The True Value of Food

Since December I have been on the proverbial hamster wheel chanting, “…if I can only get to the end of the day, week, month.”  It seems that life has been a glorious pattern of lather, rinse, repeat.  Can you relate?  However, in broad-strokes there is a lesson to be gleaned by noticing the rhythms and patterns of everyday life.  In the end, an occasional push of motivation is not nearly as defining as the patterns we repeat over and over.  This is true in all areas of our lives, including: work, health, education,  relationships, money, etc.  Our overall trajectory is more greatly impacted by consistency than intensity.  My favorite mantra is: We are defined by what we regularly do, NOT what we occasionally do.  In regards to our eating habits, how full do you prefer to feel after a meal: 60%, 85%, even 110%?   Do you occasionally protect your true preference to feel just full enough to make you energized, or do you regularly ignore your own preference and eat more food than you want, buttons popping, aching gut, guilty conscience notwithstanding?  Notice the difference if it is the other way around (you normally have the exact right amount of food).  The reverse paradigm results in peace with your body and a life free of weight issues.

So, why do we so quickly surrender our own preferences?  And, how do we get away with this level of hostility over and over again without even becoming aware of the pattern?  Let’s look at the value we place on food to see if we can reveal false conversations with ourselves.  For instance, if your dinner is special does that make it more important than your preference to be in balance?  If it is expensive, exotic, took a long time to make, only available at this holiday dinner, etc., does that give it more value than your body?  If the true value of food is to keep mankind alive, does food have any value when you don’t need it?  Does that leftover doughnut have value because it is the exact kind you like—even if you already had plenty of treats today?  “But,” you say, “I don’t want to WASTE it.”  Ever said that?  If you are unlikely to die of starvation in the next 24 hours does that leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwich on your child’s plate have any value if you do not need it?  Be wasteful.  It is more honest.

Treats are our friends.  They are as important to our overall balance as salad.  Yet, when we attribute greater value to food than it actually has we subjugate our own value to an inanimate object.  Brownies have no feelings…but we do.  My “ah hah” moment came sixteen years ago on a boat.  After losing 110-pounds my husband and I went on a hard-earned Caribbean cruise to celebrate.  After spending the day hiking waterfalls in Jamaica and dining on lobster and flambéed Cherries Jubilee at dinner, I was exhausted and wished only for my pillow.  Over the loudspeaker the Captain announced that evening was the famous Midnight Chocolate Buffet.  Because I paid good money for the cruise (notice my untrue conversation with myself that placed more value on money than on my worth), and because I didn’t want to feel like I missed out on an once-in-a-lifetime event, I dutifully lined up at 11:45 p.m. to witness the greatest food spectacle of my life.  The ballroom had been converted to a sea of tables with artfully crafted chocolate desserts.  It was like a cartoon depiction of decadence come to life.  Every parfait, torte, cookie, truffle, fondue, cheesecake, muffin, and an endless array of chocolate-adorned confections loaded the linen-draped tables.   My husband excitedly asked me what I wanted to taste.  It was in that moment I realized the truth.  “I don’t want dessert right now.  I don't need it.  I’m tired and I really just want to sleep,” I told him.  So, instead of bingeing on chocolate at midnight, I took my time selecting a plate of the treats I MOST wanted to try.  I handed the plate to a trusted waiter we had become acquainted with and asked him to store it until I was ready for it.  

The next day while I was lounging by the pool feeling hungry for a snack he brought me the plate.  I had a bite of each, and two bites of the things that were worthy of me.  Perfectly sated, I felt completely balanced and happy.   Food has value only when I need it—not when the food needs me. 
 

Today can you discover a false conversation in which you attribute greater value to food than it really has?  Can you adjust your choices to reflect your true preferences of how you want to feel, look, and live?  Please feel free to share your feedback.

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.

To celebrate chocolate and its value when I need it, I want to share with you the most blissful hot fudge recipe I have ever encountered.  

Hot Fudge Sauce

Gourmet | February 2004

This thick, glossy sauce makes chocolate syrup taste ho-hum. It's wonderful poured over any flavor of ice cream to create a luscious hot fudge sundae. Yield: Makes about 2 cups Active Time: 10 min Total Time: 30 min 2/3 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 6 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt, and half of chocolate to a boil in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted. Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Add butter, vanilla, and remaining chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool sauce to warm before serving. Cooks' note: Sauce can be made 1 week ahead and cooled completely, then chilled in an airtight container or jar. Reheat before using.

Thanksgiving Secret

Can I share a secret?

As Thanksgiving menus are bandied about do you ever experience a bit of "holiday dread?"  If you answered "yes" you are NORMAL.  We can lose the "fun" of Thanksgiving because we dread feeling bloated and lethargic (a familiar visitor on feast days).  To that end, let me share with you a little secret: real treats are the experiences you truly prefer, not necessarily the food that accompanies them.  Celebrating should not include making yourself sick.  Sure Aunt Flossie's blue ribbon pumpkin pie is a highlight, but don't forget to observe your own preferences.  Do you like feeling stuffed or do you prefer to leave the table about 65% full?  Do you feel energized and satisfied with mostly plant fuel and a well-placed daily treat?  Anytime you make yourself feel unwell, you are punishing yourself--not having a treat.  This applies to both what you eat and how much you eat.  If you recognize a pattern of self-inflicted holiday punishment re-assess your interpretation of "treats" and factor in how you truly want to feel.  That is a true celebration.

