"Food is an important
part of a balanced diet."
Fran Lebowitz
Here's a funny thing about funny little bits of pithy wisdom- they seem to state the obvious until, as in this case, one wonders
"Hmm. Well, exactly what does one mean by food.....
A week or so spent in the virtual company of paleodieters and their websites has only stirred this proverbial soup. So much food advice, and all I can learn for sure is that food is an important part of a balanced diet. If by balanced diet one means an eating pattern that promotes health, and by food one means healthy food. It's all so confusing!
Not so long ago, returning to the healthy diets of human progenitors meant imitating the diets of Asia, not paleolithic places. The Asian diet. Theoretically packed with more wonders than an emperor's tomb. Here's a description of the Asian Diet, and the Asian Diet Pyramid. (spoiler alert: this particular pyramid is built on rice flavored carbs)
Then a little less not-so-long-ago, nutritionists and their lab-coated ilk told us that following the the Mediterranean diet was a sure and prescription-free path toward lower cholesterol and a healthier heart.
"Hmm. Well, exactly what does one mean by food.....
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| and what does one mean by balance?" |
Not so long ago, returning to the healthy diets of human progenitors meant imitating the diets of Asia, not paleolithic places. The Asian diet. Theoretically packed with more wonders than an emperor's tomb. Here's a description of the Asian Diet, and the Asian Diet Pyramid. (spoiler alert: this particular pyramid is built on rice flavored carbs)
Then a little less not-so-long-ago, nutritionists and their lab-coated ilk told us that following the the Mediterranean diet was a sure and prescription-free path toward lower cholesterol and a healthier heart.
Paleo diet, Asian diet, Mediterranean diet- different emphasis (grammar raptors, what's the plural here- emphasissies? emphaseas? emphasizes?) but here's one thing they have in common. They all have staked out a territory relatively low on the food chain.
No, not like this:
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| (Rock paper scissors, ancient diet-style: Paleo dieter eats a Mediterranean dieter, who eats an Asian dieter, who eats a vegetarian.) |
and certainly nothing as complicated as this:
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| (what is this? a diagram from a dance school for ants?) |
Though they differ wildly on the merits or evils of animal protein, dairy and grains, they seem to agree that if someone somewhere in a lab is working to make sure it tastes good to you,
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| it might not be long-term good for you. |
Finding new ways to play on the bottom links of the food chain qualifies as fun around here, so I've planned an all week,all Paleo set of dinners from nine (count 'em nine) different Paleo diet websites. Before we start on dinners that revolve around the word diet, and lest you think that I myself am walking a new diet plank, I shall offer a few observations learned in that way commonly referred to as the hard way:
1. View extreme dietary promises, especially promises that have a figure attached, with a skeptical eye.
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| Someone may be trying to sell you something. And they may care more about selling than they care about you. |
2. Approach sudden, drastic dietary revolutions with grace and diplomacy, thinking carefully before drawing hard lines that exclude entire food groups.
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| Because revolutions often provoke counterrevolutions. And counterrevolutions get messy when they hit the nutella jar. |
3. Remember Sophia Loren's famous explanation of her legendary ka-powiness:
"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti":
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| so much for zero-carb. |
4. If you really wish to change the way you eat (or anything else), try letting go of guilt. Guilt, shame and self-hatred can give you hours and hours of morbid entertainment,
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| but they are lousy at motivating change. |
5. Vis-a-vis observation 4. Make health, life, attitude, energy, and not size, the goal of change. After all, when the supposed originators of the original paleo diet imagined the ultimate in feminine beauty,
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| this is what they came up with. |
There. Provisos, addendum and reflections on the hazards of any way of eating whose first three letters spell D-I-E having been dealt with, let's have fun with dinner, shall we?
Wednesday: Salmon with tomato basil relish and roasted broccoli.
Fish has been woefully absent from our plates for weeks, and I've made plans to correct that. The fish cooks in the oven, and I think the broccoli can cook along with it. I'll be making enough fish for salmon cakes on Friday, and there's Greek salad on Saturday that will use up any leftover tomato stuff.
I've linked to a paleo adaptation of Ina Garten's chicken recipe, and it looks yummy. I'll be using the original Ina Garten version though which is easier to read, and easier to cook (and it's right here). Note: for some reason, the Ina Garten recipe wants you to peel 40 cloves of garlic. For sanity's sake, use prepeeled cloves, or make it fun with this awesome lifehack. There's chicken soup planned for Saturday, and tomorrow's salmon patties use sweet potatoes as a binding ingredient, so any leftovers will come in handy.
Friday: Salmon cakes and cauliflower pilaf
Remember the extreme low carb diets of yore that asked us to believe that cauliflower was an acceptable substitute for mashed potatoes? Hard-core paleo diets do that and ask cauliflower to imitate rice too. That's okay- around here we quite like cauliflower; it's super nutritious and this recipe looks really yummy. Making the cauliflower look like rice requires a food processor, but looking like rice isn't what will make this side dish taste great. If you don't have a processor, just chop the cauliflower up. The bits need to cook quickly though, so chop them as fine as patience and prep time will allow and I'll tip a bowl of sticky white rice over anyone who tells you that that's not good enough.
Saturday: Poblano bacon chicken chowder
Look! It's supposed to be rainy and below 80 degrees on Saturday!! Let's cook up a pot of soup, put on our jammies before dark and curl up with a novel or binge watch something on television! The leftover chicken finds a nice home in this soup, and I'll be using canned roasted hatch chiles if I don't have time or inclination to prep the poblanos. Bacon seems to be the darling of many low carb diets; the Paleo diet is no exception- but this does not make bacon a health food! The sodium, fat and chemicals in bacon should be approached with caution but...well, you know- it is bacon.
Sunday: Chicken fingers and Chopped Greek Salad
Chicken fingers are nothing too unusual, are they? I'm intrigued though, by the grownup spice combo in these. A true paleophile would cringe, but if you wish, substitute crushed rice crispies or instant potato flakes for a gluten free alternative to the almond meal. If you have leftover tomato basil relish from Wednesday, and it's not ugly, throw it in the salad. If it's ugly and not yet icky, throw it in a blender with some vinegar and olive oil and call it salad dressing.
There we go- a week's foray into this month's hot new food trend. Which, as far as food trends go, is a pretty good one. Far better than say, the eighties, when eating a tray of brownies was healthy if it was wearing a label that read "fat free". Or the later eighties, when the same plate of brownies were nearly health food as long as they were "sugar free". The paleo diet, like its Mediterranean and Asian cousins, is really just about learning to enjoy food that's real.
and that's what I hope for you.
I hope this week that you find balance
in what is genuine and beautiful.
I hope that you are nourished and nurtured
by what is true and uncomplicated-
things (and people) that transcend trends
and are simply lovely, no matter what they look like.
And I hope that you find a way
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| to pass all that ageless goodness along. |
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