Eat YOUR Way

These days, there are many different approaches you can take in choosing what you eat. You may be convinced that you can best fuel your body by eating low carb, low fat, meat-free, HFCS-free, additive-free, gluten-free, raw, or prehistoric. Your ethics may lead you to chose to eat vegetarian, to maximize global food supplies, or vegan, so as not to cause suffering to other creatures. Concern for the environment may lead you to choose locally-produced items whenever possible or even to forage from what has been wasted by others. If your interest is in maximizing your culinary experience, you may insist on the freshest ingredients prepared to rigorous standards, or you may be concerned with cooking dishes that are authentic representations of foods eaten in other cultures.

I don't disrespect any of those choices. Science may eventually produce real guidance about what ways of eating are the healthiest, but it can't tell us what's most ethical or most delicious.

Each of these ways of eating has many adherents that live peaceably among us and have no interest in persuading the rest of us to make the same choices they have. But, the times being what they are, each way of eating also has some adherents that believe that their way is the only valid way, that feel (and express) superiority to the rest of us. And it's the shrill voices of the latter group that are most easily heard in the cacaphony.

Here's my point:

Don't be bullied.

If the way you've chosen to eat seems right to you and to whoever you've chosen to advise you, go for it, and ignore the people who want to put you down for it. Those eating in other ways are entitled to choose their own meals.

But they're not entitled to choose yours.

(Note: edited 2/22/11 7:15 to make a small correction.)

The Goodie Table

We have monthly "birthday parties" at my workplace. I'm a little grumpy about them, for several reasons. But, I cooperate, at least partially. I show up, I join in singing "Happy Birthday", and I clap. Then I slink off, back to my desk. I think that's good enough, and other folks seem to think so, too. And that would be that, except for one thing:

The goodie table.

See, we take turns bringing treats to to the "party". There's a cake, and usually some cookies, perhaps some potato chips, and (oh, yes) the fruit-and-veggie tray. And after the party is over, this stuff is all left out for folks to nibble on.

Yes, it sits there. It sits there deliciously. And it mocks me.

"Bob", I hear it saying, "you can't hold out forever. Come. Eat. Enjoy."

And it's right. I can't hold out forever, and I do come and eat.

My own diet, the food I eat day in and day out, is getting better and better. It's still a LONG way from perfect, but I am eating many fewer carbs, much less fat, and many more vegetables and whole grains than I once did.

But the goodie table gets me. Every month.

D-Feast Friday: Curry Cauliflower Soup

This soup grew out of what I had on hand one evening.

Cooking oil of your choice
1 head cauliflower, cut into smallish florets
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
A few stalks green onion, shopped or shredded
1 tomato, chopped
Curry powder
Cinnamon powder
Salt
2-3 cups cooked short- or medium-grain brown rice

1. This is probably optional, but this was going to be a stir-fry when I started, so I sauteed the cauliflower and green onions for a few minutes.
2 Add chicken stock.
3 Add curry powder to taste, then add some more. I think I used like 2 tsps. This much was an accident, but it worked. Trust me on this.
4. Add some cinnamon powder, maybe 1/2 to 1 tsp. It may just be me, but I find that cinnamon takes some of the heat out of curry while not taking away from what I call it's 'warmth'. I'm not Emeril and don't know how to describe this stuff.
5. Add tomato and salt to taste.
6. When the cauliflower is about tender, add the rice and cook for a few more minutes. Serve hot.

Small Victories

I was recently reading a post by Babs Campbell, and one phrase she used plugged into something I've been thinking a bit about.  In their first meeting, she wrote, her endo had said "You learn to eat right when you congratulate yourself on minor wins rather than attacking yourself for occasional misses."

As is true with many people, I'm much more proficient at the "attacking yourself" than I am at the "congratulating myself".  Sometimes, my efforts at healthy living feel like an unending Sahara Desert of failure.  The truth, of course, is much more complicated -- each day is a mix of good and less-than-good choices.  While I know in my head that I can't win by stressing the negative, taking credit for the victories and being gentle about the losses runs really counter to the way I handle things.

