"A bowl full of sugar makes the what go down?"

In Malawi, as in most African provinces, having personal nannies and chefs is a common luxury for the majority of home owners. So it wasn't abnormal for my sisters and I to live having a gardener, chef and nanny around the house. On this particular night taking care of both of us was Mokendazea, our kindhearted chef and caretaker. Mokendazea had much more experience in the kitchen than with watching over two children which boded for the possibility of 'interesting complications' to occur.

My father was a Foreign Area Officer in the US Army when I was growing up. So he had an obligation to attend embassy dinner parties and functions together with his wife, my mother. After returning from a night out my mother walked Mokendazea to the door while having the usual debrief on how things had gone.

"How was Jaime?" My mother inquired, "Did he give you any trouble at bedtime?"

"No Madame, everything went well." Mokendazea paused, as if his conscience was at odds with itself. "It's just... well..." Again pausing, Mokendazea peered at my mother with unease. This instantly caught my mothers attention, snapping her out from the glamour of the evenings events and into the moment.

"What is it Mokendazea!?" startled by a countless number of dangerous scenarios playing through her head.

"Oh Madam it was nothing too serious." Seeing my mothers disposition had alarmed Mokendazea and trying to put her worry at ease he answered with what he hoped was a reassuring statement, "It's just in Malawi we do things differently. I thought it was strange that in America you let children eat a whole bowl of sugar. That's all I just don't think they should eat an entire bowl of sugar its not healthy."

"Excuse me?!" To say she was a little perplexed by this would be an understatement.

"Well yes. Before putting them to bed, Madame, Lindsay said Madame lets them eat a bowl of sugar." Mokendazea explained, "At first I refused to give it to them but Jaime also whined with his sister as they begged for their bowl of sugar. I know America is different Madame but maybe not a whole bowl of sugar?"

Taken aback, my mother made it clear to Mokendazea that from then on he was to listen only to her instructions and even if we were the children of the house our demands were not to be acknowledged. Suffice it to say even at a young age my sister and I had wittingly taken advantage of the situation and had sneaked our way into what even the kids from Marry Poppins had never gotten, not just a spoonful, but an entire bowl full of sugar. 

Now no mother, even an American one, would let her child eat an entire bowl of sugar. That would be preposterous! Or would they? 

What if instead of an Actual bowl of sugar it looked like this:

Or this:

or even this:

The funny thing is we DO let our kids eat bowls of sugar! Hell, in our society we often feed OURSELVES, grown members of society, bowls of sugar. We just don't know it, or if we do, we don't care to change much.

Now some might be thinking "Well that may be the case in other families but not in mine! We eat healthy!"
That's great if you do. I applaud you for it, change has to start somewhere and the best place to start is always in the home. But let me remind everyone that while we may believe we have gotten to where we are today on the brunt work of our individuality the harsh reality is quite different.

We rely on thousands of individuals behind the hidden 'vail' of society everyday. Buying groceries, investing in the stock market, using the internet, driving to work and even teaching our own children how to live.

We live in a national community. While there is a notion of being able to sink or swim by yourself the majority of us will sink or swim as a nation. So you may not be obese or suffer from type two diabetes  and you could be like me and love what your healthy eating has done for you as an individual. But in the long run the health issues of america are going to affect us all.

In the end, holistically, as a nation we are significantly immature when it comes to our eating and dietary habits. Over the next few weeks I want to engage what seem to me to be detrimental social psychological factors in America that have fueled our health issues including: 

• Simple Education
• The pursuit of Deadly Happiness
• Nutritional Debt
• Natural Addiction
• Being Wrong

The first step in knowing you have a problem is understanding what that problem is. We have to start addressing the health of our nation, even if it means one sugar bowl at a time.

Recipe: Rhubarb Tapioca Pudding

I'd like to think that food can be delicious and not awful for you at the same time. But that's not to say that it has to be perfectly healthy for you either. More on that idea later! Let's get to the day's recipe:

Rhubarb Tapioca Pudding

This dish is so simple to make and yet very very delicate. They aren't joking about making sure not to overcooking the dish. The rhubarb will taste awful if it is too mushy and the pudding won't be a pudding if it is too crunchy.

The bitterness from the rhubarb works really well with the orange juice consistency. I used orange juice from squeezed oranges because usually anything in a carton has added sugar. Also I thought a good exchange of taste for the granulated sugar would be honey/molasses. So instead of the sugar I added 1/2 cup honey and a dash of molasses. It turned out perfectly.

Lastly I melted down some 85% cocoa chocolate and mixed it with Greek yogurt with some mint on top. The mint adds a nice color to the orange glow of the rhubarb and its the period on the end of this dish's sentence.

I also thought about using grapefruit juice as an alternative. As well as substituting the tapioca for chinese boba or possibly even adding red beans to the dish in some way.

Even a small serving is more than enough. It's not the healthiest thing in the world but it's worth the splurge! :)  

Butterscotch Baby Steps

Sweat dripped down my brow, soon engulfed in the SPF50 caked cracks of my skin. My bottle was empty, not even a drop of thirst-quenching water left.

27


"Soldier on? How!?" My hip tendons screamed, threatening to collapse with the slightest provocation. The horizon of green arbors flickered in the distance, blurred by the visible heat rising off the hot asphalt. Not even a glimpse of hope.

