Wants or Needs?

   So I'm a virgin blogger and I think I'll start simple and build from there. I'm going to point out the inane as well as the wonderful things that I have experienced and wish to experience. Today I want to talk about a famous saying, make your needs your wants and you will be happy. Sometimes I get a little full of myself and believe that I do a pretty good job of this, but alas when I started to explore the idea of writing this I found I needed to work on my wants. This is a big subject matter so I think I will break this down to one portion per day.

   Let's start by looking at the basics. I need food. Truly we all do, and it is one reason that I love to cook, but am I eating the right things and the right amount? This is where I hit my first wall. I know for a fact that on both accounts I have been lacking. On the one hand I tend to overindulge good food and occasionally eat some unhealthy food. Now that in itself is not a crime if you can maintain a healthy body weight as well as general good health. Which made me run smack into wall number two. I'm definitely not obese, but I tend to carry a bit more weight than I should. This could all be prevented if I could just would commit to a regular exercise program and a controlled diet. Which I have done in the past but have found that I tend to make excuses (not valid ones) to forgo keeping myself fit and healthy. *side note-is there really any good reason not to exercise or eat healthy with all the health benefits (which I will be exploring on another day). I have found a wonderful partner in life who is really good at helping with the diet side of the program, but I tend to get a little off track when we don't see each other, and having children sometimes makes it seem a little bit more difficult to eat well since there pallets are sometimes not mature enough to appreciate good for or food that is good for them (of course some will say that is a parenting issue, this is something I will tackle another day). Years ago I use to set up a weekly meal plan on Saturday, buy the groceries on Sunday and make any dishes for the week that day. There were so many positives to that plan, but like the exercise I took something that is so good for you and diminished it's value.

   Back to food. So we know we need it. Since I enjoy food shouldn't I want to appreciate the food I eat? Some might say that you need to appreciate food, but truly you don't. It makes it much easier to deal with food when you enjoy what you are tasting. I watch my kids and they both have there difficulties with food, which is inherent to most children. Neither one of them are obese or even overweight. There problem is the lack of tolerance for food. They rarely eat for enjoyment. They simply eat to sustain themselves. Although there are positives to this, i.e. they should maintain a healthy body weight, I question if they eat as healthy as they should. I also question if they eat enough of the right foods. I'm writing about them to illustrate that appreciation of food is a want rather than a need. Though the main subject of this blog is make your needs your wants. So do I want to approach food on the taste of food or the nutritional value. I personally want to do both.

   The reason I originally learned to cook was that my mother was a horrid cook.

           Personal story time;
             One day my father approached me and gave me a hundred dollars. Now that may not seem a lot, but this was in 1983. He had that look of desperation in his eye and I can still remember what he said to me. "Son please go to the store and buy some food for the house. You can buy anything that we could eat for dinner, except chicken." Ah chicken! We had eaten chicken for every meal for the past 3 weeks because my mother was on a diet. Now don't get me wrong it was not the same chicken every night, but I think you agree chicken can only be done so many ways before you start to worry about growing feathers and laying eggs. This is how I got started cooking. I cooked for my father that entire week. Thus began my relationship with preparing food.

   I really should thank her because it made me appreciate the work that went into making good food. It did not teach me however what food was good for me. Although I learned to cook, at first I did not take in account if it was good for you, only that the taste was good. With experience I learned a lot about what was good for me and how to make my cooking more healthy. Though that is a rudimentary education at best. I've learned a lot, but there is much that is lacking in my education. I'm lucky that the internet, books and so many other avenues are available to fill in those gaps. Truly, I need to give credit to my partner. Exploring food with her has helped me want to eat better, while still eating good food.

   So trying to encapsulate all the ways that food affects my life has been an interesting thought process. It's something we all deal with daily. I have made the food I prepare not only part of my life but also that of my friends and relatives. My house has been the sight of many large gatherings where I have done the lion's share of the cooking. In doing so, I have had to look at what I make and if I ask, will everyone find it appealing but on a smaller scale, if it was also healthy. Which has turned into an idea of making my own business. I never really wanted to be a caterer, but more of a personal chef to many. Again, I have to thank my partner because of her want to provide for our family and to have a business to call her own. We are making our need of food much more than just a caloric intake. It may also provide us with a sustenance other than our daily meals. Even though the idea of good food is a want, I'm finding that I am making it a need on so many levels. Now making that plan come to fruition is where I am headed.