Photo by Colors of My Dreams

Like the rest of America, I started the New Year with a resolution of eating better and being active. It wasn’t until the end of January that I became serious about the former.

After earning my Bachelor’s degree, I expected to take full advantage of my newly acquired free time by picking up old hobbies and learning how to cook. Instead I ate out. A lot. After months of pizza, Chinese take-out, and fast food burgers, I received a rude awakening: my bank statement. I added up all the times I had opted to order take out, grab fast food or eat at a chain restaurant in a single month and came up with an astonishingly embarrassing total of $162.00

I spent $162.00 on food I didn’t even enjoy. I decided I would change that before I became the literal embodiment of the Supersize menu. But first, how does one choose a banana over a Mrs. Fields cookie? How can one possibly choose between Panera’s panini and a home-made sandwich? It’s as easy as changing your perspective. Trust me. I am not, by any means, a food critic or an experienced cook which should provide some encouragement to even the most inept at the stove. Here are some simple steps I took to start enjoying home-prepared food and ultimately eating better.

1. De-construct Your Excuses - We’re all very busy, tired, distracted, stressed, [insert lazy] people. I acknowledge that and must move past it. If I have time for browsing my favorite blogs, I have time to make lunch for tomorrow.

2. Identify Your Needs - Whether you seek medical advice or not, it’s important to get a grip on what you really want out of your food. It’s hard to figure out since we’re so inundated with diet fads and reports on obesity (how about this bullshit book, Skinny Bitch?), but it all boils down to your basic, healthy needs. In my case, I wanted a change- I wanted to enjoy raisins again, I wanted to eat a fresh salad that I had prepared and I wanted to taste organic chicken without a dash of seasoning. It occurred to me that paying someone to hand me mystery meat in a paper bag from the side of a building isn’t actually normal or particularly healthy.

3. Make it Easy for Yourself - Figure out a good preparing schedule that works for you. I love to sit down and have a quiet, satisfying meal. Cooking or eating shouldn’t be a daunting chore, a diet assignment or a nuisance. I often feel drained when I come home from work, so I don’t want to spend a long time preparing the meal and juggling side dishes. I usually have leftovers from the night before or whip up a quick veggie salad with green beans, cottage cheese and olive oil (all of which are textures, colors, tastes and smells that I absolutely love!)

4. Learn to Enjoy the Smell of Food - This seems like it would be impossible to avoid but is an essential aspect of enjoying home-prepared food. The distinct smell of garlic simmering in a pan of rich olive oil sends all sorts of fun signals from your nose to your brain and you’ll find yourself salivating quite literally. Try closing your eyes and identifying foods in your home and at work. You’ll discover there’s an enormous difference between the intrusive, slightly musty smell of Lean Cuisine wafting through the cubicles at work and the pleasant, aroma of a marinated salmon cooking in a pan. In Bill Buford’s book, Heat, he describes how working in a chef’s kitchen had conditioned him to recognize when a dish had finished cooking simply by it’s smell.

5. Chew Your Food Slowly - I’ve read this step in several magazines that propose chewing slowly as a way to help curb large appetites and lose weight. I find that chewing slowly preserves those divine melt-in-your-mouth moments: the perfectly grilled steak, a hot lightly buttered corncob, the tart taste of a freshly blended smoothie. Ask yourself these questions as you chew: What seasoning or condiments do I taste? Is it salty or sweet, or both? What sorts of unexpected flavors would I be willing to try (i.e. cinnamon to salmon)?

6. Be Picky - Allow yourself the option to eat what you enjoy, reintroduce yourself to foods you haven’t had in a while or foods you once hated/loved. Don’t have the taste buds for pickles? Can’t stand the texture of yogurt? Hate eating the same thing two days in a row? That’s ok! When preparing chicken for the week, try a variety (breaded, marinated, grilled etc). Don’t get discouraged, it’s impossible to get bored with a world of food to discover!

7. Lastly, do your research and have fun - As with everything in life, moderation is key. It’s important to keep a healthy balance so read up on nutrition, always consult your doctor and don’t be afraid to try new things such as vegan recipes or foods from your local ethnic market.

Who knows, maybe soon you’ll find yourself turning down that invitation to eat at Chik-fil-a to try the Waldorf salad you whipped up the night before. Eat up and enjoy!

Tags: cooking, food, love

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 1:24 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.