Eating Well, Living Well

I wish nutrition, weight management and optimal health were the mysteries we think they are. What is frustrating to me as a Nutrition Consultant is that the facts and information about optimal health are not only simple, but frankly, uninteresting. In addition to that, when you give people information about what changes to make, it's entirely unoriginal. People know that in order to feel better they should eat more vegetables. It's not new technology to tell people they can lose weight by implementing an exercise routine.

Sometimes I feel as though if my clients don't really need me, my menu plans, and nutritional meal data. Instead, they need their grandmothers. Yes, they need the matriarch and her handy Fannie Farmer Cook Book. I remember making mousse with my grandmother one Saturday afternoon, and I can tell you first hand it was so much work there was no guilt in eating it!

So what I mean to say is that the current health crisis is not so much about a lack of information; it's about lifestyle. I would go so far as to say the "health crisis" is at its core, a time crisis.

The value of a home cooked meal goes beyond its nutritional benefits. The fact that when you cook from whole foods you can control sodium, fat and sugar content, and that you can avoid additives like chlorine dioxide, heptyl butyrate, benzaldehyde, and sodium steroyl-2-lactylate are simply an incidental benefit of having the time to nurture yourself, your environment, your family and your local economy.

When you buy your vegetables at the farmers market every cent of your dollar goes to the farmer who grew your food, as opposed to the 0.05-0.15 cents to every dollar when you buy at the traditional grocery store.

When you bake your own bread, simmer your own soups, and sit down to eat with friends and family, dinner is the event of the evening instead of a necessary chore to choke down enough empty calories to keep you conscious as you rush to the next commitment on your calendar. You are breaking bread with loved ones and feeding your soul, instead of burning fossil fuels, inducing heartburn, and amping out your adrenal system when the stop light feels like it's taking too long.

So take some time this fall to smell the roses and even learn a few recipes on how to cook with them. It's harvest season and the sugar pumpkins are bursting with beta carotene and vitamin A. Figs are oozing magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Apples are at their maximum crispness, and cabbage is begging to dress up your salads and stir-fry’s - just waiting to lend a helping hand in fighting off cancer, ensuring adequate vitamin K, and escorting toxins out of your cells.