For part one please read: https://steemit.com/walking/@genxlifelessons/some-thoughts-on-health
So my wife is my conscience when it comes to eating. We are so very different. When we go shopping she makes her way to the fruit and vegetable section and will spend countless hours in those 3 rows feeling the products and considering the plumpness of tomatoes. I will head straight for the beer and wine section, followed by cleaning products and tins. If I had my way shopping – everything would go into the trolley as boxes (pizza and beer), bottles (wine, tomato sauce) and tins (vegetables). To an alien from out of space you wouldn’t be able to actually see it was food. My wife's trolley would all be organic, mis-mashed shapes, everything hand weighed and a whole lot of colour (greens, reds, purples) with no advertising on anything. (Which as an aside would be a great business idea if you could actually individually brand the marrows). My wife gets heart palpitations when she passes an organic old fashioned village greengrocer where the overpriced product is displayed out on the street in a rather unhygienic manner. She loves market stalls in undeveloped third world countries and if there are headless bloody chickens, all the better!
The truth is though that when these items are bought home, washed, peeled and put into a stew for the whole family – they are nutritionally diverse, tasty and have contributed to keeping down my waistline for more than a decade. If you really want to lose weight and maybe you also want to 'up' your energy levels through gym and fitness programs, but seriously concentrate on the input of what you really want to put in your mouth! (I'm thinking food here folks!)
There was something to be said for good old Victorian values – three square meals a day. Breakfast like a King, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. But leave the snacks. And drink lots of water (or was it very weak beer - I forget?)
So my broad life lessons for healthy eating:
- Partner with someone who can be your inner conscience and tell you to cut out the snacks
- Fix what you shovel into your mouth. Fresh is better. Moderation.
- Drink lots of water
In conclusion, we should never forget the great miracle that is food. I personally am pretty bad at this.... indeed I enjoy the ceremony of a great meal. The special attention the waiter gives to presenting food (like great slabs of meat at Gaucho’s steak restaurant). The company and wine. But the actual food is perhaps lost a little on someone like me. Sure I enjoy a good steak as much as anyone…but do I have the same passion as say my wife when it comes to tasting the actual food – no. Do I take an interest in exactly what ingredients (dare I say materials) that go into the food are? No....but she does. She loves to collect recipes passed down from her mother and try exotic foods from across the planet. She draws great comfort from using food from her own garden or picked fresh in the common and then resurrecting this as food for the table. (I never knew dandelion flowers made a great salad accompaniment).
Well off to lunch....