on food balance

I never thought I would say this, but I’m becoming obsessed with the upcoming CrossFit Games. I can’t explain it, but for some reason I’m checking both the Central Southern Texas Sectional and the 2010 Crossfit Games websites daily for insight into the WOD’s and the competitors. I’m pretty sure that by now I’ve invested more time in the CrossFit Games than I did last month in the Winter Olympics (minus my disturbing addiction to curling). I’m blessed to know many of the competitors in this weekend’s sectional competition and I can’t wait to go witness the spectacle in person.

my first fight gone bad

But I have a confession to make. I love CrossFit for what it is, but I’ll never be a serious competitor. I know that’s heresy, but it’s not my goal. My goal is to have a balanced, sustainable, healthy lifestyle and if being a competitor is a symptom of that goal then so be it.

As I’ve observed my trainer, Heather Hodges, train for the games over the last several months, I’ve been amazed by her willpower to stick with a very strict diet. For her, the goal is to be competitive and win, and so her diet is simply one of many tools in her arsenal. So for her to eat the same cucumber for breakfast every day is not a stumbling block for her because her love for the competition is greater than her love for the food. I respect and admire that, but I don’t aspire to be that.

As a gastronomer, my love for food is greater than my love for competition. Maybe one day that will change, but for now I just want to stay healthy, continue to make progress with my weight and overall fitness, and also be happy eating food! That’s a key component for me and what I’ve learned the last 6 months is that I can eat healthy while maintaining my fairly high food balance standards.

I keep using the words food and balance together, but what does that mean? More on that next time…

on gastronomy

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. -Voltaire

At the intersection of food and art lies gastronomy. Food, like art and music, has the power to evoke an emotional response. A gastronomer is one who is constantly searching for that emotional response to food. For example, nothing frustrates me more than having to settle for a bag of frozen green beans at dinner time. It’s not that I don’t like green beans, it’s just that that particular application (frozen, steamed in a bag) lacks soul. Soul is a key component in the quest to find an emotional connection with food and the world around it.