We had the extraordinary fortune to visit my husband's dad and stepmom in Quebec, Canada last week. It was the first time my kids had met Grandpa & Grannie and the first time they had been out of the country. It was beautiful verdant forests and lakes all with French flair. We had an amazing lazy yet adventure filled 5 day family vacay. But a surprising benefit was that I lost 5lbs! I immediately started thinking how did this happen and how can I replicate it here. My suspicion was that I simply ate less, because I was never really "full" and always a little hungry, but never too hungry. Still how did I manage that there when it is so hard for me here. Plus, I enjoyed dessert almost every night (bonjour glace!), including wine, and even a sweet and sour fried chicken dish-totally unclean;) So what gives? My conclusion is that being bad can actually be good for you. And there are a few small tweaks to make in my kitchen.
First of all, Grannie Bar has some amazing seasonal cooking and eating habits that I must encorporate at home. For breakfast every day, she made us a bowl of fruit (fresh strawberries, blueberries, mango) and had an array of cereals available with almond milk. My particular favorite was called Vector, a Kellogg meal replacement product made specifically for Canadians (and not sold in the US, but I found a site that will ship for free.) It is basically a high protein vitamin fortified cereal (way more sugar than I would normally eat). So this breakfast is deceptively similar to what I eat at home, Kashi cereals with blueberries, but the BIG difference is BOWL SIZE. As I write this my empty cereal bowl is sitting next to me with a large spoon resting most of the way inside the bowl. At Grannie's house the spoons are smaller, the bowls look kid size, and your entire spoon handle would stick out. Also instead of topping the cereal with fruit, we ate a separate and equal sized bowl of fruit & cereal that dramatically changed the ratio of whole to processed foods.
For dinner and lunch, she made a variety of grain/pasta & veggie salads that she pulled out of fridge, ready to go. Through out the week, there was shredded raw beets with lemon juice, pasta spirals with pesto, lentil salad, wild rice salad, potato salad, and (my favorite) bean salad which was a simple store bought salad to which she add more beans from her garden because it was so overdressed. She also had a box of mixed greens to which I topped with the bean salad for some variety. We also made avocado tomato sandwiches & pb&j for the boys of which I had a half. Delicious and inspiring, but I do make a lot of that at home too, so what was different? The way she ran her immaculate kitchen. First for lunches, I noticed she never put the food on the table. It was left on the counter, so if you wanted seconds it was a.) more work to get up and go get it and b.) more conspicuous (probably only something I would worry about). But I felt myself wanting to mirror the actions of the healthy and trim almost 70 year old across from me. And so it cut down on mindlessly refilling my plate. Secondly, as the plates were cleared, she immediately rinsed everything and put it in the dishwasher and wrapped up all the food and put it away. The only thing on her counter (ever) was a cutting board. Even while she cooked there was only one food item and one tool out at a time. My kitchen is cluttered with oils and spices, tools and contraptions. And when I cook, it's an explosion (of creativity, I tell myself). But there was a zen like rhythm to her style that did not detract from efficiency or creativity. And the added benefit was that in between meals, the kitchen looked closed, so there was no snacking. Of course we would have been welcome to anything we wanted, but when its not your house your less likely to go foraging through the cabinets, mindlessly searching for..."what am I feeling like?". We snackaholics brought our own snacks, but they were very limited in both choice and quantity, so we ate them sparingly. So strangely having less choice and less "calling to you" availabity, made for more satisfying days. To achieve this at home, I'm going to try (gulp) buying less snacks at one time. We really don't need pirate booty, pita chips, pretzels & tortilla chips all in the cupboard at once. Nuts and raisins will always be a standby, but when I go to the store at least once a week, I can let go of this fear I will run out.
So the dessert thing though...I try to be so good at home, but at the end of the day I succumb to my wine and dark chocolate-but that's healthy right? Maybe not. Maybe doing something "bad" (guilt free cause its vacation) actually helps you be good more of the time. I had Canadian ice cream twice! I haven't had "real" ice cream in probably a year, but I think I over eat when I indulge in my "fake" treats. (It has dates instead of sugar, so I can have a second helping right?) It was easier to eat just a little of the "bad" stuff and know when to stop and feel satisfied. And I know I over eat anything and everything, when I have wine. I was thinking I would have none on this trip since the Grandparents don't drink, so I when I was offered a glass at a restaurant and again from a cousin, I viewed it as an indulgence to be savored instead of a reward that I had earned after a hard day. Physically these are small changes of habit, but they were big change in perspective which led to a big change on the scale.
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