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.

The Rule of Halves

I live and love by the adage: I am defined by what I REGULARLY do, not by what I occasionally do.  To that end, it was a huge discovery when I realized I REGULARLY defaulted to too much breakfast cereal. Every morning I would finish my cereal with a bloated feeling and swollen tummy.  Have you ever experienced this with any of your meals?  I began asking myself what the right amount of cereal might be.  I realized my default was based on a childhood memory of watching my two teenage brothers empty an entire box of Cap’n Crunch into a large mixing bowl, pour on a full jug of milk and eat it with a serving spoon.  Compared to that I was eating a modest portion—but it was STILL too much.  The truth was revealed to me when I undertook a little experiment I like to call: The Rule of Halves.  
 

Pretty simply, the Rule of Halves involves two days of taking half of what you normally take and adding more as needed.  The purpose is NOT to cut calories, but rather to reveal where you anticipate needing more than you actually do.  Don’t hesitate to add more food if half a portion is insufficient.  During my experience I immediately learned I needed HALF of the portion of cereal I was usually eating.  In fact, I felt completely full with half my regular portion.  It allowed me to default to an amount that better suits my body and allows me to feel balanced (instead of bloated).  

Were there other areas where I regularly defaulted to too much?  You bet.  I learned the pasta portion at the Olive Garden is too much but the pasta portion in a frozen entrée is too little.  I realized two pieces of toast with breakfast is twice as much as I needed.  Just because there are two bread slots in my toaster should it dictate how much toast I require?  That my toaster was dictating my food choice was looney—but there you have it.  In fact, is there anything on earth besides my body that can tell me how much food I need?  No calorie chart, FDA recommendation, nutritional panel, book, restaurant portion, diet, or other EXTERNAL cue can tell me what I need today.  Only my body can do that.  I trust it.  I lost 110-pounds, and I live free of weight issues because my body will always tell me what I need to be in perfect balance.  Sure, we can learn to leave on our plates any amount we don’t need, but I tended to clean my plate because, like Mount Everest, it was there.  Are you pickin' up what I'm layin' down?

Try the rule of halves for two days.  Keep a journal of your discoveries and note your predictions of portions, both correct, and incorrect.  Please shoot me your responses with your discoveries.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy

Compensation

I did some damage at last night's buffet, and now my pants won't button...
Can you relate?  So, how do thin people stay thin?  Compensation is the key to living free of weight issues for the rest of your life.  Oh yeah, compensation also allows you to eat without restricting sugar, gluten, fat, or whatever the trending prohibition happens to be--therefore, it happens to be the most largely under-sung component in a life free of extra fat.  Compensation means more than punishing ourselves after gorging at the buffet by living on lettuce for two days.  In fact, it is the opposite of such austerity measures.  Instead, it allows for us to remain balanced each day by asking ourselves what is missing.  If I indulged in lots of zucchini brownies with chocolate ganache glaze (see recipe on p. 231 of my book: Miracle Pill), I compensate without labeling myself "bad" and merely choose the other fuel groups that I have not yet had--such as lean protein, green vegetables, fruit, and maybe dairy.  No guilt allowed. 

 
Even in the absence of any food overload we still compensate meal-to-meal to make sure within a single day our bodies get all the fuel values they require in the proportion they require.  This state is called balance and it allows our systems to function at optimal.  With consistency, a state of balance powers up our metabolisms--which means we burn fat for fuel.  Compensating day-to-day restores our bodies to balance after a day on the road or anytime we are unable to find the fuel our bodies need.  Even week-to-week we compensate after an illness, travel, or a situation that takes choice away so we simply cannot eat in balance with our needs.

Imagine if over the next 6 months you ate exactly what you needed, when you needed it, in the right amount.  What would be the result for your body?  Don't worry.  You wouldn't need to take away all pizza and ice cream.  They are part of the occasional fuel a thin person enjoys.  Click here for more about treats and their essential place in a peaceful, ideal body.  With compensation you would simply enjoy the pizza and ice cream and then choose next time the fuel groups that are absent.  Viola, no fat and no restriction either.  The magical power of compensation each meal, each day, and each week allows us to live well without restriction, and have a metabolism that rocks. 

Tres Hatch is the author of: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy.

Got Extra Tomatoes & Watermelon? Use ‘Em Up!

They say there are two things money can’t buy:  love, and a home-grown tomato.  Now is the season to enjoy tomatoes in all their summer-kissed glory.  If you find yourself blessed with a bumper crop, try this chutney recipe that pits the bright acidic flavors of an unripe green tomato against the juicy sweetness of ripe watermelon, all underscored with the savory crunch of onion and a hint of chili.  Chutney is just a fancy word for salsa, although it is typically distinguished from salsa by an added element of sweet.  For example, chutney often features mango, apple, or other fruit paired with tomato, onion, a touch of vinegar, and chilies—resulting in a tangy-sweet-spicy condiment.  In this recipe, chutney benefits from watermelon’s sugary crunch and palette-cleansing juice.

