When I was in junior high school, a guy pushed in line ahead of me and I objected. He was not pleased and invited me to join him after school on the back edge of the property for some pugilistic activity. I did with knowing much about myself, him, or the manly art of the Marquess of Queensbury. (I still know very, very little about boxing, even though for a few days, I was inflicted on some innocent boys as a boxing instructor.) The encounter showed me how little I knew about fighting.
We didn't have organized sports at school in junior high but I thought I would look to improve myself in high school. There, we had no boxing, judo, or karate but we did have wrestling. I got interested and sweated and wrestled. I liked it but I found that to wrestle in a real match, I had to be the right weight. Too heavy and I would be disallowed from that position. So, dieting and weight control became important.
In my freshman year of college, I was assigned a research paper. I decided after quite a struggle to write about nutrition and diet. I learned that all foods are carbohydrates, fats, proteins or a combination. I can't prove that but I guess it is true. Over the years, I have continued to pay attention to what I ate and what was deemed healthy. I found out about Paul Stitt, founder of Natural Ovens in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, who wrote about healthy food and stated that a good diet relies on good bread. I have read about the paleodiet idea, trying to eat only what humans of about 15,000 or so years ago ate. I have read that very educational book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I have read quite a bit about both carbs and sugar since they are related to weight gain, especially as we age and our fires quiet down, and to diabetes, which is a threat to me and my wife. I have read The South Beach Diet, from which learned about the glycemic index, a measure of the speed of digestibilty, and its importance in helping the body get its energy without getting into diabetes.
Recently, I bought loaves of 100% whole grain bread and have been impressed at how satisfying a slice of that bread is and how long the satisfaction lasts. I have been reminded of the simple Louisberg Soldier's Bread, the bread that was a French soldier's main food for a week in the form of a 6 lb. loaf. Lynn has made that bread for us before. It is satisfying but not tempting when it shouldn't be, just there for us, sustaining us.
It seems that as we age, we become more pleased with other taste sensations and can learn to hanker after sweet less. A dry martini, whole wheat bread, brie cheese are all very pleasurable without being sweet.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
