If you’ve been following the updates on this page since I’ve been back to blogging more (that is to say, in April of this year), you may have noticed various changes in the blog template. This wasn’t meant to confuse my readers, of course–I just couldn’t find a template that I would have to edit slightly only AND that would look right on this blog. I like blue, but blue tints made it look sad after a while. I liked that previous green-with-leaves templates, but alas, after a few days it left me the same feeling. I didn’t want some hype black stuff, because it just doesn’t feel right here. And if I am to write about fitness and weight loss, I want that blog to be a little more ‘cheerful’ than sad-looking colors.
Thus I proceeded to hunt down several WordPress templates, see which ones would look right here (and not only on the tiny demo screenshots), and which ones I’ll still like to look at in two hours from now on. Trial and error brought this blog to where it is now, in terms of templates. And tell you what, after thinking about it some more, I’ve realized that these days–a trend that has started about two years ago, but is getting stronger and stronger– I tend to proceed the exact same way with food.
It’s a good thing, I think. I’m becoming more and more open-minded, more and more prone to tasting a dish I don’t know, rather than acting like some kind of spoiled kid who claims she doesn’t like it when in fact she’s just afraid of trying something new. Because, you see, that’s the way I’ve been for a long, long time. In fact, I even used to say that I was one of those people who didn’t like vegetables, that’s all, deal with it, and stop lumping your tomatoes on me. I’ve had good teachers at home, after all.
Silly and pathetic, isn’t it?
Well, as a matter of fact, I do actually quite like vegetables. I’m far from having opened my life to every single veggie in the world (has anyone?), but I’m getting better at it every day. It works the same for other kinds of foods, too. If something has a nice, catchy color, or an interesting/funny name, or is advised to me in a book or on a website as being rich in nutrients notwithstanding that it’s not a known dish… you can be sure I’ll give it a try as soon as I can. I’m not talking of junk foods here, of course, but of healthier things. Unfortunately, I don’t need any incentives to try a new kind of cookie.
A few examples:
- I ate at an Indian restaurant for the first time in my life a couple of months ago, and I loved it.
- I realized I’m a big eater of cruciferous vegetables, more specificaly broccoli, cauliflower, and also red cabbage. And asparagus. And others. (So, I’m a person who don’t like vegetables, am I? <smirks>)
- I’ve tried mango-flavoured chutney because Victoria Moran mentioned it in her Fit From Within book and wrote that it helped getting all of the six flavours during a meal, thus making us feel more satisfied by what we eat. Well, it was delicious. Simply delicious. I sure don’t need to take a lot of it, half a teaspoon to dip my meat in is already enough. That’s a purchase I sure don’t regret!
Oddly, I seem to send my co-workers into shock regularly, because I’m audacious enough to bring quinoa and millet at the office for lunch, instead of relying on a sandwich or greasy meal bought at the fast-food joint next door. Yes, quinoa. Does it look so weird, or is it just that more people than I thought aren’t that open to trying new foods?
An even brighter side of this is that it 1) gives me more options when cooking, 2) is healthy enough to not send me overeating no matter what. I mean, it’s not because I’ve tried Indian food (hmm, the veggies and spices!…) that all of a sudden I’m also going to feel like trying ten different kinds of desserts all of a sudden. Yes, I’m really weird like that.
So. Diversity, trial, and error. It works for me. And this new way of viewing foods, as something to try rather than to reject, has been an eye-opener, and a very positive change in my life.
Pass the chutney, baby. It’s time to cook that lean chicken meat now.
- Kery
