Gustation rhymes with crustacean.
Crabs and lobsters are crustaceans.
Crabs and lobsters taste good.
Taste is more formally called gustation.
O, let us celebrate gustation with jubilation!
(Gustation. Good. My Poetry. Bad.)
I love food. And drink. In current lingo, I'm a notorious foodie. People tend to question me, "Hey, how do you stay so slim and in good shape if you like to eat and drink so much?" The thing is, I tell them, it's not the eating that I love, it's the tasting. There is a huge distinction. As a weight management coach especially, I need to be clear about it. I have a theory: tasting--assessing, considering, judging, savoring--food could well be what is missing or deficient in the lives of many people who regularly eat too much or eat a poor quality diet. A Fast Food Nation cannot really be one in the same as a Gustation Nation, can it? Because if you taste a lot of different foods prepared in different ways, you won't choose to end up on the side of just eating the same few things wrapped in the same few packages, over and over again, right? It's like, the mountains are beautiful. But look over there, it's the beach. So now that you've seen all that, what, you won't bother looking at a sunset? Don't settle for a rut. You're missing out.
Even more important, I believe that if you actually taste your food with awareness and intent, there's no way you can come up on the side of wanting to eat a bunch of processed food instead of real food. At least, not if the comparisons are fair. Sure, in most cases deep fried hash brown patties from the drive-though will win over unseasoned lima beans at home. But shred your own potato and add some scallion and toast it up in a pan with good olive oil and some fresh cracked pepper, and see which one wins then.
Oh. Wait. You don't know how. You don't have time. Doing that costs more than the Value Browns.
It's true, if you go out to eat at a GOOD place, and order a side of hash browns with carmelized onions, they probably charge you two or three bucks for the pleasure. But you can take that three bucks and buy a couple pounds of red potatoes and a bunch of green onions and make enough hash browns for a crowd, or for the week. Yes you have to stock the olive oil but shut up. You WANT that oil. That oil is the ticket. It'll last you a long time and you'll be much healthier for it, and guess what else?
It tastes better. "Slow" food mostly does.
I do think it's a shame to call the opposite of fast food, slow food, because slow food is usually quite fast indeed, when at it's best. Remember, you had to drive to the fast food place to get the Value Browns. That took time. You had to wait for your turn and get out your money and then pull up to the next window, too. Okay, maybe that didn't take much time unless you went right before they stopped serving breakfast on the weekends. But you did need gas in your car to get there, and that took some time as well as cost some money to get. No different than the time you took to buy the potatoes at the store, right? Plus you were going to the store anyway, at some point, for laundry detergent or a gallon of milk or whatever, so it didn't really take any extra time to get the potatoes after all.
Also, if you had made them at home you could have made extra, for tomorrow and the next day, in no extra time. How much faster then, when you wake up tomorrow and want the Browns, but now you don't have to settle for that drive-through Value crap? AND you don't have to get over there before they stop serving breakfast. Because look at you, Mr. Gustation, you have some much better potatoes already in your fridge that you can crisp up in about two minutes.
I further theorize that it's much harder to be overweight or malnourished when you eat a variety of real wholesome foods you also happen to enjoy. Of course it's possible and it happens, but I say it's more difficult. When you eat a variety of real wholesome foods you enjoy, not only are you more continually satisfied by the contents of your diet, you are also cumulatively benefitting from nourishment and taste -- you're not just eating to eat, or eating to feel better about yourself, or eating whatever you pass by on your way home. You are well-nourished, and taste reminds you. Tasting food also reminds you that your tenth cookie tastes the same as the first, second and third one did. And if you love to dine out and let other people prepare foods for you, like I do, you should set the standard that you want it to be real. Eat well, especially when you're spending that kind of money and time on going out for meals you could do for yourself.
Since there's not all that much you can do to take care of your tongue and lips, other than trying not to burn them or bite them, plus brushing your tongue, and avoiding tobacco, I've decided we should Pick your Sense of Taste, instead of your Mouth.
Go for the Gustation.
