Real Food

If you've been here before you know that I do a lot of low-sodium cooking because of my mother's chronic congestive heart failure. It's been an interesting journey learning new ways to cook and also going back to some old ways from back when we didn't have quite so many processed and "convenience" foods. I've enjoyed experimenting with new recipes and re-tooling some of our old favorites and with a few unfortunate exceptions we've enjoyed some good meals.

This year I have decided to give up more in the way of processed food and plan to eat more "real" food during Lent. I've done things in previous years like giving up chocolate or sugar and I have to confess, I usually look for ways to still eat what I want to such as eating white chocolate or still eating desserts but with artificial sweeteners. It's not quite as bad as the church selling indulgences to allow parishioners to eat butter and such during Lent but I know it's just violating the spirit of the whole thing. I'm thinking that in giving up even more in the way of processed food I can keep my focus on just being mindful about generally trying to live a healthier life in body, mind and spirit. To me the idea of fasting isn't about punishment or suffering, it's more about paying attention. We live so much of our lives on auto-pilot that I don't think we even realize how much we're missing because of it. So for the next 40 days excluding Sundays I'm going to stick to eating food that is as close to it's natural state as possible and I hope that by paying attention to that I'll make other choices that are good for my body and my soul as well. I just made some cookies to take on a trip with my bell choir from church this weekend and I forgot just how awesome a home made oatmeal raisin cookie is. I'm also packing fruit and veggies, some cheese and my favorite edamame to help me resist all the goodies that are sure to be in abundance on the bus, in our cabin and in the retreat center dining hall. Wish me luck with that! I'll let you know how it goes.