66



"You've Failed!" an inner voice screeched. "You expect to finish an entire marathon!?! When you can't even run fourteen miles? It's just too hard, James. Maybe you're just not meant to run a marathon... have you ever thought about how FAR 26 miles is?”

110
 
During marathon training there is a point in every run when your body stops producing endorphins, and all the motivation that is so easily accessible in small sessions leaves you utterly and completely void. You feel alone.

147

Thankfully my conscience, the size of a cricket, crushed under an upended smack to the shoulder. This was no time to determine if I had come down the right path.

"I can't go 2 more miles. I could barely walk five steps." I stammered.

"What about one step?" A new voice whispered from beneath, a sharp spear shattering the heat induced bog weighing on my mind.

213

"One; one step?" My toes tingled slightly as if to test the possibility of this theory. "I could do one step. Sure."

One.
 I mustered one step out of the Jell-O legs of mine.
One.
 I wondered what flavor Jello they’d be.
One.
 As long as they aren't butterscotch.
One.
Butterscotch Jell-O sounds gross.
One.
 Bill Cosby's dance moves were fantastic.
Done.

"Wait. What!?"

277


I had finished! Energy pumped through what I thought were dead and dying veins. As I started to gather myself together in my joyful triumph only one thought remained,the only one I could have mustered,

"How delicious would butterscotch Jell-O be right now?"

One seemingly meaningless step in any situation was the only way that we ever start to accomplish anything requiring determination. Learning to walk as a child, speaking a foreign language, talking about your problems with a friend, mastering multiplication tables, dealing with an unfriendly co-worker.

365

Sure, training continued to be an uphill struggle. Yet, every struggle had an ending. When I stumbled one step it was just that: one small failure. I could fix it. When I bounded forward in a lunge it was just that: one small achievement. I could harness it. One baby step at a time was all I had to focus on.

So how does one continue to pursue healthy eating habits, love for a foreign language, learn to journal daily, cook amazing meals, run 26 miles, cultivate meaningful relationships or have enough energy to sit down and write a 500 word blog post?

Tap into it through slow progression. Don't ever lose sight of where you have come from, where you are, and where you are going. One baby step at a time.

Recipe: African Yam Stew

I wanted to share this as my first recipe because it has been a staple in my cook book since the first time I found it.

I'm uncertain why the name includes "African." I won't lie, this is not a recipe I stumbled upon while roaming the flats of Zimbabwe, not even close.

But, sometimes, a good dish is remembered by its name. Marketing works well for dishes, just like everything else. It's why they haven't changed the Whopper or Big Mac names even if the recipe does change, ever so slightly.

So I kept the name for the added ambiance.

Not only have I made it countless times for myself, but it is one of my favorites to cook when I'm having guests.



An amazing blend of subtle and spicy kick, aromatic turmeric and cumin, plus the sweetness of the yams simmers this recipe into a perfect hearty dish as an entree, or it can be easily pureed into an appetizing soup.

Here is a link to the original recipe: African Yam Soup

However I have made it so many times with many different ingredients and my personal recipe is the original with a few changes:

• Instead of 1 cup of tomato juice I prefer a 24oz of arrabiata sauce, homemade if you have the time or store bought if you don't. 
• greek yogurt. Artemis Greek Gods Yogurt because it has no added sugar and has all the natural fats still included. This is added to the dish before pureeing or as a topping right before eating. It thickens the sauce and adds just enough creaminess to sooth the spice if you used my next ingredient change.
• Habaneros chilli. These guys are spicy and I have often used more than one to make the African yam stew the Spicy African Yam Stew. It's got a heat that will make you sweat and tear up just enough to enjoy the pain. (spicy is not an actual flavor on your taste bud pallet its just your taste buds registering pain)

To puree this dish simply transfer the contents of the pot to a safe blender or immersion blender.

Let me stress
SAFE BLENDER!

Don't be like yours truly and use a blender that doesn't have the lid fit properly. Ending in what used to be healthy delicious yam stew, turns into burning angry Habanero infused stew all over my body and the kitchen floor. Now I know what it must feel like to burn in a Kirby curry....


I'd rather it be in my stomach if you would be so kind Mr. blender, thanks.

Easy presentation is to add a green kick on the top of the yogurt before it gets mixed. Dice some chives and position just on top of the yogurt in a white or charcoal bowl for the colors to really combine. However if you're a vegan or just don't like cream serve it just as easily without!

Time to Dig In.

Order Up!

"Just another health nut blogging about how awesome his life has become."

You hit the nail on the head. Although I'd honestly prefer being called a 'health stalk' something that at least fits my physique. I'd make a very elongated nut...

Over the last year and a half I have gone through what others would consider very 'drastic' lifestyle changes. Most of those changes are based off of the way I consume foods but also in the way that I perceive the basic ideas of eating and how those changes have impacted my life.

This change in my overall well-being has really moved a passion within me to share my experiences.

I'm not preaching a cure-all.

I'm not advocating radical change.

I'm not promising that what I talk about is perfect.

Rather I'm just sharing my own experiences and thoroughly researched knowledge to help spark other peoples passion.

So chew on my thoughts, nibble on my recipes, crunch on my exercises and if it spoils in your mouth toss it out.

But at the very least sit down and enjoy one simple serving of Cobb's Salad.
Orders Up! :)