Health consicous vs "damn, that's tasty!"

We have a problem here, and it's a problem between human consciousness and human nature. Oh how our conscience wants us to be such good, good people. Eat well, but not too much; healthy this, thin that; a little on the lips, a lifetime on the… well, you get the picture. Lets face it, we ALL (women AND men - yeah, keep looking up at the sky or avoiding my glance boys, I know damn well you care too!) want to believe in that healthy life so, so badly. It's not to say that the ones who actually do live this very healthy lifestyle are happier, but they sure are thinner, and fit, and can fit into anything they want and look good doing it. The narcissistic, shallow side of me says "hear, hear" - but... what if you hear the tempting call of the banana split? What if the kettle potato chip police come knocking on your door at midnight? What if the next words from your mouth are "yes, please", after being asked if you'd like second helpings of that delicious Thanksgiving stuffing? Ah, the dilemma the try-to-be-healthy mind and body finds itself in.

Reminds me of this: Betty Francis of Mad Men, eating her small portion of stuffing but mindful of her weight-watchers lessons. Look at her face; relief, ecstasy and disgust all rolled into one as she eats - awesome!!

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So where is this all coming from? I recently went to see a nutritionist to pretty much answer the questions I already knew the answers to, but wanted the validation -- I think you understand what I mean. He said it’s time Steve, to start thinking about the link between what you eat and what your body can handle. Yeah, ok, but do I have too?? I knew he was right though. I'm a 6'2, 185 pound guy. Since I’m not a teenager, there are consequences to the good gastronomic life when you are more mature (I refuse to say older). The healthy lifestyle begged me to stay fit and thin, but I wanted and ate the good stuff that’s so bad but oh so good – you know what I mean. The high calorie French meals; the perfectly rare New York strip loin; the pastas; the pies - oh my! Yup, it was starting to take a wee bit of a toll, hence the 15 pound weight gain and subsequent post headline.

I don’t have an answer yet regarding what to do or how to handle the orgasmic “God, that’s good” vs. the scrunched-up, not happy face of “God, do I really have to eat that”? Maybe one day I’ll figure it out, and when I do I’ll definitely let you know. In the meantime, it’s a stripped down meal plan – yawn, but, the good thing about being a trained cook, is you can actually think of, and come up with tasty meals that won’t taste like shit! I can handle this…….

Dreaming of Paris, but...

It's been a long while since I've written anything for the blog. Makes me sad, but the truth is I just haven't been travelling (unless you count the road trips to school, which I don't) to really fill this blog space.

These past few months have been a cycle of: wake up, eat, go to class, come home and do homework, sleep and then the cycle starts all over again the next day. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, I'm really enjoying school, and as the year comes to an end I know that I'm so much closer to getting my public relations certification (woohoo!!).

But - if I had a choice right now, would I a) be in class, or, b)travel and eat, well I think you can guess what the answer would be. Lately I've had this craving to go to Paris. About a month ago a friend and I went to one of Toronto's top restaurants for dinner, Auberge du Pommier, and ever since I've had this scary desire to drop everything and run away to France so I can eat my fill of jambon-beurre sur baguette, stinky cheese, and fantastic French desserts, all chased down with a bottle of Bordeaux. Wouldn't that be sooooo great, he muses to himself?

Ah well, school first. In the meantime, I can silently torture myself with pictures like this:




(pictures courtesy of Susanne Gervays, Bagnii Diluca, & timesunion blogs)

Sigh.

Back to work!