Food Group Dilemmas

Now, you all know the four main food groups, I'm sure: soul food, comfort food, nursery food and chocolate.

Chocolate-coffee Cupcake with Mascarpone and Cream  by Chotda 

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I try to eat from at least one of these groups every day, usually in the evening, just to round things off nicely.

This is what I do.  I eat delicious wheat-free Pony Food with fruit for breakfast, as seasonal, organic, low carbon-footprint, free trade and local as I can get it:

Don't look at the Blueberries - at this time of year they're from S. Africa, but they are organic, 

and the clemantine now comes by rail not lorry from Spain, a HUGE green development

And for lunch I usually have some delicious wholesome Rabbit Food, ditto

So then, in the evening, I select from one or more of the four main food groups.

This is to reward myself for whatever victories I’ve had during the day, which are usually many and various, if individually small.

Being British, I mainly go for Nursery Food, e.g. shepherds pie (free-range, organic, local), or my special one-pot chicken-and-rice-and-veggies dish (and to keep it local, I use barley instead of rice).  And then I have a little piece of dark chocolate (fairtrade, organic, anti-oxidant), or a big piece.

Sometimes I just have pud, quite often my absolutely all-time favourite food: rice pudding with stewed apple, queen of the nursery food pantheon.  Yumety-yum.

Very delicious and full of comforting nostalgic associations - that's nursery food.

No doubt about the calories however.  Very calorific.  Loaded up with all those big round lipid molecules that roll around the tongue is such a wonderfully seductive way.  But don’t forget portion control.  I sometimes (that is, often) do, but at least I know in principle that portion control is the answer to the calorie challenge.

So higher calorie than ideal perhaps, but not always, and not junk, and as ethical as I can get it: that's my evening meal.

And it does end the day on a deeply enjoyable and comforting note. Which is not without merit as I build my nightly defenses against that bane of financial cruise control – those wee wakeful hours of the morning when life's little challenges can seem overwhelming, even to me, Ms Positive Thinking. (And the very best antidote?  BBC Worldservice)

So I am navigating as best I can the reefs and shoals of health, ethics, sveltitude and happiness, and coming up pretty good on the whole(some).

And after all we can’t take life too seriously, can we.  Its just a bowl of cherries (organic, local, seasonal, low calorie, delicious), isn't it?

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries  by Slider72

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