It's not that I'm not excited to eat healthy, I just don't like to advertise myself as someone who a) diets, b) cares about health food, or c) preaches nutrition. My dietary guidelines are simple: Eat Food. Hopefully some of the negative connotations I have (and probably lots of people have) with the word "nutrition" can be re-evaluated this month. Here's what I want nutrition to mean:
Instead of eating healthy, let's eat well.
Instead of eating light (or even worse, "lite"), let's eat real.
Instead of going on diets, let's go on food adventures and gastronomic tours.
The official theme of Nutrition Month 2014 is "Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right," so I think we'll do okay.
March's other big "event" is Lent (Mardi Gras is Tuesday! Shamrock Shakes for everyone!), which gives me another way to think about nutrition: the simple one. Lent is about paring down our overstimulating lives, removing desires, and purifying ourselves. You don't have to be Catholic to appreciate Lent's themes, which carry on into April, until Easter (but April is Poetry Month, so my Lenten Observances will become more versed than nutritious then). Be on the lookout for simple recipes! (And learn more about how I'm "celebrating" Lent starting Wednesday.)
I also want to incorporate March's St. Patrick's Day celebrations by trying out some traditional Irish recipes as well as some green recipes (as in the color...I'm not Irish, so this seems appropriate).
Finally, March means the coming of spring. Personally, I'll believe that when I see it (and last night's snow isn't helping spring's case), but--here's another Lent connection--I'll still wait in anticipation of the season changing. I'll wait and make spring-inspired dishes (these will probably also be green, because, spring).
My fiction posts will continue where my schedule/time allows, but you'll probably see less of them this month. That's okay. We've got a lot on the burner. And in the blender, and on the cutting board, and in the oven...and in my belly.
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Yay for nutrition! I mostly eat good food. When I slip up and eat crap for several days, I sure don't feel as good.
ReplyDeleteVery great and encouraging idea, food adventures! There are some very strange dishes people love to eat here in egypt, maybe I will try to be a little more adventurous this month!
ReplyDeleteYum, please do! And let us know how it goes!
DeleteI eat pretty well, but every once in a while I blow it and feel like crap for awhile afterward.
ReplyDeleteI've been eating crap most of the winter...it's time for me to switch things up!
Delete"Eat food" (as opposed to food adjacent products) is basically my nutrition philosophy too. Love me some Michael Pollan!
ReplyDeleteHe's great! He keeps things so simple and straightforward. Can you pronounce the ingredients? Would your grandmother recognize that as food? It's far easier to eat "healthy" when you just stick to food!
DeleteInstead of eating light, let's eat real. I like that. I like that a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'm a big supporter of real food over "diet" foods. Especially in the taste category, real always wins!
DeleteI spent a semester abroad in the UK. While there, I tried to eat local foods. However, I made a point of finding a McDonald's once so I could get a Shamrock Shake. I'm glad I did because I discovered something even better: they serve their ice cream cones with a Cadbury's Flake. The Shamrock Shake seemed so disappointing after that.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I appreciate about McDonald's is how it incorporates local flavors into its menu. I also just looked up what a Flake is and I can understand why the Shamrock Shake would be disappointing!
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