I've been eating a ton of fruit lately. One thing I love about visiting S's parents is that her mom always puts out some sort of fruit to nosh on throughout the day. This trip it was often cherries, which hit the spot, as I love a good cherry, but rarely eat one. They weren't Rainier cherries, which are my favorite, but we were just about at the furthest point in the contiguous states from Mt. Rainier, so that's understandable. I also ate some mango, which was delicious.
Then, when we got back on Monday, I got a call from our neighborhood, whom we've still never met, thanking us for taking prompt action concerning our tree whose branches fell on their house. He told me they have a farm in Virginia (which explains why their place often looks deserted), and then he left a massive paper bag of white peaches on our doorstep. It must have had 25 peaches in it. I ate at least five of them myself (S and the kids did eat any -- fruit Philistines!), and S made two jars of peach jam, and then we gave the rest to our other neighbors because they were going to rot if we didn't do something with them.
It was really nice, not just because our neighbors were thankful, but because the peaches were so good. They were at that perfect point of ripeness -- firm but yielding -- and full of juice. We also happened to have a bunch of watermelon around (Lil' S2 randomly said he wanted some, so S bought one), so I was going back and forth between peach and watermelon, and I had a thought: I think fruit is my favorite food group. It's delicious, convenient, and it's versatility is unmatched. You can eat it as a meal (fruit and coffee -- excellent quick breakfast), as a snack, and as a quasi-dessert. I mean, it's not as good a dessert as a real dessert, but as an I-really-need-to-eat-better-but-want-something-sweet dessert substitute it's damn good. And even if you're having real dessert, often you can just toss the fruit on top, and it makes it even better. In fact, adding fruit to just about anything makes it better. I like those little oranges in my green salad; I like cranberry sauce on my turkey sandwich; I like apples in my chicken salad; I like peaches in my salsa; I like strawberries on my cheesecake; I like raisins in my bagels; I like blueberries on my oatmeal; I like fruit flavor in seltzer; I even like chunks of dried fruit in chocolate. Fruit just makes it all better -- and it's healthy!
Well, maybe it's healthy. There's some debate about that. I heard a doctor who studies nutrition on a podcast once -- actually it was that buff, Larry-David-looking guy you used to see on internet ads all the time (apparently his name is Jeffry Life) -- and he said fruit was too high in sugar, and he didn't recommend eating more than half a banana worth per day. But he's just one opinion, and when it comes to food, no matter what somebody says, you can find somebody else who says the opposite. Nutrition is an area where it's just about impossible for the layperson to know who to listen to.
Part of this, surely, is that there's a lot of money to be made by convincing people you know something nobody else knows. But also it's just the fact that people are different and have different objectives and priorities, so what is healthy for one person might not be healthy for another. I mean, just start by asking -- what does it mean to be healthy? Ten different people will give you ten different answers. Is eating fruit good for you? If you're an endurance athlete who needs maximal fuel efficiency, probably not; if you have a huge sweet tooth and fruit satisfies your urges to eat a trayful of brownies, then yeah.
Then there are other aspects of eating, not strictly related to your physical health, that matter to your overall life health. There is more of a focus on mental health now than every before, and the constant pressure to "eat right" might be deleterious to one's psychological well-being. Also, some people have ethical qualms with certain diets. Then there's the social aspect of food, which I think is sometimes understated. Somebody told me just the other day that they didn't like hanging out with some friends of theirs because all they want to do is eat at restaurants, and this person doesn't like eating restaurant food. I've said many times before that the main reason S's mom likes me is because I eat her food -- it's a joke, but, like all jokes, there's some truth to it. If it wasn't for her cooking, we really wouldn't have much of a relationship -- or at least it would've taken us much longer to establish one. So, it's not just as simple as "this is bad for you" and "this is good for you."
Everybody has to have their own eating heuristic. For me, I try to go by how I'm going to feel a few hours in the future. That seems to serve me well. If I eat a moderate amount, mostly protein and vegetables (with some fruit, of course), then I feel good, and I conclude that that's healthy. If I eat a bunch of junk food, then I feel like shit, and I conclude that that's unhealthy. Sometimes I do the unhealthy thing, anyway; sometimes it's just because I'm human and humans are weak; but sometimes it's a rational (if not totally conscious) calculation. Being unhealthy in this moment is better for me in someway than being healthy. As Thomas Sowell once said, and which I often repeat, "There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs." Or, if you prefer Dan Savage, he frequently says, "Everything in moderation, including moderation." Both those quotes come to mind.
Until next time...
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