Category: diet

books, diet, dreams, entertainment, film, food, forgiveness, love, movie, relationships, religion, simplicity

Step 225: The Best Way to Eat Pray Love

Christa Avampato

“In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Pleasure cannot be bargained down.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

The long-anticipated movie of a woman traveling through the world looking for delicious food, peace of mind, and love opens in theaters nationwide today. Last week I walked by a swanky home store advertising “get your Eat Pray Love scented candles here” in its windows. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, runs an importing business with her new husband. That may explain the commercialization of the film. Still, the merchandising seems like an odd play destined for a less-than-stellar market performance, no matter how high the box office ratings are.

The sad truth is that Eat Pray Love is a well-written book, with lyrical language, rich imagery, and some important insights that, if put to good use, could actually increase people’s happiness. The problem is that it’s been so hyped that most consumers are sick to death of it. And the onslaught of book-related merchandise doesn’t help matters any.

Here’s my suggestion: don’t go to the movie at all. I’m not even sure I’d suggest you read the book at this point. You know how the story goes so it sort of takes the fun out of it. Here’s how you can really live the message of finding your own path, the issue at the heart of the story:

1.) Eat well and enjoy it. Stop mindlessly munching on whatever is within arms reach, enjoy your food with good company, and rather than beating the heck out of yourself for the calories, just exercise more

2.) Pray in your own way. I’m a spiritual person, meaning that the light that is within me honors the light that is within you. Be good to your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Stop asking what the world needs you to do, and just concentrate on doing what brings you joy. That’s where the real goodness is. Recognize that there’s something beyond the here and now, and that we are all intricately and beautifully connected. Honor that connection through service, which is at its essence a divine act.

3.) Love. Forget your past failures in love. Forget the heartache and the tears and the anger and the screwed up behaviors of people who hurt you. Get it all out in the open, let it go, and move on. There’s nothing worse that ruining our next relationship by imbuing it with the problems of the last one. I know it’s hard. I’ve had my heart broken in a million pieces more times than I can count. I’ve got a good family and good friends who help me pick up the pieces and put them back together, and I’m a better person for it, even though it was hell to go through in the first place. Keep loving. The alternative is what causes this world to be such a rough place to live – we shouldn’t make it any worse by carting around our disappointments from one relationship to the next.

And if you really want to know what Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey are all about, watch her TED talk on creativity. In 18 minutes it will inspire you to do something extraordinary, and the world could use a little more of that these days.

The image above depicts Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert in the movie Eat Pray Love, opening today nationwide. I like the sunflowers.

diet, eating, health, New York Times, wellness

My love for sweets is in my genes

Christa Avampato

I could eat sweets morning, noon, and night and never get sick of them. My sweet of choice: Entenmann’s chocolate-covered donuts. I could easily scarf down a box of those in one sitting. I don’t (or haven’t recently anyway) but it’s within my capabilities. I know this isn’t good for me. I’ve tried every trick imaginable to banish my sweet tooth. I am envious of people who claim, “I’m just not that interested in sweets.” Until I consider how absolutely delicious sweets are, and then I am grateful that I can get more for myself if others don’t like them.

My grandfather was a candy maker and I have always jokingly attributed my love of sweets to my genes. As it turns out, my penchant for sweets is not entirely within my control. There is now scientific proof that my little joke, like most, also holds some truth. In today’s Health section of the New York Times, there is mention of a research studies about a gene variant that allows people to process sugar more quickly than those without the gene variant. When studied in two groups of people, those with the gene variant always ate more sugar, though there was no difference in the amount of starch, fat, or protein that was eaten.

All these years, I’ve been beating up on myself a little for my seemingly endless craving for anything sweet. In actuality, I just happen to have exceptionally gifted genes when it comes to processing sugar. What luck!

books, diet, food, health

Michael Pollan’s Rules of Thumb for Healthful Eating

Christa Avampato

I am a huge fan of Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He has joined forces with one of my favorite blogs, Omnivoracious.com, and posted up his 10 rules of thumb for healthful eating. I’ve printed them out and posted them up in my kitchen. Clever, witty, and easy to remember, they are:

1.) Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2.) Avoid food products with more than five ingredients; with ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3.) Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot.
4.) Shop the perimeter of the supermarket, where the food is least processed.
5.) Avoid food products that make health claims.
6.) Eat meals and eat them only at tables. (And no, a desk is not a table.)
7.) Eat only until you’re 4/5 full. (An ancient Japanese injunction.)
8.) Pay more, eat less.
9.) Diversify your diet and eat wild foods when you can.
10.) Eat slowly, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

For the full post from Omnivoracious: http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/02/table-talk-gues.html

For more information on Michael Pollan: http://www.michaelpollan.com/index.htm