Eating Right can be a Joy....

Today's post: Thursday, 4-17-2008

Dr Mark Harmon is one of the better informed health sources I read.
I agree with most of what he says.
(See: http://www.ultrawellness.com/ )

In his blog & email for today, he covers all the reasons not to consume soft drinks & packaged & highly processed foods. He includes the seemingly obvious point that eating a bad for you food that has a few vitamins thrown in does NOT lead to good health. And, he gives some examples of labels that have been carefully designed to make products LOOK to be good for you when the truth is otherwise.

Hopefully you are well informed & wise enough to not buy or eat such packaged foods that are on over half of the shelves of most grocery stores. But Dr Harmon knows that leaves the question of what to eat instead.

Here’s how he answers that question in the email I got from him today..:

“Here is what to eat:

1. Whole, real food such as vegetables, fruits,
beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean animal
protein like small wild fish and poultry, and
whole omega-3 eggs.

2. Small amounts of grass-fed, antibiotic- and
hormone-free beef or lamb.”

In an earlier email, he explains how, in a trip he took to Italy, he enjoyed several multi-course meals made from these ingredients with good company & some wine.

He remarked how refreshing he found it to be fed food he was comfortable eating while enjoying the food & the experience so much.

Monday evening this week, I was lucky enough to be invited to a family dinner that was very similar. (My younger sister, her husband, & their three grown children are all excellent cooks.)

Both the food & the company were delightful.

I thought I’d share the menu with you to illustrate that it is totally possible to create such enjoyable meals here in the United States. You do NOT have to go to Italy to eat them.

The appetizers were a choice of a couple of kinds of warmed olives or small button mushrooms that had been sautéed in a light extra virgin olive oil. I was hungry & found the mushrooms so good I had to hold off a bit to leave room for the dinner.

The first course was a very light watercress & celery soup. It was very light; & by serving it in wide but low bowls it looked substantial visually but was actually a small enough serving to not overfill you for the rest of the dinner.

The salad was the highlight of the meal for me. It was a small amount of radicchio & one or two other greens with some red & green bell peppers that had been precooked enough to be soft & then allowed to cool to room temperature or just a bit less. And, all this was tossed with light extra virgin olive oil based vinaigrette but not too much. The combinations of flavors & colors made this salad a delight to eat.

The next course was two small Japanese style rice crackers with some tuna. (Because of mercury concerns, I don’t eat tuna a lot but the amount was small & it was a special occasion – plus tuna is good for you other than the mercury concern.)

The main course was a small bit of lamb, a small serving of halves of small red potatoes that had been nicely baked, & a large medium sized serving of steamed asparagus.

I was full so I passed on the dessert. That was either a small serving of custard or a small serving of sorbet.

The dinner was a delight. And, similar to what Dr Hyman experienced in Italy, it was refreshing to have a meal so good that I didn’t have to worry was harming my health.

Most of the foods that made it up were vegetables. It had very little saturated fat. It did have extra virgin olive oil. It had protein. And, the few foods it contained that were less than ideal, the tuna, the rice crackers, the halves of small red potatoes that had been nicely baked, & the desserts were small highlights in the overall meal to such an extent that for a special occasion, they were totally OK.

And, it was served with some nice white & red wine in small 4 ounce servings. That was enough to be enjoyable & good for us, heartwise, without dulling our wits or senses.

Add in the extremely good company & it was a joy to eat & share in the experience.

To be sure, such special occasions & multi-course meals are rare in today’s rushed world.

But it shows that eating right can be a joy. And, that it is possible to make & eat really good food that is also safe to eat.

Such special occasions may be rare. But many of these dishes could be modified for more everyday or every week meals.

For example, you could add the small button mushrooms that had been sautéed in a light extra virgin olive oil, some sustainable harvested shrimp from unpolluted water that had the bony tails removed & some bits of feta cheese & some raw pecan halves to the salad

And, you could serve some lightly cooked or steamed asparagus. Or you could serve some cooked pinto beans & fresh guacamole for a more substantial meal instead

The then large, high protein salad plus the asparagus or the beans with some red wine would make a very nice dinner with just the two courses.

This salad would also be good with just a single kind of organic lettuce like romaine or red leaf instead of the more complex salad we had that you might not have the time to fix.

(Whole Foods Market stores sell such lettuce, or at least they do in our area.)

Or you could serve a bit more of the medallions of lamb -- if you were able to get a good source for grass fed lamb, a simple shredded romaine salad & a with light extra virgin olive oil based vinaigrette, & some steamed asparagus or broccoli florets & add some red wine.

There are a huge number of delicious ways to eat right. You do NOT have to go hungry or eat really awful food to eat right.

We post on so many things that will harm your health to eat or drink, I am delighted to be able to share with you that eating right can indeed be a joy.