Disclaimer: I have no real background in the subject of diets and health, only my own experience and observations. These are my thoughts:
Somewhat ironically, I suppose, following the rant I posted last week I was taking my lunch break at work. Sitting in the lunchroom, not only eating the lunch I brought plus a side of the leftover bagels from the breakfast meeting that day, and feeling pretty good, I might add. Well the conversation inevitably turned to the holidays coming up. One coworker mentioned that she would be at the beach over the New Year and therefore wanted to diet before heading out in her bikini. All right legitimate, however—unable to keep my mouth shut, I still said my two cents, going on about the absurdity of dieting during the holidays. Okay, shut up.
Anyway, another girl chimed in to the conversation asking if we had ever done a cleanse diet. Here I am, thinking that she means eating maybe whole foods or raw foods, even possibly cutting out (here’s the reason why I could never do this) alcohol. But, no, she is talking about that cleanse that I had only heard rumors of—or seen something similar on Glee, perhaps—the water, lemon juice, honey, and cayenne pepper (Or something to that effect). This girl apparently had consumed that and only that for an entire 10 days (she mentioned she was supposed to do it for 40 but decided 10 would be enough). I’m sorry, excuse me—how did you not keel over at some point? Seriously? That can’t be good for your body.
Yes, I agree with her point that we can confuse hunger and thirst—so when we think we are hungry it often means we are thirsty. All right, drink a class of water with a snack. And I even agree (hope you’re not eating here) that everyone needs a good flush every now and again. Great. Eating some Fiber One or drinking a large cup of coffee often does the trick.
I will be the first one to say that we, as Americans, put a whole lot of CRAP in our bodies. Considering the processed, packaged, and preserved food that we consume on a daily basis—no, that is not going to do wonders for our hearts or blood pressure. However, eating this way with a periodic “cleanse” of a cayenne pepper-maple syrup infused drink, and then right back to the same diet, well, let’s just say, from a health stand point (with no scientific background, I may add) it seems a little … terrible for you.
Wouldn’t it be better to make a transition to eating more healthfully, switching to fresh foods rather than frozen dinners, for example? Or better yet, don’t WORRY about dieting and do that thing we call enjoy yourself in moderation and exercise. I don’t recommend eating only Big-Macs and running for miles after to make up for it—your body may or may not deteriorate after a while. You know though, if you really crave a Big-Mac at some point in time, I am a firm believer in indulging every once in while, for the sake of psychological health.
Do me a favor, one the holiday indulgence is done, please just go back to the regular diet–don’t cleanse for the month of January. By the time the spring rolls around, it will be as if the holiday binge never happened.
15 December 2010
08 December 2010
Holiday Cookin'
There’s about a month and a half period during the year that we stop caring. We forget how to count calories (or maybe we just lose count); we don’t worry that our afternoon snack that could qualify as a second lunch will ruin our appetite for dinner; and we certainly don’t skip on those tasty, hot beverages that should be a dessert, yet we can’t seem to drink one without a baked good along side…Mmm.
This month and half is now, my friends. Yes, whether we like it or not, the time post-Thanksgiving and pre-New Years is truly a celebration of food. After the feast of Thanksgiving, we are given a taste of the holiday and we just can’t let it go! But do we really need to? It’s the one time of year that the coffee shop has that latte special and the perpetually filled plate of home-baked cookies in the office kitchen. Well you never know, it might stop filling at some point, plus you have to at least try them—I mean, it would just be rude not to!
Before I go on, I want to pause and emphasize that I don’t think this is a bad thing at all. In fact, I think it’s great—we stop worrying, we begin to just appreciate the season, the company, the food. We don’t think about the bathing suit that that extra cookie might just—Oh my gawd!—ruin because you won’t be wearing one anyway for another six months. And, you know, if you do find yourself in a compromising bathing suit situation, it will most likely be in a Jacuzzi at night and no one cares at that point.
This mentality seems to last through the month of December. Who are we kidding if we think we can get through this month without the extra comfort carbs and an abundance of alcohol that makes any drink an adult beverage—that’s why they make Bourbon, right? Once the month closes, we have one last hurrah with the New Year and we enter January, hung-over, probably ashamed about the indulgent month we just had and ready to face the bleak winter with wilted salads and [insert alcohol of choice here] and tonics.
But screw that depressing thought. We don’t have to worry about THAT until next year, when we can all start anew anyway. So we might as well make the most of what we got of this one and enjoy it! With that thought, I encourage you all to be merry and celebrate the one time of year when a little bit extra is perfectly acceptable.
Oh, and don’t feel bad if all the candy in the store seems to be call your name. I am convinced the companies change the foil of the wrapping to be more appealing during the holiday season. Fortunately during this time of year capitalism and marketing are perfect and legitimate scapegoat for anything.
Cheers!
This month and half is now, my friends. Yes, whether we like it or not, the time post-Thanksgiving and pre-New Years is truly a celebration of food. After the feast of Thanksgiving, we are given a taste of the holiday and we just can’t let it go! But do we really need to? It’s the one time of year that the coffee shop has that latte special and the perpetually filled plate of home-baked cookies in the office kitchen. Well you never know, it might stop filling at some point, plus you have to at least try them—I mean, it would just be rude not to!
