As I posted on my Instagram page last month I was hired to prepare food for a scene on a television show. Since this was “picture food” I prepared the required dishes using traditional cooking methods. During the process of recreating said dishes the way a restaurant prepares them I had an epiphany: it takes loads of butter, cream, white sugar and the like to achieve the same taste people have grown accustomed.
There was minimal nutrition and all flavor and comfort in the dishes I made. I used 5 different cheeses and butter to make mac n cheese, and crazy amounts of both brown and white sugar on the sweet potatoes. To my chagrin the sweet potatoes were still not sweet enough compared to the way restaurants make them – yet, I refused to add anymore. The banana pudding – we won’t even go there. Was it good? Oh, yeah, you bet it was! But was it good for you? You know it wasn’t.
This experience reminds me of the time I first made ice cream. Not only did I use less sugar, but I also substituted white sugar for a different kind. I avoided egg yolks. I avoided full fat cream. I wanted a “healthier” version but same flavor profile of vanilla ice cream. The result – it was good but it wasn’t oh, my God, I gotta have more! good. It also wasn’t sweet. Everything that makes ice cream ice cream was missing in my quest to be healthy.
Guess what good people?! Healthy and dessert should not be in same sentence! And guess what else? That is OK.
We as a society have become obsessed with low-fat, no-fat, no carbs to the point that we have replaced the fat with sugar which is worse! My mindset used to be if its low or no fat then I could eat twice as much. Fat contributes to being full longer; and longer satiation periods leads to less eating. What’s better for us – a scoop of full-fat ice cream or a scoop of low-fat ice cream?
A scoop of full-fat ice cream is better so long as we don’t go back and add another and another and another … After all, ice cream is a dessert and what are desserts – treats!! By definition a treat is given when something is earned.
Like desserts eating out used to be a treat. We save up our coin ready for the weekend to go grab a bite. At the restaurant we overindulge on butter and fresh bread, a heavy meal satisfying all our taste buds finishing off with dessert that is like an ocean sunrise inside our mouths. Some of us ate out once a week while many once a month and others only on special occasions.
Rich foods and desserts are now staples to our everyday diets. Folks eat out more than they eat at home. Our taste buds are now dependent on rich foods, desserts and processed foods for everyday sustenance.
Food for thought: Does a person desensitized to violence after repeated exposure share the same experience of disconnect as a person who daily eats desserts, comfort foods and processed foods?
If we want ice cream, then darn it have full-fat ice cream. If we want any meal that’s rich, full of fat and carbs, then we should have that too. But should we have these things all the time? Everyday? Such foods should return to being a treat; which means we must earn them. We should earn them. (Should we not?)
Eating right doesn’t mean eating boring. Eating well has as much flavor and umami as our comfort foods and sweets. We get the added benefit of nutrient-dense foods fueling our bodies. Our bodies feel lighter, our brains sharper, our immune systems stronger and our overall well-being functioning to its fullest as designed.
When making desserts or even traditional mac n’ cheese we will substitute processed sugars, flours and the like yet still include everything else that makes it so good – full fat.
Let’s achieve the following together:
“We won’t eat rich foods and desserts all the time. We will eat a small portion. We won’t return for seconds.
We will Savor every bite.
We will Earn it.
It will be a Treat!”
0 comments