I’ve heard that question posed a few times. I’m sure you have too. You may have even said that you lean more toward one or the other yourself. Particularly if you’re a person who struggles with weight gain or who simply has a seemingly insatiable appetite for, shall we say, “goodies”.
It’s sort of a sad commentary on life in our society that we even have to posit the question. After all, shouldn’t we do both? I believe so. But in our society, a society that seems so drawn to the whole “body image” issue, there are people who only eat to live. That is to say, they eat what is absolutely necessary to sustain life and that is it. They stave off hunger (at times they don’t even do that) by eating just enough to give them the strength they need to carry on through life’s daily activities. Ever conscious of the calories they consume, they often forgo taking in the right amount of nutrients. They stay thin, but at what cost to their overall well-being?
There are also people who only live to eat. They love to eat. They crave food of any and every kind. They eat at every opportunity…a snack while driving in the car perhaps, three meals a day no matter what, along with whatever snack or “treat” they can fit in between meals. As long as they have something to eat - doesn’t matter what - they are satisfied, until the next craving strikes.
As I said, shouldn’t we do both? Shouldn’t we eat to live but also live to eat? I guess what I’m asking is, shouldn’t we have balance? Of course, people who are at the extreme ends of the “diet” spectrum very often have mitigating factors that result in the eating behavior they display. Psycho- logical or emotional issues are often the root cause of their eating habits. Once those things are recognized, a person may be able to strike a balance after undergoing some type of treatment. But, I’m speaking in general terms, to the every-day you and me. Since I am not a psychologist or medical doctor and I don’t play one on TV, I cannot speak to those disorders. But speaking strictly from the viewpoint of someone who simply enjoys food and desires balance - feng shui, so to speak - I would address the issue of “live to eat, eat to live” from my own perspective.
Obviously I need to eat to live. We all do. I can vaguely remember a number of years ago, someone making the statement that he had discovered that one only needed water and air to sustain a healthy life. I think it showed up in one of those “news of the weird” segments somewhere. Anyway, he was going to prove it by only drinking water and “eating” air - deep breathing, for the rest of his life. To be honest, I don’t even remember how that turned out but I can imagine someone seeing this wafer thin, emaciated body blowing down the street like a pile of Autumn leaves, never to be heard from again. We need to eat to live. And since we need to, then doesn’t it make sense that we try to make it as healthful and nutritious as possible? Doesn’t it also make sense that we try to make it as interesting, as diverse and as enjoyable as possible? When we do that then we both eat to live and live to eat.
The bottom line is this - try to be mindful of what you are eating. Think about getting a balance of nutrients. Speaking from a vegetarian standpoint, that means trying to get the right amount of vitamins, minerals and protein from the food you consume. It may also mean taking a supplement to make up for what you may not be getting enough of from your food sources - vitamin B12 comes to mind. But, you say, I can’t possibly mosey through the grocery store or the farmer’s market constantly thinking about which things have the right amount of nutrients. What should I buy? What shouldn’t I buy? No. You’re right. You can’t do that. But what you can do is take a small amount of time and do some research if you don’t already know. Simply learn what foods are rich in certain vitamins, minerals and protein. You don’t have to be “scientific” with it but simply have a rough idea about what different greens, root vegetables, legumes and so on have to offer. As an example, see the information at the end of this article. It outlines what some nutrition experts believe is the correlation between the color of food and it’s nutritional merit. Shop for a variety of those colors. Then - and here’s the word again - try to balance your meal planning. I’ve found it to be most helpful if my wife and I do actually take some time to plan a weekly menu. Of course, it makes it that much simpler when we are only here for one or two meals a day and there are only two of us. But having a meal plan seems to work really well. Then, before you even need to go to the market you can tweak the plan and decide what to eat and when to eat it. And, you can “balance” the nutritional aspect with the “creative” aspect of planning, shopping and preparing your meals.
The “creative” aspect is the fun part. It’s also where the “live to eat” idea takes off! I enjoy cooking! I also enjoy experimenting. It’s great fun to go through a number of cookbooks and plan the weekly menu while trying to be as diverse as possible. It’s fun to try a dish you never tried before. Preparing it is fun and tasting the result is even more fun. If you like it, bookmark it for another time. If you don’t - chalk it up to “practice” and cross it off your list. But, whatever you do, enjoy the experience. It’s also fun to try to create your own recipes. Or take a time-tested recipe from your mom or grandma and change it to fit your needs - make it a vegetarian or vegan recipe by substituting the items in the recipe that contain non-plant-based ingredients with those you know are acceptable to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. You may come up with a dish that you would rather feed to the garbage disposal but you may also come up with a new and fun way to enjoy some of your “old favorites”.
The Color of your Food *
Orange / Yellow food items contain vitamin C and betacryptoxanthin. These are thought to protect cells Some examples are oranges, tangerines, papayas and nectarines.
Orange food items such as carrots, mangoes, winter squash and sweet potatoes contain alpha and betacarotenes. Again, these serve to improve cell-to-cell communication and may slow cancer.
Other food colors include:
Yellow / Green - contain lutein and zeaxanthin - spinach and other greens, yellow corn, green peas and avocados - contrinute to eye health.
White / Green - have flavonoids - onions, garlic, celery, pears, white wine, endive and chives - protect cell membranes.
Green - sulforaphane, isothiocyanate and indoles - broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy and kale - stimulate liver genes to make compounds that break down cancer-causing chemicals.
Red / Purple - lycopene - grapes, red wine, blueberries, strawberries and red apples - may reduce risk of cancer.
Red - lycopene - tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit - may reduce risk of cancer.
* Source: What Color Is Your Diet? author David Heber, MD, PhD and founding director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.
R.C. Heiser is an artist and author and a vegetarian.
He is the creator and webmaster for not-just-recipes.com, a vegetarian website.
http://www.not-just-recipes.com
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