It's easy to honor: simply don't shortchange it.
As a fitness professional I must remind you, food is fuel. It's true. But the rest of the truth is, that's not all. Food is also culture. Food is memories, tradition, comfort, ritual. Food is art. Food is luxury. Wanna know what food is for real? Go dig out a picture of you or your child at about 11 months old, with food. In this way we know, food is hair product and face cream and finger paint and mmmmmm. Little bird mouths open every second because here comes the airplane, say uuummmm. To the contrary, find another picture, and we see food can also be wall spackle, spittoon juice, dog communion, or an aversion so volatile it is instantly transformed into projectile weapon against any oppressors who would even dream of suggesting it be consumed.
When you're a baby, you know what you like.
When you get older, you don't know again for a while, because you're busy with other stuff. Like, maybe salmon is a pretty Crayola color but hellno you ain't eatin' any salmon when you're 9 years old. You'd sooner eat the crayon.
When you get older still, if all went well, you were requested to taste a few things before you refused them. You were encouraged to assess, consider, and judge by taste before you declared what you hated. Eventually, you were eating at a friend's house when, out of the blue, turkey tetrazzini appealed to you. You tasted and you loved it, even though it had mushrooms. Even after your mother had left you sitting at the table with a cold hard blob of it untouched on your plate, at least a dozen times.
Suddenly, screw the children's menu with the 99 cent corn dog, cuz that bacon-wrapped filet sounds good. What's bernaise? It has butter? Okay I'll try that too.
Finally, when you're all the way grown up, maybe you get a little confused again. It's too bad, because food is part of your daily life, and it shouldn't be very hard. But, for instance, you might be on a really tight budget. Yet you forget how cheap brown rice is and how great it tastes with also cheap cabbage and bean sprouts, and a couple of satisfying eggs scrambled in with a dab of chili paste for punch. Or, you might be really short on time, with school and work and all, and so you lose sight of how fast and easy it is to make crepe batter. You might never have taken out the crock pot since your bridal shower, so you don't realize pork shoulder goes in it with a bit of beer and onion and turned to low while you're gone all day, so you come back and you didn't do anything but you have fabulous pulled pork you can serve up with some slaw for a tasty end to a busy day.
You store the rest, wash the pot, and make a mental note. Next time you do happen to go out for Chinese or a pulled pork sandwich, you know what you're looking for. Like an 11-month old, you know what you like. And that pork, by the way, will go really well in the leftover crepes, which will store in the fridge for a week or so, to provide you with a couple more fabulous, affordable Fast (Slow) Food lunches.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Terrestrials Bone Home
The blog bone connected to the memory bone,
the memory bone connected to the song bone...
here, have a listen:
Dry Bones ('Dem bones, dem bones, dem skeleton bones)
I like to quote that song to my clients every once in a while, when they ask questions like, "Why does my foot/knee/back hurt now that I injured my hip?" or other such connection questions. Just like everything else in the universe, we really are all connected. Our bones provide a basis for everything else that makes us to come together and gather 'round as a body. In other words, if you ain't got bones as you move across this earth, you ain't one of us. You rattle chains and say boo! and stuff. We, on the other hand, have a strong internal foundation connecting us, down to the very end, to the land we walk on.
We can be sure that having bones is one of the most important things about our earthly bodies when we acknowledge that we can't get much deeper. Sure we can get smaller, with cells and molecules and all. And we can get just as important, with nerves and oxygen and all. But mostly, when you consider the human body, bones are at the base and bones are also what lasts the longest after the rest of us goes. When skin and senses and blood and guts are all gone, there's still a pile of bones left to feed the earth. Now, for that kind of fortitude, we owe them a little something don't you think?
How often did you even think of taking good care of your bones? Unless they break or shift painfully in a socket, people tend to go a very long time between bone health meditations and interventions. We shouldn't, really. Not when the care and keeping of our bones is so simply addressed. Without further adieu,
You've Got Over 200 Bones to Pick with Yourself
Fortunately, a bone is not alone when it comes to what it likes. Perhaps bones are never lonely because they're very straightforward and so easy to get along with. For the rest of your life, you can pick your bones without hardly any extra effort at all. That is because:
Skin and bones like the same things. Vitamin A, for example. We just talked about all that in the last post.
