An Italian Meal Considered; Eating With Intentionality

The July Project: Day 10

I ate a wonderful meal tonight. On the advice of friends, my dinner date and I went to check out Divino, an Italian restaurant that’s somewhat more pricy than my typical dining choices.

We started off with a bottle of Malbec and an antipasto classico. The platter contained a tiny portion of each of eight or nine savory treats—fresh mozzarella, chunks of aged Parmiggiano, several kinds of preserved meat, little slices of grilled polenta, quarters of baby artichokes, and pickled onions. It was enough food for each of us to enjoy a taste of everything, but not much more than a taste …[MORE]

July 10, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: Eating better, Food, July 2010 Project | 6 comments

Mindful Eating with Chef Adam Miles

Last Saturday I took part in a workshop at Studio NiaMoves called “Exploring Mindful Eating.” Personal chef and food consultant Adam Miles talked about how human beings develop issues with food, and what we can do about it. His premise is that we start out with an instinctive ability to eat right, eat only when we’re hungry, and enjoy what we eat, but that we pick up bad habits, bad information, and a twisted relationship with food as we grow up. We learn to eat the wrong things, for the wrong reasons. But we can unlearn. …[MORE]

March 10, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: Behavior, Food, Habits | One comment

Do Something Every Day, Part I: A Walk to the Park

Map to Memorial Park
You can get there from here.

Do something every day. That’s the mantra of my exercise program. I repeat this to people all the time: “If I’m sick, or if I’ve worked an 18‑hour day, or if it’s raining, I put on my shoes and I walk around the block.” Something. Every day. It’s how I satisfy the terms of an imaginary contract that my brain has made with my body.

Today, I found myself without a car. My 10‑year‑old Maxima broke down last night, and this morning, a friend helped me jump‑start it and dump it at the mechanic’s shop. I’ll find out tomorrow what’s wrong and when I can have it back.

Meanwhile, I had to get some exercise. …[MORE]

March 1, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: Behavior, Do something every day., Exercise, Habits | 2 comments