Swooning over Tomatoes + Connection...

...you can't go get it like a latte or a Botoxed forehead

Tomato Polenta Tart published in Edible Bozeman Summer 2022

First, let’s talk about this tomato polenta tart. I’ve been making it, or versions of it (see this easier Sheet Pan Polenta Tart), since I assisted Michele Anna Jordan with her cooking class back in 1995. My goodness, where does the time go?! Anyway, think of this as the absolute best-ever gluten-free pizza. Perfect for Labor Day weekend.

You might need a little something to go with it—just swap fresh basil for the tarragon in this aioli. Delicious smeared on your BLT sandwich too.

A few more tomato recipes

No-Cook tomatoes and pasta

While I’m swooning over tomatoes, a few more ideas: panzanella, no-cook tomato pasta sauce, or casually cook them in a little olive oil for something like this:

Control, Connection, and Interoception

Like resilience or a positive mental attitude, everyone wants connection but it needs to be cultivated; you can’t go get it like a latte or a Botoxed forehead.

I wished someone would have talked with me about listening to my body before I figured it out on my own in my late forties. Listening isn’t really the right word, although it’s common parlance. Perhaps tuning in, trusting our body’s signals is closer. In the field of interoception, researchers refer to bodily awareness. These words and phrases refer to connection to our body and it is critically important to our health—mental, physical, and spiritual.

For decades I controlled every calorie and minute of cardio with one goal in mind: to become or to stay thin. Bipolar swings between restriction and rebellion, which looked like eating whatever I wanted for the weekend then returning to “control” which meant Weight Watchers, the Zone, Montignac, Atkins, The Fat Flush Plan, Jay Robb’s glucagon and glycogen monitoring, or obsessing about the glycemic index. There came a day when I just couldn’t do it anymore so I stopped and vowed to never diet again. It was the best decision I have ever made with regard to my health.

I’ve been nerding out with this book by Bud Craig, How Do You Feel. It’s about interoception which I first learned about when studying Intuitive Eating with the founders Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. Paying attention to our hunger and fullness is a form of interoception.

One terribly unfortunate consequence of dieting is that it teaches us to distrust our body and ignore its signals of hunger (and desire, pleasure, enjoyment, and satiety); it’s all about eating by the rules and feeling guilty for any transgression. We turn to diets to help us lose weight, but they slow our metabolism in the long run making us more unhealthy physically and mentally. Control of our body is disconnection from our body which is exactly the opposite of what we need to be cultivating. It’s a big topic that I care passionately about but let’s end today with one takeaway, my eternal gratitude to a wonderful therapist: Control and connection. You can’t have both. Capacity is the issue.

Dinnertime!

Well, people are getting antsy for dinner around here, so I’d better close. Off to cook black bean tortilla soup with some sweet potatoes and tomatoes.

Bye for now.