Tomatoes & Melons

Summer salads, spearmint stracciatella ice cream, and what is Intuitive Eating?

You don’t have to do much to make a delicious salad in summertime. This tray of sliced heirlooms, mozzarella, and torn basil got a drizzle of olive oil and some Maldon salt, and in the back there’s watermelon and jicama dressed with fresh lime, torn basil (mint would be nice too) and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve with griddled sourdough (+ olive oil) and/or bacon for a deconstructed BLT.

Make it a dinner: pick up a rotisserie chicken, grill some skewers (chicken, swordfish, shrimp), or serve with brats or burgers.

Spearmint Stracciatella Ice Cream

I had my food + faith group over today and after lunch served everyone a little portion of this spearmint stracciatella ice cream, the reason I grow a couple pots of mint every summer. I didn’t intend on having a mindful eating lesson, but someone said what someone always seems to say, “How can you not eat the whole thing?!”

Well, I no longer need to “eat the whole thing” because ice cream is food I allow myself to eat and not eat. When I’m making the decision, I keep in mind how I want to feel in my body—from “oh gosh that would taste good!” to “I want to feel good in my body and not tote around extra padding if I don’t have to” which is a much longer term goal. This is Intuitive Eating. Eating with bodily awareness versus rules, which is quite something to re-wire if diet mentality has damaged your brain. The freedom feels unbelievably good. Let’s talk sometime if you are curious.

Sometimes less is better than more. And sometimes more is better than less (like last night when I used ten spoons to taste test while this batch was churning! It was delicious.)

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating may seem too good to be true. Eat what you want and feel good in your body? This is eating as it’s meant to be. Connection with our body instead of control of our body. Intuitive Eating is freedom from dieting, not a diet in disguise.

From age 10 through my 40’s, dieting ingrained in me that food was fattening, fat was bad, and that my body was not to be trusted. I flip-flopped from fad diets like Scarsdale and Atkins to “sane” ones like Weight Watchers, back-and-forth, week after week, month after month, year after year. One pound was make-or-break for my mood. Yet the kitchen has delighted me since the time I stood on a chair to reach the counter. From puberty to menopause this conflict played out in my body.

When our food relationship is off, every aspect of our health is at risk—mental, physical, and spiritual. Diets don’t work because they disconnect us from our body and make us crazy around food. A peaceful relationship with food and body begins when we stop thinking about food with a diet mindset.

Intuitive Eating came across my path when I thought I had it all figured out. I had been not dieting for years and it was good. But I was carrying around extra weight and didn’t feel good in my body. “Feeling good in your body” is not a principle of Intuitive Eating, but it’s something I knew was critical for my health and well-being. When the time was right, IE helped me make gentle choices towards this goal and remain free from dieting and obsessing at the scale.