Many of you might resent the fact that I'm devoting a blog post to this subject, but for me and many others that I know, the topic of weight is one that has had a lasting impression on us our entire lives. As a kid, my weight fluctuated as I kept growing up and out (and then in again, and then out, and...). As a teen, I dieted, purged (yes, I was one of those girls), starved, gave up, and then repeated the cycle. By my first year of college, I had starved myself to a thinness so shocking to my mother that she threatened to yank me out of school if she didn't see signs that I was dieting healthily. Then, as an adult, I started the fluctuation cycle again, envying all my thin friends in their skinny jeans and wrap-around long sweaters. In 2002, I started a diet/exercise regime that got me down to a size 4 comfortably (size 2 if I was willing to suffer a bit and only eat fruit that day), but also involved daily 2-mile runs, 3-mile bike rides and fruit cups for dinner. Moving to Michigan introduced me to extreme winter weather (aka limited outdoor exercise) and well, BEER (aka laden-with-calories-yummy-beverage). Now I am somewhere between a size 6 and 8, depending on the cut. Am I happy with that? Not exactly. I'd love to be a trim, toned size 4 again. But while I enjoy a daily run, I'm not going to succumb to eating like a gerbil to fit into those sized 4 jeans again.
Having said that, I feel like I've found the answer to my eating dilemma. I've heard this advice spoken a million times by dieticians, models, etc., but I never really put into practice. It wasn't until being at a friend's house for dinner that I realized the truth to it all. My friend, a 5'9" uber-slender beauty (and yes, she's had a kid and managed to fit into her skinny jeans within days of giving birth!) is a wonderful cook, always experimenting with new ethnic recipes. When I'm at her house, I'm likely have to peanut-sauce-covered Chinese long beans, Thai butternut squash, and tofu and veggie curry all on the same plate. It's oh-so-very-yummy and I always get so excited about the obscene yumminess of it all that inevitably I have seconds on some--or all--of it. But my friend and her husband always only eat one serving of everything, and sometimes they don't even finish that. So then I always feel a little piggy and greedy and mortified as I'm shovelling the last spoonfuls down my throat.
My friend's husband is French (well, his mother is, and he speaks fluent French and has spent a lot of time in France). My friend also speaks French and has spent time in France. I realized that they really do follow the traditional French diet--eating slowly and eating only one portion. Americans are bad about savoring our food. We enjoy tastes, but we tend to eat fast and furious, eating MORE as a way of enjoying flavors, rather than eating slowly. We then end up full and uncomfortable, our buttons on the verge of bursting, our food babies only matched by our food comas. How nice would it be to eat small bites, letting those wonderful flavors penetrate our taste buds while we enjoy the warm conversation of our loved ones. To allow our stomachs to become naturally satisfied as the food settles in for digestion, rather than the American tradition of snarfing down food and then eating more before you have a chance to become satisfied.
Last night, we made some incredibly yummy and decadent portabello stuffed ravioli with a creamy mushroom alfredo sauce. Polished off with red wine (I know, creamy dishes should have a white wine, but I already had a red open and it suited the meal anyway) it was such a delightful meal. As I was heading back to sit down with my second helping, I realized I didn't really need it. Before I could eat any of it, I jumped up, scraped everything back into the pot and sat down to enjoy the rest of my wine. I felt satisfied both in my belly and in my mind. What a novel concept--satisfied, not full!
So, maybe if I keep this up, I'll fit back into those size 4 pants yet.
Or, maybe I should wait until after Thanksgiving dinner.
1 comment:
we just read michael pollan's "food rules" together in one short evening. there were several rules supporting your post here - and involving the french and how they may eat chocolate croissants, etc, but how they only have 1 portion, and might spend 2 hours eating it socially. i was inspired as well.
ps. miss you. :)
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