Nutrition and Health

Have you heard of the “French Paradox”? It’s basically us fat Americans marveling at how the French eat foie gras(fatty duck liver), cheese and wine and other sorts of “bad food” but manage to stay slim and heart disease free.

I’ve been reading a lot of Michael Pollen, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In defense of Food”. I’m about to start reading an earlier work of his, “The Botany of Desire”. It’s awesome working at a library!

Before that I read “The End of Food” and “Closing the food gap: resetting the table in the land of plenty”. Both were excellent in different aspects. If you want more info about them, just ask.

I have never been one of those that fall to food claims. I ate regular Oreos while my dad ate his Snackwell’s Fat Free devil’s food cakes. I drink more water now than anything else but I still drink soda on occasion but I will touch diet soda. It tastes awful.

I am still not “diet” oriented in an attempt to lose weight. I could stand to lose weight but at this moment in my life I am focused on health. I want to only put good things into my body. For me, that is unprocessed food. In this day and age it will be EXTREMLY difficult.

I have never been the type to follow the crowd so I’m not going “vegan” or “raw foods diet” or anything else like that. I’m just trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet and less processed food.

For breakfast yesterday, feeling inspired by Theredheaddiva, I ate a whole wheat bagel (processed food item) with chive and onion cream cheese(also processed) with alfalfa sprouts and a tomato slice with salt and pepper. It was the most delicious bagel I ever ate. I scarfed down the first and offered Dan* a bite of the second slice.

*Dan does not like to eat new foods or many vegetables so for him to try something new is A MIRACLE.

After the bite, I asked him if he liked it and he nodded yes in approval. I asked him if he wanted to eat the rest of the bagel and I swear I have never seen him eat a vegetable so fast.

Tonight I am going to attempt a stir fry. I bought baby portobellos, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini and water chestnuts (in a can). I am not a fan of mushrooms but when Jenn made this for me in Seattle I ate all the mushrooms I could. Hopefully these baby ones taste better than the regular kind. I also have some chicken that wasn’t fed any antibiotics or hormones. It was EXPENSIVE as HELL so we will eat that sparingly. One breast will contribute to a nearly homemade chicken soup later this week. Yum!