I've been wanting something to come true for many years now. Maybe I need to write it down to make it come true.
I've experimented sporadically with healthier cooking, but in the meantime I've maintained all my bad old habits. Impulse eating. Caving to cravings. Over-eating my favorite foods. My conscious mind knows continually eating the wrong things is not the key to happiness and longevity. Yet, i will think of a food i want to eat and my mouth will being to water, and I feel an irresistable urge to seek it out. I think recent studies regarding the chemistry of salt, fat and sugar cravings provide the perfect explanation: what I experience feels just how I would expect to feel in light of the findings. I've often felt it might be some kind of unfulfilled, infantile craving that has nothing to do with food, but, you know, I like the idea of dopamine production dependence on food cravings better, because it's something I feel equipped to combat.
Stocking the wrong sorts of foods: this is a special challenge if you're a parent. I've admired the blogs of people whose kids have a miraculous love of healthy foods. If you are a consistent, conscientious person who has complete control over what your kids eat and only feed them good food to begin with, then this is easier to achieve; Kids will eat whatever is available, eventually. Sadly, if you don't have total control (daycares; grandparents), you have to do battle with these influences. I've become determined to only stock foods that are worth eating. I expect this to perhaps be the hardest part of my transformation.
We had already resolved to make as many meals at home as possible. Better and better for you. This we have more or less accomplished. We do cave occasionally to a few favorite dishes at restaurants (Paddy Malone's Mushroom Fries and Arris' Greek family style pizza are just about it though). Mostly we cook for ourselves.
This made responding to a recent change in circumstances a bit easier. My wife had a gall bladder attack and subsequent surgery. We had to start eating fat-free, immediately. As my wife so rightly said, I've been researching this topic for years, but have never been able to translate it into a lifestyle. We like a wide variety of foods and have flirted with the idea of vegetarianism and pescetarianism. In the end we decided it might be too early in the process to deny ourselves who categories of foods (though I grapple with the moral and environmental qualms of meat eating all the time). So these dishes are really more of a flexitarian nature than anything- primarily good old fruits, vegetables and whole grains with occasional forays into lean meats and not-so-whole grains.
So, it's been almost a month now, and this short time, we have accumulated many good ways to cook fatfree. Some have suggested by others (in particular Dean Ornish); others we developed by trial and error. I must say we have both been very pleased with the results. Dishes deprived of their fats taste much better than expected; in many cases, better than the original. I found so many ways I used fat in cooking that have turned out to be totally unnecessary. Others I found a spray of Pam works just as well as a couple of tablespoons or more that I customarily used in many dishes.
Some I have not been able to perfect. One miserable failure in my mind is fried rice. I'm sure it is possible, though; I think I overcooked the rice, and so many dishes brown perfectly in a good non-stick pan, better than I thought they would, so I do think there is hope.
Did I say stocking the wrong sorts of foods would be the hardest part? I forgot about exercise. That is going to be the hardest thing for me. I've been a devoted couch spud for many years now. I used to love biking and tennis; as I aged and circumstances changed, I've gained weight, lost muscle, and developed Morton's Neuroma in my feet, which has slowed me down even more. I'm hoping to stage a revival of these former hobbies, along with more foot-friendly forms of activity.
Turkey "falafel" with Tzatziki sauce
This is the dish that made me realize our little experiment is finally producing very pleasant results, results that might actually help other guys who have a similar desire to live a healthier life. It has to be reinforced by positive experiences, and of all our efforts to date, this has been the most successful.
Turkey falafel
I used Saad Fayed's excellent Falafel recipe on About.com.
All I did is substitute 16 oz. of ground turkey for the chick peas. I shaped them into small patties and my wife lovingly sauteed them in our handy-dandy large non-stick skillet with just a spritz of Pam (cover maybe 2/3 of the pan) on medium heat. Lay them in gently and leave them alone for five minutes. check one of them; they should be browning nicely. Flip and repeat.
Tzatziki Sauce
half a cucumber, peeled, sliced and seeded
2 cloves garlic
heaping tablespoon of dried dill weed
couple pinches salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
put it all in a food processor and puree until smooth. The key to a successful tzatziki (okay, maybe second to correct proportions and good seasoning) is to make sure the cucumbers are seeded. just take the whole center part out, use only the solid parts. It won't be watery and icky if you do that.
