The Joy of Eating Well

Eating well means different things to different folks. Eating styles, manners, and fare vary widely within and among cultures, and are largely a personal matter even when regional and religious preferences are taken into consideration. We love to eat, and the eating varies. I am no exception.

For most of my adult life, unfortunately, eating has meant trying to get as much into my mouth and down the hatch as possible before moving on to the next gorge. I don't know why that happened. I've spent a lot of time on this subject as you might imagine, but in the end it boils down to a simple truth, I like to eat, and I eat too much when I do.

For the past year, since beginning a low carb plan of eating combined with seeking help for my food addiction, eating well has come to mean something uniquely affirming for me. I am a simple guy -- I've eaten a lot of fancy meals (or at least I think I have) -- but food that is easy to prepare, fun to eat, and quickly cleaned up and tupperwared are the best kinds of meals for me. And when they include foods that feed my body and spirit, that is the gold standard.

Tonight's meal was simple and tasty. I put a whole chicken in the slow cooker this morning, coated it with Sate seasoning (Penzey's), and let 'er go. Tonight, the wife fried some cabbage with onion and bacon in a cast iron skillet, and I threw in some stuffed mushrooms I made yesterday (cream cheese, onions, garlic, cheese). It was quick, easy, nutritious, and low carb. I count about 9 carbs total in that meal, and that may be a liberal estimate.

Then I had some dessert. Pumpkin cheesecake and some sugar-free whipped cream. Another 5 carbs. Sorry for the crummy picture. But it tasted a lot better than it looks here. Recipe customized from the original good one by Sugar Free Sheila.

Let's contrast with the meal my (non low carb) daughter ate tonight. She is 3, somewhat picky regarding what she eats, and probably represents a typical kid in the U.S. when it comes to preferences at meal time. She mostly eats what we eat, but sometimes life calls for fish sticks and ketchup. We threw in the corn and the peas, so all in all I would call this a successful meal. Standards and ideals automatically adjust for a parent. It's part of the continuum of eating well.