I've lost my baking mojo ...

Greetings, dear readers. We just enjoyed a huge blizzard, shoveled tonnes of snow, and built a snow fort. That's the good news. The bad news is I had yet another baking 'not quite success'. I won't say 'failure', because the results are still good. They just aren't  blog worthy. They aren't worthy of your time and attention, dear readers. Have I lost my cooking super powers? I certainly hope not.

The Hall of Shame:

I'm going to wax philosophical about food instead of sharing a not-quite-successful recipe for banana bread with you.

If you start researching what's healthy and what's not, you are not only opening a can of worms within a pandora's box, you are diving head first into it. In my opinion, that's not really as bad as it sounds, but it can take a while to wade through all the studies, opinions, agendas, and information.

In the end, one of the important things to realize, in my opinion, is that different people really do have different nutritional requirements. And the biggest favour you can do yourself is to listen to your body when you eat, and eat what makes you feel good. Now, I'm not talking feel good in a caffein and sugar buzz kind of way. I'm talking feel good in a running like a well-oiled, well-maintained machine kind of way.

One of the simplest ways to get in touch with what your body needs to eat is to cut out absolutely all processed foods, and eat only whole foods that still resemble something found in nature. If you can do that, your body will start to tell you what it wants. If your body is telling you it wants brownies, then this method doesn't work for you. But if you have managed to quell your sugar and white food habit, you will start to receive messages like: I want to eat seaweed. I want to eat avocado. I want to eat tamari roasted almonds. True story. And not nearly as gross as it sounds ;)

Something really interesting for me about little kids is that they won't eat what they don't need and don't have room for, if they've been on a whole foods regime that doesn't have them addicted to sugar and processed foods. Unfortunately, many little ones have highly refined carbs as their first food. By the time my son finished his bowl of tomato and chickpea soup with a side of sauteed broccoli last night, he was very very eager for his brownie. Vegan brownies are his idea of living the high life. He had about 2 little tiny bites, and then, despite how much he loves the taste, he completely lost interest in it because he was already nutritionally satisfied, and his belly was full. I would go as far as to say that my son is a true chocolate lover -- to him it's a miraculous substance, even in the unsweetened form of raw cacao nibs that taste just like dirt to me -- so I find it fascinating that he has no interest in eating something he loves beyond all other foods (except perhaps for cheese) when he is no longer hungry. I bet most of us wish we could lose interest in something that tastes that good to us just because our bellies are satiated ... I know I do. And aside from very young children, I don't think I've met too many people who don't eat for reasons other than hunger. I can only think of one adult who falls into that category -- effortlessly -- because almost everyone will indulge for various reasons besides actual physical need (not all of them bad reasons.)

When it comes to health, I think there is virtue in examining the reasons we eat what we eat.

I think this blog is proof that it is entirely possible to eat in a way that is at the same time healthy, lavish, and delicious. With the occasional side trip into frivolous.