What's good for your blood and good for your guts is also good for your bones. Vitamin K, for example, which is made in a healthy gut, and is also readily found in dark leafy greens like spinach and collards and kale. Eat plenty of those greens and keep your intestinal health on track, and your bones will be happy, too. Because Vitamin K helps fortify bone and contributes to calcium metabolism. Also, there's Vitamin D, a friend to bones and blood....oh, and calcium. Calcium is a mineral that is stored in your bones and teeth--and it plays a critical roll in bone health and can be a key to effective management of hypertension.
Remember, we can get quite a picture of your health status via your blood, right? Bones keep close company with healthy blood. You know high blood pressure is unhealthy, which is a result of inflammation. Well, go figure, Vitamin A helps in the blood pressure management. Finally, blood clotting is a necessary mechanism in the body, but many people are on blood thinners, which in turn disable some of the body's clotting ability. Before that happens, Vitamins D and K are involved in promoting a healthy system.
Any friend of your muscles is a friend of your bones. Want strong muscles? Work out for strength. Want strong bones? Work out for strength. Impact will work too--walking, running and the like. Stretching, also good. Unlike muscles at rest, moving, stretching, flexing muscles pull on bones, and that stimulates processes that make more muscles and more bones. Now, some say bicycling and swimming are maybe not so much help as lifting weights or dancing. Others say, just move, and your whole body with thank you. I agree with all of it.
With the majority of Project: Pick One Thing written at this point (only 11 more entries to go), it becomes ever more apparent how interconnected and related each aspect of our mental, emotional and physical health really are. You're a wonder and a miracle, a special package deserving all this particular attention...and by now, I hope you can feel that in your bones.
the memory bone connected to the song bone...
here, have a listen:
Dry Bones ('Dem bones, dem bones, dem skeleton bones)
I like to quote that song to my clients every once in a while, when they ask questions like, "Why does my foot/knee/back hurt now that I injured my hip?" or other such connection questions. Just like everything else in the universe, we really are all connected. Our bones provide a basis for everything else that makes us to come together and gather 'round as a body. In other words, if you ain't got bones as you move across this earth, you ain't one of us. You rattle chains and say boo! and stuff. We, on the other hand, have a strong internal foundation connecting us, down to the very end, to the land we walk on.
We can be sure that having bones is one of the most important things about our earthly bodies when we acknowledge that we can't get much deeper. Sure we can get smaller, with cells and molecules and all. And we can get just as important, with nerves and oxygen and all. But mostly, when you consider the human body, bones are at the base and bones are also what lasts the longest after the rest of us goes. When skin and senses and blood and guts are all gone, there's still a pile of bones left to feed the earth. Now, for that kind of fortitude, we owe them a little something don't you think?
How often did you even think of taking good care of your bones? Unless they break or shift painfully in a socket, people tend to go a very long time between bone health meditations and interventions. We shouldn't, really. Not when the care and keeping of our bones is so simply addressed. Without further adieu,
You've Got Over 200 Bones to Pick with Yourself
Fortunately, a bone is not alone when it comes to what it likes. Perhaps bones are never lonely because they're very straightforward and so easy to get along with. For the rest of your life, you can pick your bones without hardly any extra effort at all. That is because:
Skin and bones like the same things. Vitamin A, for example. We just talked about all that in the last post.
What's good for your blood and good for your guts is also good for your bones. Vitamin K, for example, which is made in a healthy gut, and is also readily found in dark leafy greens like spinach and collards and kale. Eat plenty of those greens and keep your intestinal health on track, and your bones will be happy, too. Because Vitamin K helps fortify bone and contributes to calcium metabolism. Also, there's Vitamin D, a friend to bones and blood....oh, and calcium. Calcium is a mineral that is stored in your bones and teeth--and it plays a critical roll in bone health and can be a key to effective management of hypertension.
