Today was a busy day so food wasn't the first thing on my mind, but it's always back there somewhere. I am a person who thinks about food often and fondly in myriad ways--always trying a new restaurant, finding a new recipe, thinking about modifying my approach to eating, or just thinking "I want chocolate." I started out as a spectacularly picky eater, and just in the last few years have embraced many ingredients that would have wrinkled my nose before. But I have always loved food in a visceral way. I so enjoy the rituals of planning, shopping, cooking, and eating that I could never fathom giving that up, no matter what else I may change about how I do those things. I know several people who say that if they could take a pill and get all their nutrients and forgo eating, that would be okay with them. I believe them, but that is definitely not me.
Over the years I have approached how to eat in a lot of ways. I didn't think much about it as a child and even as a teenager. In college the cafeteria was so vile (at least to my picky palate) that grilled cheese, frozen yogurt, and cereal were about the only edible options. In graduate school, I learned to cook properly and began to appreciate a more diverse diet; I also went on my first weight-loss "diet" ever. I've tried various nutritional approaches since then, some for health reasons and some as an attempt to control weight.
Right now I'm an omnivore, trying to reduce the proportion of refined foods in my diet. One reason that Ultrametabolism Cookbook is close at hand is that I recently tried the elimination program its author suggests, to identify food intolerances and sources of "inflammation" in the body. I felt better and lost a significant bit of weight (according to the author, as a result of decreased inflammation and therefore better functioning metabolism) but it was too difficult to make everything from scratch--and like most diets, as soon as I stopped following the restrictive plan the pounds showed back up. Still, I may go gluten and dairy free again soon to try to obtain the benefits I experienced before in the form of increased energy, reduced congestion, and clearer thinking. In the meantime, I am focusing on eating as many fresh and unrefined foods as I can.
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Enough rambling, on to the food! My morning jog got cut short by some pretty heavy rain and achy feet, so I headed inside to warm up with more maple spiced oatmeal with currants. A series of crises at work led to scarfing a small plate of tri tip, potato salad, and roasted summer squash in small spurts between 11:45 and 3 (the catered lunch at work, which I usually avoid but was thankfully okay since I had to cancel lunch with a friend). By 3 I was hangry (so hungry I was angry!) so I dug into the fruit and nut granola.
CJ was in charge of dinner tonight, and he made Chicken Tagine in the crock pot. It's another new recipe, and I was definitely pleased! So pleased, in fact, that we scarfed it all down and I forgot to take a picture. Sorry! I finished the evening with some dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds from Chocolove to fuel a late night working after the kid went to sleep.
Recipe to be posted later when I the cookbook handy!
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