Divergence
Abs are made in the kitchen
This week isn’t about a specific country or dish. There won’t be pictures of amazing dinners I’ve made the last few weeks. It’s a post about reflecting on where I am and where I want to go. More specifically, what that means for the next few months. I want to take this week to be the real person behind this blog and highlight the struggle that many of us face; the struggle of wanting to live our best life, both in health and in experience.
Being a capable home cook, and even more so a foodie, isn’t always a positive. It comes with some downsides that you don’t often hear people talk about. Eating out at many restaurants is disappointing. I read amazing reviews and try a place to find the food is just OK, tainted even more so by the rising prices that restaurants need to charge just to struggle to stay in business another week. It also means that I get bored eating the same things over and over, so dinner in my own house is complicated by the desire for new and exciting. This was very much the impetus for Home Cooked Happiness and my exploration of world cuisines. I’ve learned so much about myself through this process and have had the opportunity to try so many wonderful things that I otherwise would not have experienced. Unfortunately, chasing deliciousness also means consuming things that oppose my health and fitness goals. Fat is flavor, after all.
I’m turning 47 in just a couple of weeks and weight has always been a battle for me. I was a chubby kid, a skinny teenager, gained my freshmen 15 (or maybe 20), lost it again in the Army, gained it again after, lost it in my 30s, and started gaining it back after moving to Portland. A decade ago, I was absolutely hooked on training MMA and even though I was in my thirties, I was able to eat pretty much whatever and still burn it off. That trick doesn’t work in your forties. About a year and half ago I started lifting weights and again found myself completely captivated by this physical outlet for myself. I’m carrying more muscle than ever in my life and at the same time battling some of the injuries that start coming with age. For every new lifter there is this window of time where you can eat normally and lose fat while building muscle. It’s amazing, but it doesn’t last. Sadly, I’ve run out the clock of my newbie recomposition window and find myself carrying more body fat than I want. The funny thing is that I’m not that heavy, but lifting gets in your blood and in your mind. Seeing the muscle come on drives the desire to see more, to be healthier, and to be my best self in the Autumn of my life. I told my wife that I want to be that jacked fifty year old that people do a double take when they learn my age. To get there, I know some things need to change. My fitness goals need to take a more central role in my kitchen, as they already do for me in the gym.
You may have noticed that the last month or so I’ve had gaps between posts. Some of it was busyness, but some of it was me needing a break to eat more cleanly. Starting this coming week, I’m going to be spending the next couple of months cutting until I can get to a body fat percentage that I’m happy with. As a result, my posts will change from highlighting a specific country each week to exploring more healthy foods from around the world. I’ll still be tagging posts with country names, so in the future it will still be possible to search for a country and zone in on the posts related to those cuisines. What it won’t be is me posting pictures of cottage cheese and broccoli. Food is important to me and finding a way to eat healthy within the parameters of my cut, while still feeding my soul, is paramount to my ability to sustain a healthy lifestyle. I’m going to highlight the dishes that are fresh and refreshing. I don’t particularly enjoy Mediterranean food (I’m sensitive to nightshades), so I expect to spend more time diving into Japanese cuisine and exploring more Vietnamese dishes. I’ll be looking for those places where the vegetables are plentiful, the proteins are lean and healthy, and the people live beautifully long lives. It’s a divergence from where I have been headed to where I want to go, at least for a little while until I have better set the path in front of me.
I promise it will still be delicious and feed both your body and your soul, just in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you need a nap afterwards.