For quick prep serve this super-easy homemade chutney with purchased pita or corn chips, but for fun try the following recipe for silver-dollar sized crisps made from garbanzo bean flour.  These thin and crunchy wafers take no more effort to fry than a pancake.  They also score points for being gluten-free, vegan, super-healthy, and with the earthy undertones of cumin they perfectly pair with this chutney.  Top them off with a dollop of whole-milk Greek yogurt for a phenomenal appetizer or main dish.

Chef Tres cooking on KUTV2 News

Click here to watch Chef Tres prepare this dish on TV.

www.miraclepilltruths.com

Cumin-Garbanzo Crisps

Makes 12 crisps

*Chick pea or garbanzo bean flour can be found in most Asian and Indian markets along with the bulk bins in many health-food stores and grocery stores.

1 cup *Besan (finely ground chick pea flour, also called garbanzo bean flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seed

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

2 teaspoons olive oil

½ cup water

Olive oil for frying

In a medium bowl mix all ingredients together with a whisk.  Mixture will remain a little lumpy.  It should be very runny.  If too thick add more water.

On medium high heat in a large non-stick saucepan, heat enough oil to generously coat bottom of pan.  Pour batter into oil making 2-3 inch disks.  Spread out batter so they are as flat as possible.  Avoid crowding so they don’t touch.  After brown on bottom, turn crisps.  When brown on both sides remove crisps to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.  Continue frying until all batter is used.  Serve immediately with Chutney.  Recipe follows.

Green-Tomato & Watermelon Chutney

Makes 2 cups

1 large firm green tomato, diced small (about 1 cup)

¾ cup ripe watermelon, rind removed, seeded, diced small

½ small yellow onion, peeled, diced small (about ¼ cup)

½ teaspoon hot chile pepper (jalepenos, serranos, etc), minced fine

Salt to taste

1 pinch sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Serve at room temperature on top of Cumin-Garbanzo Crisps

Tres Hatch is the author of Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin,  & Sexy

Send Chef Tres your questions: tres@tresbonpublishing.com 

Treats are Our Friend

Chocolate Cake with Nutella Icing

Have you ever wanted to throw out all of the “junk food” in the kitchen, so it won’t be there to tempt you?  This is the thinking of fat people.  Consider the thin people you know.  Do they wage  war on the bag of chips in the pantry?  This act of determined restriction is misplaced and tends to produce temporary austerity followed by a glut of binge eating of the very foods we banned from the house.

If you want to be at peace with your body, free of weight issues, AND maintain an ideal weight reverse your belief that cookies are “bad” and recognize they have an important place in our overall level of satisfaction.  In order to enjoy a metabolism that rocks (and burns fat) you have to be balanced.  To become balanced we have to be fulfilled from ALL our food—including treats.  To become fulfilled we must give our bodies exactly what they need, which includes a small amount of quality treats.  There, I said it: treats are our friend.  Sure, we largely need a diet of plants (whole grain, veg, and fruit), but we also need some dairy, meat, fats, and…dessert.  Medically, a diabetic must observe restrictions from sugar and carbohydrates, but in general, we need the full monty--of food groups, that is.

You are invited to take this challenge:  over the next two days rate the treats you eat on a scale from 1-10 with ten indicating the most satisfying experience and one indicating the least satisfying.  Also pay attention to the time of day you eat the treat.  This exercise serves three purposes:

1.     It teaches us to tune in and assess our food for quality, freshness, flavor, and its worthiness
2.       It helps us discover what we REALLY like and what food is only mediocre
3.       It reveals the time of day when we get the most pleasure from our treats

Many coaching clients have reported this exercise revealed the difference between quality foods and stuff they used to eat out of habit that did not satisfy their genuine need for pleasure.  One client told me she no longer ate Tootsie Rolls because, “They are hard, overly sweet, and not at ALL chocolate-y.”  I asked her what she did like and she gushed about the “food-gasm” she had from a single square of very good dark chocolate.  

Another benefit of this challenge is most people found they prefer a treat in the afternoon, which eliminated the late night ice cream binges.  When we act upon our preferences, there is no need for discipline.  Clients learned they simply do not PREFER ice cream right before bed.  Instead, they have it guilt-free at 4:00 p.m.  To learn more about how to avoid overeating treats watch this two-minute Body Peace Coaching tip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWvSjtQsaKU&feature=plcp .  Click here to read more about overcoming compulsive eating: http://miraclepilltruths.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-stop-eating-when-you-are.html

 

The best result of this exercise it the habit it creates of tuning in and tasting food, instead of escaping while chewing.  By engaging the brain and staying present while eating we give our bodies the chance to talk back to us and tell us what we need, when we need it, and when we have had enough. 
  

After taking this challenge, please feel free to send feedback and share your discoveries by emailing me at: tres@tresbonpublishing.com.  I look forward to reading about your healthy new connections with your body.

Tres Hatch is the author of: Miracle Pill 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin, & Sexy