With food, just like everything else, you don’t get something without giving up something. When eating healthy food, there are fewer of those “Oh, my goodness, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted” moments. For me, that might possibly be the biggest trade-off in eating smart food.
Smart food is, in many cases, not the kind of stuff that causes such exclamations. I’m not saying that my diet consists solely of food that is less enjoyable, but there has to be a shift in the basic reasons to eat food.
It would be awfully pleasant if everything we ate gave us that “Oh, my kittens, you gotta taste this” sensation, but it doesn’t. I’m at a place in my cooking that the food ain’t gonna make anybody’s socks roll up and down; rather, it’ll do, so long as it’s going to help me be healthier.
This week, first I made some guacamole. Guacamole is a nice base for me. It’s versatile; I can use it as a dressing base, as a spread, or as a dip. A bowl of guac brings many food ideas with it.
Then, I cleaned and boiled four pounds of chicken breasts. I refrigerated about half of it and froze the rest. (Cutting the pieces smaller will make for quick thawing.)
At that point, I had the makings of a meal I’ve had three times in the last few days. I take two romaine fronds, spread about 3/8 of a cup of guacamole on them, and then add about a half a cup of cubed chicken, maybe a little less. Then, I add a few shakes of Goya hot sauce. That’s it. If I want a bit more crunch, I add a few shredded carrots.
It is fine food, and it is delicious enough. Still, it’s not the stuff that’s gonna have people thinking that a friend will just die if they don’t try it.
The next day, I cooked off the chicken scraps for the animals, and then I used the broth as a stock for chicken noodle soup, which has been the base of two or three more meals recently.
Later, I made a big ol’ wok full of sauteed vegetables in coconut oil and almost a gallon of fresh fruit smoothie to freeze and use as sorbet. No it’s not ice cream, but when viewed as a more healthy substitute, it does the job just fine.
Then, I baked two batches of gluten free dark chocolate chip cookies.
And that’s pretty much what I eat.
The guacamole has avocado, tomatoes, lime, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. The sorbet has strawberry, kiwi, blueberry, banana, and pineapple. The vegetable mixture has asparagus, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, and celery.
And, in that, I take the greatest reward from eating like this: I know the provenance of my food. I’m currently still using whipped cream that sprays out of a can, but other than that, all of the food I mentioned is whole food, and, aside from the chicken and the cookies, it’s all stuff that you can take home, wash off, and eat.
I’m not gonna get so hung up that I won’t have a Hershey bar because of all the additives they add to it. Still, there are a lot of additives in processed foods, hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, and such, and I’m certainly going to bypass some of them if I can.
So, that’s just a bit of a sketch of how I eat these days. It’s a realm untouched by those statements like, “This is just the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” but I feel better, and, while I don’t have a weight problem, I am losing some of the pockets of fat that I have stored up here and there. Weight loss is by no means a primary goal, however.
Well, all right, friends. I guess you’re still here, some of you at least. Makes me wonder if I would be. I probably wouldn’t be, so I thank you that much more. We’ll meet here again sometime soon.
Until then…
Paulelmo's Blog 