Food Resolutions vs. Food Trends

Around this time of year as people are flocking to the gym to make good on their New Year's Resolutions, making promises to go vegetarian, vegan, localvore, etc. I've been thinking about Food-Life balance.

I mean, as an all cuisines loving foodie of course I need to watch my weight. That foie gras is not doing any favors to my figure. But how can I suppress my adventurous hunger without feeling like my diet is some kind of opressing dictator to be embraced rather than overthrown? We can't all be lovable 6 foot something travel show host Anthony Bourdain with what seems like a heaven sent metabolism.

Like Mr. Bourdain, however, I do have conflicting feelings about these food resolutions/trends that have become so ubiquitous in today's society in the name of health and beauty, especially in my Southern California Orange County/Los Angeles habitat. For instance, I have been vegetarian and vegan for periods of time in my life. My verdict? Great feeling, hot looking, less joyful.

You see, there is something deeply satisfying about the luxuries afforded by a no holds barred, try anything attitude towards food. My current diet? The EVERYTHINGvore. My husband now jokes that he can't take me to the zoo in fear that I'll wonder how I can get my hands on a delicious zebra steak. (I have no idea what zebra tastes like, I just know I haven't had it.)

But each of the aforementioned dietary choices have their own draw, things to learn and implement, adjustments for a better foodie lifestyle:

Vegetarianism: Veggies are good for you! Those purple artichokes aren't scary, they're Mother Nature's gift to your tastebuds! (I am talking to you Andrew Zimmern.) In the vegetarian based cultures in Asia you can find that lacking meat does not mean lacking flavors.

Love veggies for the flavors they actually impart, let them be the star instead of just the side dish every once and a while. A good place to start: Falafel anyone?

My vegetarian resolution is to make sure regardless of what I eat a 5 vegetable daily minimum will give me the benefits of the lifestyle without having to give up that sesos taco I've been thinking about all day.

Veganism: Vegans for one reason or another avoid eggs, dairy and other animal based byproducts. I believe the idea is that they might be questionable to your health or that the method of processing is inhumane to the animals the products come from.

Actually, I have a hard time with Veganism. I believe in survival of the fittest species. I don't feed bad for the blade of grass in the fields getting trampled on before eaten by a cow and I don't care that veal can't move and is being force fed milk.

The benefit of going Vegan is that you focus on the real ingredients that you're injesting. You would be surprised the amount of animal products found in what seem to be vegetable dishes in the food industry. Veganism forces you to eat as naturally as possible, as pure of ingredients as available and the most humane products.

My vegan resolution is to veer towards more natural ingredients and more humane producers of my animal products whenever possible. It doesn't hurt that grass fed meat is supposed to be much higher in Omega-3s and taste than it's corn-fed counterparts.

Raw Food: This is a fascinating trend where people trade in their stoves for a dehydrator. Needless to say, this is an extreme of veganism that has picked up steam because it's nearly impossible to be fat on this diet. Plus there's an element of spirituality that springs up when you have such control over your base food cravings that you can survive off vegetables, fruits and nuts alone.

I can't deny that many fruits and vegetables are most nutritious in their unadulterated forms. I'd take a raw untouched cherry over any cherry byproducts any day. Don't ask me to eat raw potatoes though, everyone knows they're better slathered in miscellaneous dairy products.

I have "Gone Raw" for a day or two here and there, even tried juicing in lieu of eating for about a week (which in fact is the fastest way EVER to drop lbs before a major event), and the real benefit is a retraining of one's tastebuds to pick up on the nuances of nature's pure flavors. The natural sweetness of fresh carrots, the unreal texture of a mushroom accompanied with an almost animal protien like flavor, the peppery goodness of freshly picked arugula. All these things once you taste them on the enlightened raw foodie tongue give you a deeper understanding of everday untouched ingredients. That's a great thing.

My Raw resolution is to try fruits and vegetables raw before tossing them into a heat source whenever possible as long as it doesn't kill me.