Popular Cook Books and Magazine Food Suggestions

On a recent trip to the library I glanced quickly at cookbooks in the New Releases section and was amazed to still see that the recipes, although quick to produce, still promote less than ideal ingredients. If you want to disrespect your insides with quick food just buy from established fast food restaurants and support business in your community. These recipes contained so many processed products, few fresh ingredients and completely ignore the basic principle that to be quick and easy and FRESH, simple advance preparation is necessary. The answer is not to create fast and quick meals using processed foods but to learn some simple recipes containing fresh ingredients and to discipline yourself to think ahead a bit and have ONE prep session a week. A prep session includes pre washing fruits and vegetables, chopping some veggies, thawing some meat or cooking some meat to be used in recipes for the week. You don't even have to have specific recipes in mind to be ready for the week. Having fresh things ready to go allows creative meals to occur, like an impromptu stir fry or saute something to nutritionally compliment an omlet or frittata. Don't know how to do any of these...take a class. Respect your one and only body enough to fuel it with quality as often as possible.

The Soul and Food

According to Thomas Moore in "Soul Mates", the souls innate tendency is towards attachments, particularly things of the past and is resistant to change. Do you see parts of your life that are like that? I do. Ever heard of Soul Food? How about Comfort Food? A deep part of us has become attached to food from our youth, from our culture and from our experiences. That is not all bad but it could have some negative impact too. If food choices are so ingrained with our deepest memories and comforts I understand how difficult change from those comfort foods can be. A very deep part of us is unwilling to give up those foods but no one should be asking anyone to forever give up their comfort foods. There may be a time when we need to choose other food options for a period of time but forever is not part of most smart equations. Restraint and portion control might be new to your vocabulary but there is no need to add forever to that vocabulary list. The only thing I know to be forever is death and we are not there yet.

Retirement Food

What does one do when reaching the place of being single, older and living alone? My mother has been widowed nearly 2 years now and is over 80, living alone and not interested in cooking. Should she continue struggling with feeding herself, feeling guilty when she doesn't do it well, spending money on take out food and eating nutrition pool frozen meals? What have others done when their parents or elderly relatives reach this critical point? If your senior doesn't live with you they face the challenge of grocery shopping and cooking. Too many low income seniors are living on canned soup, cheap meat like pork and probably not eating enough fresh fruit or vegetables because of expense. If your senior is not low income, they are still probably not eating organic and hormone free choices. With their choices decided by habits formed over the years, their nutrition and health are already in a compromised state. Should we ignore the poor choices our beloved seniors make, knowing it contributes to the fragile mental state we have already noticed? I don't know that we have any say in what our precious seniors eat or drink. My siblings and I have tried to encourage Mom to take some supplements and to drink more water. We have hoped she would eat a little breakfast each morning to stimulate her metabolism which might encourage her body to burn those excess pounds that contribute to her inactivity. We have hoped that by encouraging her to make a few healthy choices, the quality of her life will be improved and her years ahead greater in number. We want her to stay with us but with quality in her days. She has made a choice to leave her independent living and join the ranks of a retirement facility. Meals are provided and plentiful and it has only taken a few weeks to get programed to the meal schedule. Granted she is eating regularly but probably too much and too often. The up side of retirement living is the social component. There is something to be said for not living too solitary a life in our later years. Be patient with your seniors who continue to say "I'm doing fine" even when we know they are not.