I'm going to work on taking a quick inventory of the small wins at the end of each day.  This may help turn around the sense of powerlessness I often feel over my own behavior in this area.

Cheap Healthy Eats: The Basic Tradeoff

Earlier today, I read a post in Chris Stocker's blog "The Life of a Diabetic" entitled  "Eating Healthy for Diabetes Doesn't Have to be Expensive." In it, he describes the changes he's made in buying some materials to make his lunch instead of eating out every day, at a nice little savings.  I want to expand out on that a bit with some thoughts of my own.

Disclaimer: Nobody knows better than me that food is complicated.  None of the below should be seen even necessarily a description of what I do (unless I say so) let alone a sermon on what you should do.

Over the last several decades, our culture has sought ways to spend money to save time.  All sorts of goods and services have been developed to allow us to trade some money to save some time.  This is very true of the food industry.  Thus, one way to save some money on our food is to make that essential trade the other way -- spending a little more time to save some money.

Our grocery stores are rife with opportunities to do this: whole chickens are cheaper per serving than boneless skinless chicken breasts, stalk celery is cheaper per crunch than bags of precut, "regular" oatmeal is cheaper per breakfast than instant, and bulk spinach is cheaper than bags of prewashed. Generally, the closer you can get to the food as it exists in nature, the less you'll spend, because you're not paying somebody else to do the prep. 

There are exceptions to this: it's my understanding that baking bread, for example, doesn't become economical until it's pretty high quality bread that you're replacing.  There are other cases where the savings only manifest if you compare items of similar quality: it's pretty cheap to make your own frozen burritos, but it's not as cheap as the low-end burritos, at least some of which are wrapped in TWO tortillas. (That means there's what, two tablespoons of actual filling?)

I'm not a home economist, but it's my impression that part of what we mean when we say that "eating healthy is more expensive" is that we want our healthy food to be as ready to eat as the less healthy food we want to replace.  If we can invest some time, we might find that it works better at the cash register.

Additionally, it's worth remembering that some foods are very cheap indeed if we're willing to do more of the prep.  I'm not sure there's a better protein bargain in the whole store than dried beans, a bargain we can take advantage of with a little advance planning.   And many frozen vegetables are quite inexpensive if we're willing to throw them in a bowl with a little water and some plastic wrap in order to microwave them rather than buy the steamer packs. 

So, as we look to replace unhealthy foods with healthier ones, we might think about where we can work a little more food prep time into our schedules.  That might not only save us some money but help us consume fewer of the additives found in most more highly-processed foods.  Plus, doing more of our own prep allows us to add our own flavorful touches.

Again, I'm not a home economist.  I don't know how much of your own cooking you'd need to do to make a healthy diet cheaper than one based in convenience foods.  But I'm certain that spending a little more time in the kitchen can soften the blow considerably.

What Would I Want in a Food Plan?

Having ranted for a couple of posts about food choices, and thinking about my upcoming appointment with a dietician, I thought it might be interesting to explore what an ideal food plan for me would be.  If I was just handed a pamphlet, what would I want in it?  If I can figure out what I really want, maybe I can find it or even produce it.

• Flexibility -- but not too much.  I don't want to be tied in to a regimented plan, but can also be frozen in the face of too little structure.  Maybe something on the lines of having a few choices for things to do at each meal.
• Basic recipes -- included recipes should be easy, and more aimed at demonstrating what to eat than proving it can be delicious.  I'm not a horrible cook, and even enjoy it from time to time, but I tend to get a bit freaked out by recipes.  Tell me how to get nutritious food on the table fast, and I can add the fancy touches.
• Guidance on how to cheat -- sometimes my body just doesn't feel like I've had enough to eat, and another serving of broccoli just won't cut it.  What can I do that would be less harmful than ordering a pizza?
• Easy recordkeeping -- I'm not especially good at keeping records, logs, diaries, etc -- but I've been known to do it when given the tools to do it quickly.
• As close as reasonable to "normal" eating -- I think I'd do best with an approach focused on good choices and portion control rather than a whole new way of living.  I suppose I could do the initial phase of the South Beach Diet to save my life....but I'm not sure I could. :)

Hmm.  This is interesting.  I'll have to think about it some more.

