Feed Thyself

Listen up, you out there making unhealthy food choices. Life is funny. Just when we are the busiest, most stressed, and under deadlines at work or graduate school, we reach for the most unhealthy food choices available to fuel our bodies and keep us going. Foods with high fat, sugars, white flour and vegetable shortening are the products we allow to pass through our mouths on their way south. The word on the street is you are not making good food choices lately and you need some remedial work on how to eat healthy foods. Read on.


Breakfast. Knowing your busy schedule, you're probably just drinking coffee, cup after cup of coffee, with a donut or candy bar chaser. While they might taste good and provide the sugar high and sudden surge of energy you want, don't fool yourself. You need to add protein to this "diet," easy proteins like cheese slices, string cheese, a hard boiled egg or last night's left over hamburger patty are good choices and will keep your body going until lunch. Breakfast is an important first meal of the day so take advantage of it and "break the fast" by adding healthy food to your body.


Before you lose interest, here is what you need to purchase at the grocery store next door, around the corner, or across the street. Dairy section: out of the refrigerated display and into your cart goes milk, cottage cheese, low fat cheese (cheddar, colby, feta, etc.) eggs, yogurt, and string cheese. Vegetable section: lettuce (romaine or early spring mix) do not buy a head of iceberg lettuce, it has no nutrients and it frustrates everyone in the checkout line near you. Grab some red onions, cucumbers and tomatoes, all for the salad you will be making and enjoying.

Lesson 1 will be how to make a Greek Salad so head to the salad dressing aisle and put a couple of bottles of Newman's Italian or vinegar and oil dressing in your cart. While it may be odd that you are buying Italian dressing for a Greek Salad, all of Newman's Dressing taste good and won't hurt you. If you are lucky enough to spot a real Greek dressing, buy it. An excellent choice is a Greek Dressing made by Hellman's, the makers of the mayonaisse your mom uses. Now search for the olive aisle, and purchase a couple of jars of pitted Kalamato olives -- the best ones. I can taste theit tanginess already.

Head for your kitchen, wash the romaine in cool water and gently blot it dry with layers of paper towels. Rip the almost dry romaine into bite size pieces and toss into a large bowl. Cut the red onion into paper thin slices and toss onto the romaine. Wash the cucumber, and if it is an English cuke, peel it and remove the seeds as we are unable to digest the seeds from an English cucumber. You'll know it's an English cucumber because its somewhat long and somewhat thin. Cut the cuke into thin slices and toss onto the onion, on top of the romaine. Wash the tomatoes, cut in half, then half again and toss into the bowl. Now throw in a half cup of black Kalamato olives and top with feta cheese, either cut into small pieces, or shredded. Mix together and coat lightly with your dressing of choice: the Greek Dressing or one of Paul Newman's dressing. This yummy salad will be good and healthy!


On another day you will learn how to make other foods, but not today. The salad is a good beginning -- and you can eat it with anything from bowls of cereal to fish and chips. The old adage "you are what you eat" has merit, so stop eating the junk food and reach for a salad, a tomato, or a chunk of cheese. If you want me to come up and cook for you, I am but a phone call away.