Is kale a(n): a) animal, b) vegetable or c) mineral?
If you answered ‘b,’ you’re correct. But until I arrived in Columbae last year, for all I knew, kale could have been a strange relative of the stork family or maybe a kind of sedimentary rock. Now, along with cauliflower and quinoa, it’s a staple of my diet.
I’ve come to love kale. My favorite preparation? Saute it with lots of garlic, then toss with soba noodles, lemon juice, walnuts, tons of parmesan cheese and — now, this is key — fresh lemon zest! In my mind, there are three things you can never have enough of: garlic (two cloves, really? Try more like fifteen), lemon zest (already established) and fresh herbs. I’m obsessed with all three. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything in my life without one of them. When I’m home, I drive my mom crazy zesting lemon after lemon and hacking off whole branches of rosemary. Maybe it’s a little neurotic that I absolutely refuse to use pre-peeled garlic or frozen basil cubes, but to me, those little fresh additions provide a straight-from-the-earth feel that just makes me feel happier.
If you’re wondering why I keep rambling about kale and lemon zest, I promise I have a point. But keep in mind that this is coming from the girl who literally stuck her nose into every sack of cumin she encountered in the markets of Istanbul, so indulge me for a minute.
My point is less about the joys of kale per se than it is about the process through which I came to love it — that is, by making it my own. I don’t intend to make any sweeping nutritional statement about the health benefits of oregano or how imbibing ginger tea three times a day improves digestion. I’m talking about something much more basic and vastly more important: the simple enjoyment of preparing food and then eating it.
We eat six or seven times a day, but the very fact that food is such an ordinary, predictable part of our lives means that we seldom pay it much attention. As we scramble to meet deadline after deadline, more often than not, eating can become a chore, something we do on the run to fuel ourselves and move on with our day. We wind up skipping breakfast, rushing through lunch, bolting dinner and then overdoing it when we finally get a chance to breathe. It’s an absolutely exhausted, vicious cycle that leaves both body and soul undernourished.
Granted, no one has the luxury of tuning into the salty, crunchy, sensory experience of every pretzel. That being said, why shouldn’t we take a little extra time to savor the morsels we put in our mouths? American culture stamps moral labels on everything we eat, but honestly, the best piece of nutrition advice I’ve ever received is to just enjoy what you’re eating without the guilt. In fact, the Japanese food pyramid includes satisfaction and enjoyment as one of the pillars of good nutrition.
“But, wait!” you may say. If I eat whatever I want and enjoy it, I’ll spin out of control and eat junk food all day long!
Oh, come now. Can you really imagine eating chocolate cake and ice cream every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Neither can I. Part of tuning in is also listening to how certain foods and certain combinations of food affect how your body functions. If you want dessert, go for it! Actually, savor it! When you do, I have a sneaking suspicion that gorging on an entire cheesecake won’t make you feel too hot. And for that matter, when you really listen, you might find yourself craving broccoli or a salad, too!
By tuning into ourselves and the actual experience of eating, we’re better able to give our bodies exactly what they need while enjoying the food along the way. After all, our bodies have literally evolved so that they know what they need to thrive. Our challenge is to listen to their cues and respect their inner wisdom; when we insist our head knows better and try to override our bodies’ cues, that’s when we end up sabotaging ourselves.
So here’s my nutrition tip of the day: if you want to eat well, master the art of listening to your body. Personalize what you eat. Make it special to you and enjoy the experience. You don’t have to take it an extreme, but whether it’s a particular brand of peanut butter (hint: Justin’s honey almond butter to-go packs = lifeblood) or adding a dash of nutmeg to your chai tea latte, that little extra touch can put a smile on your face!
Think you know of a spice that Leslie doesn’t? Try her. Email labrian “at” stanford “dot” edu.