Flourishing after age fifty is a real thing. Owning your “flourish” allows you
to feel like you belong with the billions of us trekking the Smart Eating Path.
Pearl One
You’ve tried a million times to lose weight, and are highly skeptical that the micro-steps I share will actually produce results?
I get it.
But consider this: we’re late bloomers. Tell yourself, “Some bloom in their younger years; I happen to be blooming in my second half of life.”
All kinds of blooming applauded!
In decades past, we didn’t know that we didn’t know (about how to lose after age fifty for the long haul).
And for whatever reason, I stumbled upon the map.
But the map doesn’t belong to me.
So — as you continue to bloom — I want you to have and know this map too. And then, spread the word. ♥
Pearl Two
Last month a home-bound friend and I wanted to get together for lunch, but she wasn’t ready to go out to eat. So, it was left to me to bring restaurant meals for us both.
What did she feel like? Mexican? Pizza? Thai? Chinese?
She didn’t really care; I should just get whatever I wanted.
Oh, great. I really don’t love trying to deduce what someone else might like.
But, knowing that Mexican or pizza are not the smartest food choices, I narrowed my options down to: Thai or Chinese?
At that, I turned to Google asking “which type of food is the best for those trying to keep it healthy”?
You know, I totally assumed that I’d find a rather namby-pamby “both cuisines are wonderful in their own special way” type of response.
But that is NOT what I learned!!
I was so surprised to discover that Thai is far and away preferable health-wise to those of us helicoptering our health.
Why Thai?
There are several key differences between Thai and Chinese, like the following:
(1) Thai food isn’t made with heavy sauces, but with light delicate herbs and spices.
(2) Thai dishes are packed in non-starchy veggies like carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, onions and the like.
(3) Many dishes substitute coconut milk instead of heavy cream for great flavor.
(4) Thai has brown rice as an option which is what I always order.
(5) Rather than fried spring rolls, order “summer rolls” at Thai that clock in around 110 calories each, aren’t fried, and are stuffed with healthy veggies.
My Two Favorite Orders
I have two go-tos that I always order:
- Thai “yum, yum” salad made with tofu. (The word “yum” in Thai means “mixed” or “tossed together.” But in any language this salad rocks!)
- Green curry. I order mine with tofu as the protein and request extra vegetables. (I mean, so good!) ♥
Pearl Three
Back in the day, Saturday morning cartoon commercials were sophisticated thanks to the Mad Men who aimed their laser directly at kids who were too young to see the dangers of highly sugared cereals behind Tony the Tigers, Franken Berrys, and the count Choculas.
Shelby (my sister) and I — thoroughly brainwashed thanks to those ads – couldn’t help but notice that “the other kids got to be ‘coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs’, why not us?!”
So, my mom relented. (Phew, we thought, finally.)
Every December she he wrapped mini-boxes of sugared cereal and stuffed them into our Christmas stockings.
And it wasn’t just sugary cereal my mom disapproved of. We weren’t allowed to have Tang, Kool-Aid, Hostess-anything, Jif peanut butter and so on. (Don’t get me wrong, my mom wasn’t a health nut. She bought all of the Hostess cupcakes and Ho Hos she and my dad partied after we’d gone to bed.)
Then when fast-food began mushrooming across the land, true-to-form my mom wasn’t biting and rarely allowed us to partake.
The woman was psycho.
All that said I want you to know about the book titled: Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. You’ll be stunned at how sneaky and (frankly) immoral the people behind the junk food explosion really are.
Salt, Sugar, Fat isn’t a book-dessert read; it’s just not juicy enough. But once I skimmed the boring first part, this book became hard to put down.
It’s a keeper and here’s why: reading just a page or a day and highlighting your favorite passages will allow your smart eating life to soar.
It’s that good.
And that annoying. Just a few pages into Moss’s book and I was checking the sugar ingredient on everything I thought was innocent like spaghetti sauce, bread, even my favorite whole-wheat bagels.
Salt, Sugar, Fat should be called titled, How Big Food Tricked Us Into Eating Chemicals as a way of Life. ♥
Pearl Four
I’ve shared this book before, but if you haven’t had the pleasure: lucky you because a wonderful story is coming your way! Min Jin Lee’s first book, Pachinko, snagged the Pulitzer’s Fiction Runner Up in 2018 and is proof that aliens live among us (meaning the advanced level of writing is beyond comprehension). Her second book Free Food for Millionaires is a phenomenal read too! ♥
Pearl Five
Don’t wait your turn. Bet on yourself and have the confidence to stand up and say, ‘My time is now.'” ♥
— Robert F. Smith
Have a wonderful weekend all! And I’d love a follow on the Inspired Eater Facebook page and Instagram!