Remember, we can get quite a picture of your health status via your blood, right? Bones keep close company with healthy blood. You know high blood pressure is unhealthy, which is a result of inflammation. Well, go figure, Vitamin A helps in the blood pressure management. Finally, blood clotting is a necessary mechanism in the body, but many people are on blood thinners, which in turn disable some of the body's clotting ability. Before that happens, Vitamins D and K are involved in promoting a healthy system.
Any friend of your muscles is a friend of your bones. Want strong muscles? Work out for strength. Want strong bones? Work out for strength. Impact will work too--walking, running and the like. Stretching, also good. Unlike muscles at rest, moving, stretching, flexing muscles pull on bones, and that stimulates processes that make more muscles and more bones. Now, some say bicycling and swimming are maybe not so much help as lifting weights or dancing. Others say, just move, and your whole body with thank you. I agree with all of it.
With the majority of Project: Pick One Thing written at this point (only 11 more entries to go), it becomes ever more apparent how interconnected and related each aspect of our mental, emotional and physical health really are. You're a wonder and a miracle, a special package deserving all this particular attention...and by now, I hope you can feel that in your bones.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Here's the SKIN-ny
The care and keeping of your skin is a health, fitness and lifestyle concern--and beauty, while it is skin deep in some ways, also goes deeper than we tend to remember.
Skin care products and beauty advice are multi-billion dollar industries world wide, and there's no shortage on tips for us, of every race, age and other demographic you can think of. They cover everything so well, there is even something called combination skin to prevent you from having to use a combination of products for different areas of your skin. Yet most of the basics of skin care and skin beauty are quite universal. So, summarizing the insides and outs of a sensible skin care regime is pretty quick and easy.
(Don't) Pick One Thing: Your Skin
Because you might scar. Other fast facts on what not to pick include: your nose, your toes and the loser. However, close to the act of picking, in the sense that skin cells are removed, is the process of exfoliation, which you should do. It's one of the most-mentioned bits of advice by both dermatologists and beauty editors. One comment I came across in my research said men's skin may retain more of a youthful look overall because they exfoliate daily with a razor. Retinoids are a class of topical products that can be prescribed to you here in the United States to slough off old skin and encourage new collagen production (that is exfoliating) quite well. Retinoids work for anti-aging, acne and other skin conditions.
Dairy foods with Vitamin A are a real boon to skin health. Actually, dietary Vitamin A is considered essential. Oh, and guess what vitamin A is actually called? Retinol. Sound familiar? (see above) Since everything is connected in my world, we should also keep in mind that brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, like berries and carrots and spinach and sweet potatoes, supply beta-carotene which is converted into Vitamin A in the body. In this same class of vibrant veggies and fruits we also find many antioxidants, all central to healthy, attractive skin. Once again we see how important a nourishing and natural diet is to our whole self. That's why we say it's wholesome. And by the way, you don't need supplements or pills for these things in most cases. You can get too much that way.
Since what you put on your plate seems to be as important to your skin as what you put on your skin, we should also reiterate about the essential fatty acids we spoke of last time. Foods like salmon and olive oil help your cells, and thus your skin cells. Other good stuff for skin seems to be green tea, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Deja vu again? We've talked about inflammation before. In a nutshell, Inflammation = Bad. It shows up deep inside as your blood pressure and your physical pain, but it shows on the surface, too, in ruddiness and eczema and blood vessels and such.
Ooh, and don't forget water! Good clean water cures many an ill, and your skin really appreciates your proper hydration. So does your smile, which you know if you've ever had those dry, cracked lips that make it hard for you to smile. No matter what's happening with the occasional pimple, rash or wrinkle, your skin never looks better than when it's decorated with a wide smile. Or your favorite aunt's magenta lipstick prints.
Speaking of lipstick, for more fun girly-type skin tips like how to spritz on your moisture and sponge on your sunscreen, look here for the 50 Best Skin Care Tips of All Time at InStyle.
