Comment: Digest This

My husband has started baking bread again. This is a sign that things are on the rise (hyuk). Seriously, things are good in my house when the man of said house dons the puffy white hat, so to speak, and gets busy in the kitchen.

He’s been making these bean and lentil soups that are to die for. Seriously, they’re better than ones you get at a swank restaurant and much cheaper. The kids balk at first, but, tired of cooking one meal for us and one for our kids, we have opted for one meal for the whole family. (How indentured are we to our kids that we cook something else for them just because they might not like what we want to eat? Seriously! Sure, it’s one thing if they have allergies, but otherwise, suck it up, learn to eat diversely, kids.)

My husband is a really, really good cook. He’s one of those people for whom cooking is not a chore, or a necessary means to an end, but an act of art that culminates in the happy digestion of the fruits of his labors. He loves cooking and he’s great at it.

(For the record, I don’t like it, and I suck. Question: Which is cause and which effect? Discuss.)

Anyway, we’ve been on this good food bender that is resulting in more home cooking and less preservative-laden store-bought pre-packaged so-called food. I mean, seriously, have you been to Safeway/Ralphs/Wegmans lately? There is very little actual FOOD there. There are hyper-processed, GMO-filled, sugar and scary titanium dioxide-filled things that we ingest and digest, but that is NOT food.

The whole Michael Pollan “Eat-food-not-too-much-mostly-plants” mantra is no joke. Since we’ve started eating better, every member of the family has been more agreeable and has slept better. Coincidence? I think not.

Now I’m sure I sound like the ultimate born-again zealot right about now. You can’t avoid preservatives and additives nor should you have to every minute of the day. But if you can control what goes into your family’s collective belly, you know what they’re getting and you may as well make it good. Not pseudo-food.

So I’m not saying I won’t eat a hostess crumb cake once in awhile (they’re really quite tasty) but I’m not stocking them in my house.

Eating better really does make you feel better.