Katherine here. Food on my mind this time.
This morning there was a perfect storm of sorts and the omnipresence of food in my life stopped even me. After lifting for about an hour and then walking the track with J. for two miles, I actually read one of the omnipresent bulletin boards at the Y. The header for this one: Weight Loss.
The juxtaposition of suggestions four and five began this morning's food storm. Suggestion four: Avoid thinking about food. Suggestion five: Begin to think about food in new ways.
I like to follow rules and suggestions unless I feel like breaking them.
I wanted to follow the weight loss suggestions so I showered and dressed in the midst of a conundrum as I tried to avoid thinking about food while trying to think about food in a new way (the bulletin board gave no suggestions about what new ways we should think about food, but I decided I'd try to focus on more fruits and vegetables since that's my usual approach to thinking about food in a new way).
Part of my struggle was complicated because of my workout surroundings. Plastered all over the weight room are posters of the new government replacement for the food pyramid. I'm going to miss the food pyramid. We've been together for years. It never helped me convince my mom that sugar is NOT a required food group, but I always liked the pyramid's symmetry.
The new Plate icon that replaces the pyramid is clear, I suppose, but the fork confuses me. If we're supposed to cut back, why add an eating utensil? This, added to the 30 minute conversation about the number of Weight Watcher points you can eat in pretzels and pizza dough without toppings that J. and I walked in front of on the the Y track, made it a workout where food thoughts were hard to escape.
I get home. There's a massive story about a new food study on the front of The Denver Post. It's long term, from Harvard, and basically says potatoes suck no matter how you fix them, but the most harm comes from eating French fries. Yogurt is awesome. Go figure.
I turn on Wimbledon and settle in to knit a bit and watch tennis between rows. They actually discuss Dojovik's gluten-free diet. They do this for quite a while. I tried hard to think about knitting and tennis and not about food while realizing that gluten-free diets have replaced lactose-intolerant diets in the media conversation. I probably should mention that Jenny Craig and Weight Watcher ads along with numbers of food product ads have buzzed by with a few exceptions. There was the welcome relief of a tasteful pitch for Wimbledon products (the towel looks lovely)and a low-budget local ad for Pyro City in Wyoming where fireworks are available for sheer pennies.
The phone rings and happily it is Franny with happy news. While she and her husband are in California later this summer, they get to eat at Chez Pannisse, meet Alice Waters herself, and tour her garden. Heavy, heavy envy. I tell her I am avoiding thinking about food to keep from begging to go along which would involve a new mortgage at this point in our yearly travels.
On the other hand, she asks for help with a Meadowood reservation. I think The Restaurant at Meadowood may be the best restaurant in the world and I've been to The French Laundry. Anyway, Franny wanted to know if we knew anyb0dy who could help get a reservation at the time she wanted. We know the restaurant manager from our visits, but it's not like we're best friends or anything. I suggested she mention her boss and that might get her more traction than the Starkey name. We'll see. Franny is good at getting what she wants.
So, that's my perfect food storm. I don't know what to do about suggestion number four. Avoid thinking about food. It's impossible. Besides, I have lunch with Alice and dinner to plan.
1 comment:
I found out I have mild food allergies. The type of allergies I have don't make me swell up enough to die, just enough to be uncomfortable. I'm not supposed to eat processed sugar, yeast, dairy, chocolate,(sad, sad day), and a host of other things. It's really made me think about food a new way (like a --what on earth can I safely eat?-- type of way). I did lose 40 lbs in the past year, so apparently it's a good new way. Maybe you have some food allergies? Or you could invent some?
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