Before I go on, I want to pause and emphasize that I don’t think this is a bad thing at all. In fact, I think it’s great—we stop worrying, we begin to just appreciate the season, the company, the food. We don’t think about the bathing suit that that extra cookie might just—Oh my gawd!—ruin because you won’t be wearing one anyway for another six months. And, you know, if you do find yourself in a compromising bathing suit situation, it will most likely be in a Jacuzzi at night and no one cares at that point.
This mentality seems to last through the month of December. Who are we kidding if we think we can get through this month without the extra comfort carbs and an abundance of alcohol that makes any drink an adult beverage—that’s why they make Bourbon, right? Once the month closes, we have one last hurrah with the New Year and we enter January, hung-over, probably ashamed about the indulgent month we just had and ready to face the bleak winter with wilted salads and [insert alcohol of choice here] and tonics.
But screw that depressing thought. We don’t have to worry about THAT until next year, when we can all start anew anyway. So we might as well make the most of what we got of this one and enjoy it! With that thought, I encourage you all to be merry and celebrate the one time of year when a little bit extra is perfectly acceptable.
Oh, and don’t feel bad if all the candy in the store seems to be call your name. I am convinced the companies change the foil of the wrapping to be more appealing during the holiday season. Fortunately during this time of year capitalism and marketing are perfect and legitimate scapegoat for anything.
Cheers!
04 December 2010
Homemade
The moment I arrived in New Hampshire, my Mother picked me up from the airport and informed me that we were going to get pasta. Oh, Okay, great—grocery store run before heading back to the house? Oh no, we are driving an hour in the opposite direction to get homemade pasta.
And the whole drive over, my Mom raved about the pasta my family had eaten the weekend before.
We arrived after following the directions that described this pasta palace as the yellow house with the red barn across from the church.
Walking in, I was hit with the aroma of pumpkin and sweet potato—the newest additions to the ravioli menu. The shop made pasta and ravioli—along with deliciously rich pumpkin cupcakes— which it sold at locals farmers markets as well as the red barn.
With a culinary background and realizing the opportunities were low for the high-end restaurants in Southern New Hampshire, the family started making pasta sauce and sold it all. With this success, they began making pasta and put that up for sale. And, man am I glad they did—and that we went out of our way to get it.
Our dinner that night consisted of the pasta, sauce with elk meat from my parents farm and wine my father made. It looked, it smelled, and it tasted so much better than any other pasta dinner I had eaten before. The sauce was a perfect combination of fresh tomato, garden herbs, and tender elk meat — grass fed, free range, no hormones and if you don’t believe it from the taste, all I needed to do was look out to the backfields for confirmation. The pasta was unlike any other box pasta I had eaten—it wasn’t the rubbery pasta that comes from a box, but it wasn’t super doughy as if I was eating boiled, unbaked bread. Rather, it was light and full of flavor, the way pasta was meant to taste.
Perhaps part of the deliciousness of the meal was understanding each aspect of the dish—I had literally talked to the maker of everything. It wasn’t a mystery meal and it wasn’t a guessing game to discover the ingredients—it was something that I could appreciate with the understanding of the food. It was beyond simply cooking, it was a process that took the day, going from location to location and gathering the ingredients. Isn’t this the way meals were supposed to be made?
And the whole drive over, my Mom raved about the pasta my family had eaten the weekend before.
We arrived after following the directions that described this pasta palace as the yellow house with the red barn across from the church.
Walking in, I was hit with the aroma of pumpkin and sweet potato—the newest additions to the ravioli menu. The shop made pasta and ravioli—along with deliciously rich pumpkin cupcakes— which it sold at locals farmers markets as well as the red barn.
With a culinary background and realizing the opportunities were low for the high-end restaurants in Southern New Hampshire, the family started making pasta sauce and sold it all. With this success, they began making pasta and put that up for sale. And, man am I glad they did—and that we went out of our way to get it.
Our dinner that night consisted of the pasta, sauce with elk meat from my parents farm and wine my father made. It looked, it smelled, and it tasted so much better than any other pasta dinner I had eaten before. The sauce was a perfect combination of fresh tomato, garden herbs, and tender elk meat — grass fed, free range, no hormones and if you don’t believe it from the taste, all I needed to do was look out to the backfields for confirmation. The pasta was unlike any other box pasta I had eaten—it wasn’t the rubbery pasta that comes from a box, but it wasn’t super doughy as if I was eating boiled, unbaked bread. Rather, it was light and full of flavor, the way pasta was meant to taste.
Perhaps part of the deliciousness of the meal was understanding each aspect of the dish—I had literally talked to the maker of everything. It wasn’t a mystery meal and it wasn’t a guessing game to discover the ingredients—it was something that I could appreciate with the understanding of the food. It was beyond simply cooking, it was a process that took the day, going from location to location and gathering the ingredients. Isn’t this the way meals were supposed to be made?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)