I’m not fat because I love food. I’m fat because I forgot to love food for a few years. Long hours, frantic dashing and stress made the eat-me marketing of fast food attractive. I bit and the hook was set. After a week or two of regular fast meals, I fell. Twice a week or more I needed my drive-thru fix; ached for fries perfectly perfumed to make me drool; had to have a burger and soda. My wife, loving and loyal, joined me for my habitual trips to the local instance of multi-national food-factory. But, alas, like all addicts, enough was not enough. When she wasn’t looking, I sneaked out for a quick snack. Like a robin drunk on fermented junipers, I fell. Every six months for two years I replaced my pants with the next size up. I ate junk for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I ended up fat.

What mistake did I make? Did I eat too much? Did I exercise too little? Or did I get fat because I let strangers select and prepare my food? I think the later. I do not try to excuse myself from blame. I ate the stuff and I knew, sort of, what I was doing. No, I make but an admittance of error in judgment. My mother showed me how to cook before I was ten. Since, I’ve been learning evermore about the uplifting alchemy of the kitchen. Even the failed experiments surpass, in flavor and nutrition, the mass produced food of the drive thru; food factories where the untrained and mechanical cooks collaborate to artificially scent meals to make them palatable; where light toxins battle the natural toxins of the factory food.

When life slowed down, home-cooking replaced the drive-thru. Not to go cold-turkey, my wife and I ate out two or three times a week, then cut down to once a week, then to less than twice a month. Cooking our own food forces direct contact with ingredients, deciding on portions and control of the preparation. We became obsessed with organic and locally grown produce. Luckily, produce stands and farmer’s markets pepper the landscape here. During the summer, we cook exclusively with fresh, locally grown produce. During the Winter, we look for organic on the labels or use the food we canned and froze during the summer months. I’m still fat, but I feel better and I have energy to follow the only genuine diet for weight loss; the ELEM diet (Eat Less, Exercise More).

I think cooking your own meals is simply a good idea; a way to live a more energized, more fulfilling life. Becoming one of the ad hoc chefs, comfortable in the kitchen; able to create meals from whatever is in the pantry, brings great joy of accomplishment. Always grab the best ingredients available; look for organic when possible and most of all, buy locally. Talk to the producers. Get to know them. Ask them how they grow things, what fertilizers they use, how they keep the weeds down and how they avoid pest damage. Know what you eat because it becomes you. Then enjoy putting a pot on the stove and inventing something good to eat.

copyright 2005 Chromia Poetics

1 cup (250 ml) Five Roses Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup (250 ml) Five Roses All Purpose Never Bleached Flour or White, or with Wheat Bran

1 tbsp. (15 ml) baking powder

1/2 tsp. (2 ml) salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (125 ml) liquid buckwheat honey

1/4 cup (50 ml) corn oil

3/4 cup (200 ml) milk (2% M.F.)

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) fresh or unsweetened frozen raspberries patted dry and/or well drained

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What is wine?

Wine has been made for centuries from just a two simple ingredients: yeast and grape juice. Actually, just about any fruit juice can be used, but by far the majority of all wine is made from the juice of the grape.

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1/2 cup Smooth peanut butter 125 mL

4 tbsp Maple syrup 60 mL

2 tbsp Each dried figs, dried apricots, 25 mL dried cranberries, chopped finely in food processor

1/4 cup Shredded sweetened coconut 50 mL

1/8 tsp Ground cinnamon 0.5 mL

3 10-inch soft whole-wheat tortillas 3

3 tbsp Finely chopped toasted 45 mL pecan pieces

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Before you set off on your next family walk or outing, try making one of these super easy trail mixes to keep your energy up.

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In our house, snacks are almost a way of life. Particularly in the summer, while we travel to the creek by day and out of town on the weekends, snacks take a central roll in getting us where we want to go in a healthy way. A good snack can help alleviate the afternoon blahs as well as prevent low blood sugar after a meal that was hours ago.

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Beat the heat with these cool summer treats!

Mouse Popsicles

It’s not what you’re thinking! The name refers to the size of the popsicle—not the contents. Wash a bowl of seedless grapes, and then set the grapes in the freezer for about an hour. Poke colored toothpicks into the grapes to serve.

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Looking for ways to incorporate healthy foods into your kid’s snacks that they will actually want to eat? Sweet and juicy fresh pears are a versatile and yummy addition to a lot of childrens’ favorite snack foods. Fresh USA Pears are loaded with good-for-you stuff like Vitamin C, potassium and fiber, but they are so sweet that your child won’t guess they are eating a very healthy fruit. Pears contain levulose, one of the sweetest known sugars, making them a good alternative to processed sweets since an average size pear has only 100 calories and no saturated fat. You can find a gallery of great kid’s recipes and games at www.usapears.com.

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Thai food is famous all over the world. Whether chilli-hot or comparatively bland, harmony and contrast are the guiding principles behind each dish. Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. Characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it, for whom it is cooked, for what occasion, and where it is cooked. Dishes can be refined and adjusted to suit all tastes.

The ‘Tai’ people migrated from valley settlements in the mountainous region of Southwest China (now Yunnan province) between the sixth and thirteenth centuries, into what is now known as Thailand, Laos, the Shan States of upper Burma, and northwest Vietnam. Influenced by Chinese cooking techniques, Thai cuisine flourished with the rich biodiversity of the Thai peninsula. As a result, Thai dishes today have some similarities to Szechwan Chinese dishes.

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It certainly is a poor man or woman who cannot find a few eggs, a couple of potatoes and an onion in their store cupboard!

The ever-practical Spaniard realized this and thus created their marvellous “tortilla” – an easy-to-make dish that could be savoured by rich and poor alike.

Not only cheap to make the tortilla, or Spanish omelette, is immenseley adaptable: you can eat it hot or cold, depending on the weather and your mood; you can enjoy a small slice as a “tapa” (snack) in between meals; or, accompanied by a multi-coloured mixed salad and crusty, fresh Spanish bread, you have a marvellous main meal! Should unexpected guests come knocking at your door … just whip out the ever-adaptable toritilla, pour them a glass of smooth, Spanish wine and they are bound to be delighted!

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