If you have any ideas about what your ideal food plan would be like, I'd love to see 'em in the comments.

Food -- It's Complicated

My last post was silly, but was born out of frustration and a serious point: food has become very complicated in our culture, and for diabetics it's just that much more so.

Our society has many, many different messages out there about what we should eat and how we should prepare it.  Even among those that honestly believe in their advice, there's incredible diversity.  Adding considerably to the confusion are the charlatans and snake oil salesmen looking for a slice of the billions of dollars spent in the pursuit of healthy eating.

One reason for the different messages is the differing motivations behind the recommendations.  People can choose what they eat on many different criteria.  Some of these are:

• Aesthetics -- concern centered on the culinary quality (taste, etc) of the food.  Some of the drive behind the "eat local" movement is centered in this concern.  Vegetables grown from legacy varieties and plucked from the local farm this morning are probably going to taste much better than veggies bred for shelf life that have spent a week or so in trucks and warehouses.  How much we enjoy our food is important to some degree to most of us, though -- not many of us can treat food strictly as fuel.
• Nutrition -- concern centered on what our food does for (and to) our bodies.  There's a tremendous amount of conflicting advice about what foods constitute the optimal fuel and even on how that food should be prepared.  If there's a medical goal such as treatment of obesity, diabetes, or other conditions, the individual faces choices that are that much more confusing.  My take is that we simply don't know all that much about human metabolism (as if PWD's need to be told that), and that the next decade or so may bring some clarity.
• Ethics -- concern centered on the effect on others of our food choices.  We can choose food based on the environmental impact of its production and shipping, on the economic effects of our choices, and on moral issues such as the eating of animals.
• Other considerations -- many other factors affect our food choices: product availability, what will fit comfortably within our budget, what can be prepared with our cooking skill sets, and what our families will put up with.

Of course, most of us make our choices from a mix of motivations.  We'd like food that will help our BGs relatively steady, isn't wrapped in too much unrecyclable material, can be on the table before Leno comes on, and which the kids won't feed to the dog (and have the dog refuse).  Seems reasonable, no?  But it can be devilishly hard to pull off.

In about a week, I'm due to have a phone consultation with a dietitian supplied by my insurance company.  I'm hoping to get some personalized recommendation on daily carbs and fat grams and some notion of how to meet those targets.  I know how to eat low carb, and I know how to eat low fat, but I don't know how to do both and get enough calories to keep me from yelling at strangers.

Food.  It's complicated.

A Simple Desultory Philippic, or How I was Michael Pollan'd Into Submission

Eat low fat.
Eat low cholesterol.
Eat high fiber.
Eat Omega-3s.
Eat low sodium.
Eat antioxidants.
Don't eat anything that has a face.
Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't have recognized as food.
Margarine is better than butter.
Butter is better than margarine.
Olive oil is better than butter or margarine.
No, canola oil is the best.
Eat local.
Eat organic.
Eat sustainably.
Eat with a low carbon footprint.
Only eat foods that are in season in your area.
Stick to complex carbs.
Eat whole grains.
Eat like a caveman.
Eat like a Frenchman.
Eat acai.
Acai is an expensive ruse.
Drink wine.
Part of this complete breakfast.
Read the label.
The USDA in in league with the big food producers.
Eat raw.
Cook with only the freshest ingredients.
Stick to the perimeter of the grocery store.
Avoid red meat.
Avoid the dark part of white meat.
Honey is better for you than table sugar.
No, it isn't.
Don't take vitamins: get your nutrition from food.
Take vitamins to cover your bases.
Eat fatty fish twice a week.
Unless you're young, nursing, or pregnant, in which case don't.

Forget it.  I'm gonna have a frozen burrito.