"e" is for eggs, endive/endive, and enjoyment

Eggs

"The incredible, edible egg!" Remember that jingle?  I just love eggs, and I'm so happy that the most recent science has shown eggs to be a wonderful source of protein and don't increase my cholesterol numbers. Yay! I have never enjoyed egg whites only or egg substitutes, and so I continue to happily enjoy whole eggs a couple of times each week. One of my "comfort" dinners is an omelet with asparagus, mushrooms, and cheese. Yummmm!

Endive and Endive

I have discovered that there are two plants named endive! The first, pronounced "EHN dive" (like "dive" into the pool), is a cousin to chicory and is a curly green leaf. You can use it like lettuce, but it has a very bitter taste (which some people really like). It's too strong for my smoothies, but I love knowing about it!

The second is Belgian endive, pronounced "ahn DEEV," and looks like a little alien pod. Again, it's a little bitter, and I don't recommend eating it by itself. But, peel off an outer leaf and stuff it with something delicious (cream cheese, hummus, chicken salad), and you have instant finger food!

Enjoyment

OK, I know, I know....

Enjoyment isn't a food. But, I do think that food should be enjoyed - and we don't often do that these days. However, there is scientific evidence to back up several points of enjoying food.

1. Cook at home. Home-cooked meals are healthier than almost anything you can order at a restaurant or buy pre-processed. Even if you're splurging as you cook, you are unlikely to add extra chemicals to it. Cooking at home brings the family together, and provides kids with a good model of working together to produce something worthwhile (a good meal). Cooking at home fills your house with delicious smells, stimulating the sensory nerves associated with memory. Smelling and anticipating eating the food that you're cooking will help your body prepare for digestion. Finally, eating at home is good family time. ENJOY time with those you love most.
2. Indulge. Even for those of us who have to be aware of what we eat so that we don't abuse our bodies with extra weight or toxins (and I wonder if any of us are exempted from this category), we must indulge from time to time. I don't want to live in a world where I can't eat chocolate ice cream. I understand that I can't eat it every day, nor can I eat an entire gallon at one time, but I want to indulge on a fairly regular basis. So, I ENJOY my indulgences, rather than feeling guilty about them.
3. Tastes change. I think one of the biggest surprises is that my taste buds seem to have changed in the last couple of years. As I've added green smoothies to my regular intake, and I'm eating more fruits and veg, my tastebuds are adapting. There are actually times now where I CRAVE a salad! Really! Not something I would have ever considered before! But now sodas of any sort taste very bad to me (where 2 years ago, I had several sodas every day). Now, I truly prefer steamed broccoli to broccoli casserole. Who could have guessed? So, if you don't like something now, that's OK. Leave room for the possibility that you could ENJOY it in the future.