I meant to read and review The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach months ago. I didn't. I couldn't. Strong bones aren't sexy. I mean, who thinks about strong bones until it's way too late? And then, when you're 70-something or 80-something with osteoporosis you wish you'd done something different to combat your bone loss.
Basically, I knew I wouldn't like what I read. While I'm an adventurous eater, an eater who simply loves the taste, texture, and aroma of food, I'm also a comfort food eater. Deep down, I knew Annemarie Colbin's message was not one that I wanted to read.
Sure, I guessed correctly that she prescribes a low-fat, low-carb diet. And one that limits all the good whites: sugar, flour, rice, etc. But what I didn't expect was her advice to remove nightshade vegetables from your diet completely. And that is where I stopped reading. I knew, that despite how valuable her information might be, that it wouldn't be a lifestyle change that I could commit to. Nightshade plants include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. I know potatoes aren't healthy, and that's okay. One of my favorite summer veggies are tomatoes.
Tomatoes are a part of my culinary history. Sliced tomatoes accompanied almost every dinner/supper I ate as a child. That is, in the summer, when they were in season. No meal was complete without sliced tomatoes on the side. Heck, some nights my mom and I would share a few bodacious tomatoes and call that dinner.
Imagining life without tomatoes is impossible. So despite the fact that every tomato I eat contains a poison called glycalkaloids and that consumption of the substance correlates with osteoporosis, I shall not stop eating tomatoes. And a diet that prohibits them is wrong in my book. But that's a minor peeve. Colbin's suggestions are sound and backed by her years of research and scholarship as a health educator.
Colbin's whole-fish recipes appealed to me. Crispy Baked small fish and fish stock called for whole fish. Whole fish are seemingly impossible to buy locally without placing a special order. Someday,when I plan ahead enough, I'll order a pound of smelts or whitebait and try 'er out.
I know Colbin's book is good for me. As much as I want to protect my health and be around to see my daughter grow into womanhood, cottoning to the idea of no nightshade plants in my diet rather killed my motivation for following Colbin's plan.
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