Day -1: A Guidebook, and a Delay

It's been awhile since I've posted - we spent a wonderful few days in Minnesota with D's two older daughters. Ate lots of junk (even when trying not to; chain restaurant food uses lots of additives to make up for poorly-trained chefs and a resistance to buying quality, fresh ingredients), and paying the price now, migraine-wise.

The first piece of news: We're having a snowstorm here in the Northeast, and D has to work today (we share one car), so it looks like we won't be able to do a good shopping trip until tomorrow. I've decided to start our experiment, instead of tomorrow morning, either tomorrow evening or the next morning. My next post will be a menu of what I'm planning on cooking in the upcoming week.

The delay will also enable us to get Molly a little birthday cake - she's a New Year's baby, turning 2 tomorrow - without worrying about breaking our (admittedly breakable) rules. No birthday party yet (it's a bad time for it, with so many people out of town), but maybe in a couple of weeks.

The second piece of news: As I alluded to last week, I have found a book that I think is going to work very well as a guidebook for me. In fact, I put it up as a "Book That Will Change How You Think About Food" in the left-hand column of my blog. It is The Self-Healing Cookbook, written by Kristina Turner. Ms. Turner lost her husband to cancer, but he held on for several years before succumbing. During that time, they changed to a macrobiotic diet. It helped his health immensely, and made his last few years probably better than they would have been. One thing I love about this book is that it was written after his death. She knows that a diet is not a cure-all; but she believes so strongly that macrobiotics improved her husband's quality of life - and continues to improve hers - that she still wrote a book on it.

This book is .... hard to explain. It's typed on a manual typewriter, with hand-drawn illustrations and hand-lettered headings. And it's sold almost half a million copies. It just has heart (and I'm not normally that sappy). Plus, it has great recipes and a wonderful attitude. It encourages readers to do eat what makes them feel good -- not good in the short run (like a sugary cupcake), but overall good. And it gives excellent guidelines for doing so, but admits that the rules are different for everyone. It encourages moderation and occasional splurges. I wish my words could give a more powerful explanation ... I guess I'll just close by saying, read this book. Just see if it touches you. I dare you! Click on the small icon of the book in the left-hand column of this blog to purchase it, or just to read an excerpt (by clicking "Look inside.")