I read an article recently about New York's law that requires restaurants to list the caloric count of the food. I thought this was a FANTASTIC idea! But what held my attention in the article is a focus in California on chain restaurants because they apparently are known for loading up their food with fat, salt and sugar so that it becomes more tasty to us. Wow. Makes me never want to eat at a chain again. Fortunately, there are many choices out there.I began to think about my own food habits. I try to follow Michael Pollan's advice of, "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." And yet, I seldom eat a raw tomato without sprinkling salt on it. Is this really necessary, I wondered. What does a tomato taste like without salt? Or toast without butter? Or a peach with the fuzz on? So I've made a pledge, and I encourage you to do so, as well. Before doctoring up my food, I will taste it in its natural state. I will enjoy the sweetness of the tomato that gets masked by the salt. I will feel the textures of the toast and the peach. I will not ask, "Do I like this?" but rather "How would I describe this?" One warning: when one experiences "real food" - it's hard to go back to a chain.
6 comments:
David Kessler wrote a great book called The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite where he discusses the fat, salt, sugar content of restaurant foods and how they feed an addiction to those items in our diet. I highly recommend the book.
Great advice and I know my eating habits could use some improvement. I wish that it wasn't so hard to stick to a raw foods diet. My daughter gave me the book "Rawsome!" by Brigitte Mars last Christmas.
Those peaches look so delicous, fuzz and all.
Hi Steph, thank you for the good article, and advise, and thanks for your visit. At the moment I am having difficulty with my blog, my three columns automatically changed to two column and lost most photos. I noticed your blog is listed on Tea Guy Speaks list, I tried listing mine since I need some traffic on my blog but I could not, being new at this blogging business I don’t know all the tricks. Can you help me please? My email address is rosesforsonalida@yahoo.com.
Good for you Steph! I love to season foods, but I always try to use the best ingredients & the most natural that I can. I use Mediteranean sea salt,(which has less sodium), I use lots of herbs, only real butter (it's not as bad for you as everyone thinks and is MUCH better than the alternatives) and seldom use sugar (unless of course I make sweets which then I use plain old sugar- there just isn't anything better!) I do use honey a lot as well. I also use a LOT of extra virgin olive oil too.
My DH and I have had this discussion, especially about salting food before you taste it. I love tomatoes without salt. I rarely eat at chain restaurants also; just because the food doesn't taste as natural.
Brava! Last year, I became very ill which resulted in dozens of food allergies so one of the things I can no longer eat are sauces and dressings. It's amazing how good food tastes when you just let it be food. Give you taste buds time to remember that food on its own is awfully good.
And, as a tea Lady, I hope you do the same for your teas! I always taste a new tea without milk or lemon or anything.
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