Whew, what a week! I am sorry for the long time away with no warning, but D's sister has been in town for a while and she ended up being stranded here for an extra few days because of the terrible road conditions. So we have been doing nothing but working and visiting. But, now I am back, and ready to start some new posts.
I just finished this great book, called French Women for All Seasons. It is a sequel to French Women Don't Get Fat, which I also enjoyed, but I think this one was a bit better. Now I know that they sound like unintelligent diet books, but they really aren't. The second book, especially, explains how French women (and men too, I am sure) manage to enjoy their lives, spend time in the moment, and in general are very happy people. They don't worry about rushing through life trying to get as many things done as possible throughout each and every day. They take time to eat, drink, talk, and in just enjoy themselves! They take great pride in what they eat, and take the time to prepare it and enjoy it together. I loved how the book went through each season and described how she gets pleasure from eating local, fresh food, and how you can incorporate her lifestyle into yours, however you please. She also touches on the North American lifestyle, and how it is all about quantity, not quality. I think that is an excellent point. Here, you have to search out good restaurants and quite often settle for subpar meals, not expecting greatness every time we eat. We do not take proper lunch breaks, or make time for breakfast or even dinner. We take no pride in making our own meals from scratch. In fact, it is considered a luxury to be able to make your own food. People who make their own bread or pasta are thought of as people who have nothing but time on their hands, and that their way of doing things is completely absurd. We no longer have family dinners together, everyone eating together and talking about their day. We all now eat in front of the TV, not even allowing our bodies to register that we are eating. We eat fast, cheap food, that has little or no nutritional value, and try to eat large amounts of it in record time so we can go back to whatever else we were doing. Fueling our bodies to be strong and healthy is not a priority anymore, and it truly is sad. We are the fattest continent, and our life expectancy is now lower than the generation before us.
Well, I say no more. Here at our house, we are all about the homemade, low salt, unprocessed food (most of the time), and I think that that should become the norm. No more fast food, packaged meals, or take out. I am making it a personal goal to try and make as much of our food from scratch as possible. And no, this is not a New Years Resolution. I hate those. I am not putting a number on this, or setting a standard for us to meet. I am simply going to incorporate this into our life as best I can. I am also going to sit down for every meal of the day and savour my food. No more breakfast on the go. I won't be perfect, and there will be the occasional night of pizza delivery. But that's what it is going to be: occasional. I challenge you all to look at your eating habits and try to incorporate more homemade, wholesome ingredients. How do you think you could get more pleasure out of eating? What changes would you like to make to your weekly meals? I would love to hear some feedback, and I will keep you posted on my progress!
Brenna
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