Eating Better

This line from Shakespeare's Hamlet is so important, when it comes to good health and eating well.  Over the years, Americans have learned to play the semantics game, using words to suit our needs.  If we can get past the semantics and move to the Truth, we can see life (and food) in a new way.  So let's get started. . . The Scene: A typical closet.  You look in, for something to wear.  You try it on and find out that, for some reason, what was once your favorite pair of jeans seems too tight.  Your reaction: "My jeans don't fit!"  And therein lies the falsehood.  When you bought them, they fit.  They've been washed according to label instructions and have remained in the closet.  So why are they tight?  NOT - repeat NOT - because THEY don't fit, but because YOU no longer fit into them.  They haven't changed, you have.  Am I just being picky?  Yes, but that's what semantics is all about.  The meaning of words...

After having watched various shows on channels devoted to cooking and after having endured endless food or cooking segments on other shows, I've come to the conclusion that the celebrities who present these segments/shows are trying to sell the idea (although indirectly), of going to restaurants for food, rather than prepare it oneself.  Look - cooks (aka "chefs") don't make money by helping you to cook at home.  They make money by getting you to dine out (or take out).  Restaurants, likewise, make money by getting you to visit them, NOT to prepare their favorite dishes at home. The result has been, sadly, that American TV viewers have become almost convinced that the preparation of a meal at home must be complicated, with sauces, reductions, prep stations and a huge pile of tiny glass bowls to hold the 1/8 tsp of turmeric or the 1/4 tsp of oregano.  Also benefiting from this cultural phenomenon are the appliance manufacturers, who now are more than happy to fill...

I love Old Wisdom, because it's so simple.  My grandparents didn't know about phytonutrients, lycopenes, omega oils or benefits of coconut oil, pomegranates, kale or quinoa.  But they knew about soup.  In fact, let's call this blog entry OLD, OLD, OLD Wisdom.  Because soup goes back generations - ages - before my grandparents. Soup lies somewhere in between broth and stew.  It's generally liquid based, using water, vegetable broth or a broth from meat, as its base.  To this, vegetables, an optional starch and a protein are usually added.  But I don't want to do dictionary definitions.  Old Wisdom says that soups can be made from nearly anything, and that with few exceptions, no soup needs to be made with exactness, no matter what the "chefs" on cooking shows may suggest. To be honest, I don't think that any two soups I've EVER made have turned out exactly the same.  And that's good, because each one is unique. One of my favorite soups b...

Old Wisdom doesn't know about things like BMI (Body Mass Index), Waist to Hip Ratio or 10,000 steps a day.  All those wonderful indices are valuable, but this blog is about Old Wisdom.  And what Old Wisdom knew about was pants, belts and shirts.  Old Wisdom says that, when your current belt notch seems too tight, or when you have to breathe in, to get your jeans closed, or if you can't seem to wear a favorite shirt, because the buttons are in danger of popping. . . something is wrong. Those are what Old Wisdom called Warning Signs.  Of course, businesses want to be able to offer us a wider variety of goods, so many (including top level department stores) are now offering larger sizes.  And that's made it easier (than in the Old Days), to ditch those tight pants, shirts and belts, for larger sizes that let us fit into them, better.  And there's NOTHING wrong, with looking good, in clothes that fit you, well. That being said, the value of those snugger ...

Old Wisdom seems to go against what I open this blog entry with. That is relying on Old Wisdom rather than new data. But never say never. Our elders used to make sure that we did our homework, usually as close to the time we returned home from school as possible. The homework we need to do now, is very much in line with the kind of things we need to do, to get healthy. And to eat well. Doing your homework means checking out the pros and cons of different eating plans. It means not doing something just because it's trendy. It means avoiding fads. In fact, despite all the fad and trendy diets out there, obesity is increasing significantly in America. So all these fads and trends haven't really helped, have they? And a lot of that is because people just don't do their homework. What does it take to get your homework done? It means reading. It means asking your doctor. It means checking in with a registered dietitian. It means tracking what you eat for a week or tw...

This may be one of the oddest bits of old wisdom. You know, the whole concept of willpower has gone by the wayside, as people have been told year after year that it's not your fault it's not your fault it's not your fault. I know that I'm in the distinct minority on this, but in many ways overweight IS (at least partially) your fault. And for many years I've said, "each forkful is a choice!" Because it is! Unless someone tied you down and force-fed you, then at least part of the responsibility for your weight is yours. And turning things around means being accountable. In the old days, that is, old wisdom, it was called willpower. It meant that you needed to bite the inside of your cheek, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, or do whatever you had to do to reach your goal. It meant not having that extra snack. It meant not having that donut in the morning. But it implied that you, yourself, had to make the decision. There was no blaming someone els...

Did it ever occur to you, that we are shouting at our senses? Look at food over the last 20 or 30 years. It has gotten ultra spicy, ultra oily, ultra greasy, ultra cheesy, ultra bacony, and just plain ultra. We've done everything we could, to shout at our senses. Some fifty years ago, foods were simple. Things like simple chicken broth, roasted chicken, a simple grilled steak, and plain boiled vegetables with a little butter. Now everything is overly spiced, seasoned, salted, and sauced. Over time, our taste buds have actually forgotten how to taste. If you watch some of the awful cooking shows on TV, the celebrity short order cooks (aka "chefs") will insist that things that they taste are without flavor. It's not true! Not true at all. It's just that we have deafened our taste buds from all the the seasoning, shouting at them, so we can't really taste anything anymore.  One celeb is even noted for "kicking it up a notch." Try something....

What I'm talking about, is the Yuck Factor, of course. For those of you unfamiliar with this expression, it refers to nearly anything that induces the response, "yuck!" in someone who sees it. In my day, it was limited to certain foods that kids often felt were inedible. In recent years, of course, it has extended itself into the world of vegetables, something that I absolutely cannot understand. But I did want to discuss those food items that the vast majority of the population still consider worthy of the word Yuck. For example organ meats. As a child, I grew up in a home with a father and mother who both went through the Great Depression, as did their parents. During that time, the best cuts of meat that are available to us now in any supermarket were not available to them. So families like ours relied on organ meats. This category of Yuck includes things like liver, kidneys, brains, tongue, sweetbreads, and tripe. While all organ meats are rather rich and r...