Overwhelmed By Food

In the lives of everyday people we all have certain accomplishments. They might be personal or on a professional level. As a teddy bear artist, I have had those things like everyone else. While I haven't found a cure of cancer or walked on the moon, I was proud of my little accomplishments and when I shared them with family and friends they were proud of me too.

In the past few months I have started cooking fancy things. Well...fancy to us because they involve more than one pan or the microwave. We were in a rut, and since I was forced to take over the cooking I decided to find new and interesting things to eat.

Naturally through the course of conversation I have mentioned what I was making to my Mom and a few of my friends. The amazing thing is that they are giving me accolades over this as if I had just scaled Mount Everest.

It's kind of puzzling to be honest. Maybe for most women learning to cook is some sort of rite of passage, but for me it's always been something that I am just not interested in doing. The other accomplishments I have had meant much more to me than this.

With this new need to get out of the rut I have been scouring through magazines for new recipes. I was doing just that a couple days ago when I felt suddenly overwhelmed. The magazine I was perusing talked about a new kind of fat listed on food labels. Apparently it wasn't enough that we have trans fat, saturated fat, and a whole host of other things...now we have another one. It was inter...something. I forget.

In another article it talked about the health benefits of certain foods. Red grapes slow down wrinkles, asparagus is good for the liver, and the list went on and on. This thing that was once thought really healthy isn't now, and that thing that wasn't healthy is now. At least until they change their minds again.

I was suddenly overwhelmed by it all. I finally closed the magazine and tossed it on the coffee table. How can anyone be expected to keep track of it all?

They say stress makes us fat because of the cortisol. But keeping track of the healthy foods and what to eat and not to eat, not to mention how to cook it all causes stress in me. I feel like I am doomed no matter what I do!