Monday, February 2, 2009

What it's not....

Why is it so much easier to define what ISN'T healthy -- or what might lead toward or away from "health" -- than it is to actually answer the question, "what does healthy mean?"

I want to begin defining what healthy looks like, feels like, and what it IS -- so I can begin to know when I'm on the path toward it, instead of on my way in the opposite or tangential direction.

But instead, I can say pretty definitively that a dinner of 1/2 a box of Dove ice cream bites and a small plate of leftover spaghetti is probably "not healthy." Evidence: how I feel right now.

Why do I allow myself to be ruled by a gang of tastebuds that don't give a lick (tee hee) about the rest of the body, as long as they get to bathe in smooth chocolate, cool creamy ice cream, and other such things? They're tyrants, they are!

How can I win them over in my quest for "healthy"?!?!

One strategy I am using almost daily: breakfast. My tastebuds are pretty pleased with the combinations of ingredients I've been putting at the bottom of the bowl each morning for a couple of weeks (fruit, yogurt, and other treats) ... and my body is pretty pleased with the fact that it has high-quality fuel to run on all morning: oatmeal!

Here's today's combination: frozen pineapple, frozen raspberries, a little swirl of lemon curd, and vanilla yogurt. Mmmm.

Breakfast

2 comments:

Julie-Ann said...

Can't I come to your house for breakfast? Dinner sounds pretty awesome, too! LOL

I love oatmeal in the mornings. Organic milk, craisons or berries, a little bit of chopped nuts - awesome and filling. Makes me feel good, too.

Sharon said...

Other "bottom of the bowl" combinations I've tried so far:

- frozen black cherries
- frozen pineapple bits
- a swirl of lemon curd*
- vanilla yogurt

- frozen blueberries
- dried blueberries
- a swirl of lemon curd*
- vanilla yogurt

- frozen raspberries
- raspberry sauce from Penzey's**
- vanilla yogurt

- fresh cranberry-orange relish/sauce
- dried craisons
- fresh orange sliced sections
- vanilla yogurt

- fresh orange sliced sections
- fresh banana chunks
- crushed triple-ginger cookies***
- vanilla yogurt

- frozen blueberries
- fresh orange sliced sections
- a swirl of lemon curd*
- vanilla yogurt

- frozen black cherries
- raspberry sauce from Penzey's**
- vanilla yogurt

Oh, I'm certain I've forgotten some of them ... but suffice it to say that I'm definitely having fun with it, and my family seems happy with the results!

I'm going to have to start adding nuts to my own bowl -- neither John nor Amy likes nuts "in stuff."

* Trader Joe's Lemon Curd (http://tinyurl.com/acqzlt)
** Penzey's Raspberry Enlightenment Sauce (http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysraspberryenlightenment.html)
***Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps (http://tinyurl.com/dh6bt8)