problem. My family worried about me gets disease again; after all, I was not easy that changed the eating habit. In

order to let all family members eat ecological and safe food, my family set up our own ecological farm, most of foods we eat are come from my family’s own farm. Not only have vegetables and fruits, but also have meats, includes chicken, fish, duck and rabbit. The farm is operated by my grandfather; his most proud of things is our whole family eats healthy foods. We almost do not eat pork since we think pork is the most non-nutritious meat; in addition, pork is easy to fat up.
With the joint efforts of myself and my whole family, I became like to eat many kind of food thus my immunity system is improved. During the later years, my physical examination report showed I am healthy enough. My relatives was no longer worried if my disease recurrent.
In order to let me have different learning environment, my father decided send me to the United States to study. My stepmother did not agree with his decision because she worried about I could not take good care of my body. Nevertheless, my dad's attitude was very firmly; she knows she could not change my dad’s decision.
Therefore, the only thing she could do was told me after went to the United States as far as possible not to eat outside. But the problem was that I could not cook; so, before I left China, she taught me how to cook.
Hence, during the months before I come to the United States, in addition to prepare the visa and learning English, I learned cook and even fell in love with cooking food.
In my first year in the United States, I was in language school that I did not

have condition cook by myself; I must eat in school cafeteria. In school cafeteria, there are many kinds of fruit and meat, but vegetables are very few. In order to eat more vegetables, I bought a small rice cooker and a little refrigerator in my dorm room. I bought many vegetables every week that put them in my refrigerator, so that I could boil some vegetables to eat. Actually the language school do not allowed us cook by ourselves. But the school cafeteria could not satisfy my habits to keep eat various vegetables every day, I had to do so.
After I ended my language study and became an undergraduate student, I had my own kitchen that I can cook any food I want to eat; I was no longer only eating boiled vegetables anymore. More fortunately, my older cousin came to the United
States for her graduate study in Northeastern University last year. We live together and she can drive the car thus it is convenient to buy food. Actually my older cousin could live nearby her school; but for the two of us can look after each other, also can saying is she takes care of me, she chose to live with me that we can take turns to cook.
In order to eat more healthily, all the meats we eat is from Korean supermarket since it is organic. Of course vegetables and fruits are also necessary every day; but we buy them in Chinese supermarket since there are more choices. I try my best to eat healthy and light; in addition to eat many kinds of foods, there are also two foods for me are necessary every day, they are apple and yogurt. These two foods play the important role to keep healthy body. Due to we can cook by ourselves and we think

outside’s food cannot ensure the quality, so we seldom go out to eat. I think I have a good and healthy eating habit.
In short, I do not know whether it is because of my eating habit, I seldom get sick in these years. If it’s true that my eating habit let me seldom get sick; firstly, I would like to thank the disease that tortured me for two months, because of this disease that let me realized I should change my bad eating habits. Secondly, I want to thank for my stepmother and my family, their efforts let me made foods became my friend, not enemy. I am enjoy cook food and eat them nowadays, I am happy to maintaining a balanced diet and will continue keep my healthy eating habits in the following time, I believe if I do so I can keep healthy body that any disease is far from me.