Many of us will begin 2008 with noble expectations of self-betterment. With diet ads abound making every American regret his Christmas pudding, most of us will attempt to eat "better" and lose weight. Others will promise themselves to exercise more, spend less money, or quit smoking. Some will become seekers, hoping to find a better job, true love, or fulfillment in one's daily life. But by February, the winter doldrums will set in, and most of us will forgo the treadmill, buy a $12 full-spectrum lightbulb to ease Seasonal Affective Disorder, and plop down on the couch at home, alone, with a pint of Ben & Jerry's and an ashtray full of cigarette butts.
This sad relapse is the New Year's Burn-Out, the result of American society's go-go attitude of self-deprivation toward self-betterment. By going cold-turkey on holiday indulgences, we become wrapped up in a pattern of denying ourselves the very things that made us so jolly all December long. Many of these things became our crutches for Holiday Survival (mulled wine to ease awkward cocktail party conversation; Christmas cookies and sugar plums helped to stave off hunger while waiting for holiday meals; a cigarette taken outside to escape family arguments around the table). But come January 1, we are compelled to deny ourselves all of the wonderful foods we discovered during the holidays in the vain attempt to achieve perfection in the New Year and become conquerors of the New Year's Resolution Crapshoot.
Over the past few years, I have discovered something rather interesting. Like many 18-year-old-girls, I entered college with an intense fear of gaining the Freshman-15, and thus spent my first year living in New York City confined to the gym and bland salad bars, depressed and frustrated. Two years later I moved to Paris, where I spent four months without a gym and without salad bars, and I rediscovered -- of all the simple things -- the yolk of an egg. It was in Paris that I ate bread with every meal (white bread, no less), drank wine every evening, had butter smeared on almost everything, and ate chocolate every night before bed. And yet, much to the disbelief of my friends, I didn't gorge myself on croissants; all the while I lived in Paris, I had but one, and never craved the buttery patisserie. When I returned home, everyone was shocked and concerned: I had lost a considerable amount of weight without realizing it.
The weight loss wasn't because I had taken up chain smoking or starved myself; I ate all of my meals and snacked in between. Who wouldn't, when an entire city's philosophy is geared towards spending languorous hours eating and drinking in sidewalk cafés? I discovered the answer to what Michael Pollan in The Omnivore's Dilemma calls "the French paradox": "how could a people who eat such demonstrably toxic substances as foie gras and triple crème cheese actually be slimmer and healthier than we are?" Because the French invented the term "laissez faire" that we Capitalist Americans love to throw around. But, we regularly ignore the translation that the French use in their everyday lives: "Let it be: I simply don't care."
Here is where we come to the point: New Year's Resolutions are for sissies. They are cop-out ways of deluding ourselves into making our lives better. This year, resolve not to resolve anything. But do instead reflect on your personal goût, your tastes and what makes you happy. Forget about your crutches, and if you do have bad habits, kick them. But for your sake and the sake of all that tastes good, skip the diet and eat well.
Of course, there is a difference between eating healthy and not eating healthy. Eating out every night is unhealthy, as is eating at fast food restaurants and eating processed foods. So is not eating at all. Healthy eating is part practice and part philosophy -- but most of all, it's common sense. There is plenty out there to guide us toward healthy meals. When you think about what to prepare yourself, think healthy foods as tools to help you lose weight; think instead of foods to help you live healthfully -- ingredients that are good for the longevity of your body, and for the happiness of your soul.
But many of us need instruction and guidance, and so I will offer a bit of my own personal advice. I don't purport to be an expert on perfecting eating habits, but I do know about eating well.
1. Don't diet. Diets are about denial, and they are temporary. Everyone says "change the way you eat for life"; I would agree, but you should also change the way you think about food.
2. Food is a precious commodity (vegetable gardeners know how difficult it is to raise healthy crop), so treat it as such. Appreciate what you are eating, and for the love of food, eat real food that doesn't come sealed in plastic.
3. Vary your meals, experiment with new ingredients, and don't be afraid to use "unhealthy" ingredients in moderation. See what is available from local farmers, and enjoy the variety of eating seasonally. This is important to keep yourself interested in invested in eating well; anyone in their right mind would stop dieting just to get away from cottage cheese and melon.
4. Feed yourself. This implies that you should be aware of those things for which you are hungry. Are you craving chocolate cake? Well, that's probably because you like chocolate cake. Allow yourself to eat the cake in correct portion and measure, pace yourself, eat it slowly. Chances are, after you've enjoyed your cake, you won't crave another piece five minutes later, tomorrow, or maybe even next week. That one piece of chocolate cake saved you from slurping down Weight Watchers chocolate shakes that taste like styrofoam until you've finally satiated your craving for chocolate.
5. Always have dessert.
I will confess that I have made a resolution to myself: to keep up with my blogging. For everyone who has kept checking, thank you, and I promise that more is coming your way. Throughout January, I will give you some of my favorite healthy recipes, and I encourage you to send me some of your own.
So Happy New Year from me and from Goûter. As the French say before meals to encourage a healthy appetite: bon appétit!