Finally, don't smoke and don't drink too much booze (I know we've all heard this before...it's the free radicals that do the damage and carrying on like a party animal appears to release your radicals quite a lot). And remember to wear your sunscreen. It's THE number one mantra given by all the smartest sources--protect your skin from the sun. I personally haven't done a great job of that over the years, what with all the baby oil and aluminum foil sun reflecting devices we used to use when I was a teen. But these days, it's so easy, there's no excuse not to take a little extra precaution. Sunscreen comes in a moisturizer and cute hats shade your face. Getting older and showing the lines of my life doesn't bother me all that much, but it's nice to know I can hold off some of the effects of aging, plus keep my skin a little safer from the free radicals I release while searching for my lost shaker of salt on occasion.
Skin care products and beauty advice are multi-billion dollar industries world wide, and there's no shortage on tips for us, of every race, age and other demographic you can think of. They cover everything so well, there is even something called combination skin to prevent you from having to use a combination of products for different areas of your skin. Yet most of the basics of skin care and skin beauty are quite universal. So, summarizing the insides and outs of a sensible skin care regime is pretty quick and easy.
(Don't) Pick One Thing: Your Skin
Because you might scar. Other fast facts on what not to pick include: your nose, your toes and the loser. However, close to the act of picking, in the sense that skin cells are removed, is the process of exfoliation, which you should do. It's one of the most-mentioned bits of advice by both dermatologists and beauty editors. One comment I came across in my research said men's skin may retain more of a youthful look overall because they exfoliate daily with a razor. Retinoids are a class of topical products that can be prescribed to you here in the United States to slough off old skin and encourage new collagen production (that is exfoliating) quite well. Retinoids work for anti-aging, acne and other skin conditions.
Dairy foods with Vitamin A are a real boon to skin health. Actually, dietary Vitamin A is considered essential. Oh, and guess what vitamin A is actually called? Retinol. Sound familiar? (see above) Since everything is connected in my world, we should also keep in mind that brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, like berries and carrots and spinach and sweet potatoes, supply beta-carotene which is converted into Vitamin A in the body. In this same class of vibrant veggies and fruits we also find many antioxidants, all central to healthy, attractive skin. Once again we see how important a nourishing and natural diet is to our whole self. That's why we say it's wholesome. And by the way, you don't need supplements or pills for these things in most cases. You can get too much that way.
Since what you put on your plate seems to be as important to your skin as what you put on your skin, we should also reiterate about the essential fatty acids we spoke of last time. Foods like salmon and olive oil help your cells, and thus your skin cells. Other good stuff for skin seems to be green tea, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Deja vu again? We've talked about inflammation before. In a nutshell, Inflammation = Bad. It shows up deep inside as your blood pressure and your physical pain, but it shows on the surface, too, in ruddiness and eczema and blood vessels and such.
Ooh, and don't forget water! Good clean water cures many an ill, and your skin really appreciates your proper hydration. So does your smile, which you know if you've ever had those dry, cracked lips that make it hard for you to smile. No matter what's happening with the occasional pimple, rash or wrinkle, your skin never looks better than when it's decorated with a wide smile. Or your favorite aunt's magenta lipstick prints.
Speaking of lipstick, for more fun girly-type skin tips like how to spritz on your moisture and sponge on your sunscreen, look here for the 50 Best Skin Care Tips of All Time at InStyle.
Finally, don't smoke and don't drink too much booze (I know we've all heard this before...it's the free radicals that do the damage and carrying on like a party animal appears to release your radicals quite a lot). And remember to wear your sunscreen. It's THE number one mantra given by all the smartest sources--protect your skin from the sun. I personally haven't done a great job of that over the years, what with all the baby oil and aluminum foil sun reflecting devices we used to use when I was a teen. But these days, it's so easy, there's no excuse not to take a little extra precaution. Sunscreen comes in a moisturizer and cute hats shade your face. Getting older and showing the lines of my life doesn't bother me all that much, but it's nice to know I can hold off some of the effects of aging, plus keep my skin a little safer from the free radicals I release while searching for my lost shaker of salt on occasion.
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