• 2 pounds dried split peas
• 12 cups of water
• 1 large chopped onion
• 3 large chopped carrots
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into eighths
• 2 russet potatoes, chopped into eighths
• 10-12 mushrooms, sliced
• 3 sticks of chopped celery
• 4 table spoons of butter
• thyme
• salt
• pepper

Melt the butter in the bottom of a BIG pot.  Chop up the onion and drop it in.  Stir occasionally until the onions start to go translucent.  Chop up the carrots and drop them in.  Stir in some salt and the thyme.  Chop up the mushrooms, drop those in.  Then chop up the celery and toss that in too.  Stir fry in the butter until the mushrooms start to give up lots of water.

Toss in the potatoes and split peas.  Then add water.  Bring to boil then reduce to vigorous simmer.  Cover.  Check back occasionally to stir and check to see if the peas have gone soft.  Usually takes about 45 minutes.  You want the peas to be mush.

This makes a very thick split pea soup, which is how I like it.  It’s a big batch so you can store lots in Tupperware in the refrigerator, or freeze some for longer term storage.  It’s a snap to scoop some of this lovely green mush into a small pot, heat it over a low heat with some stirs and you have an immediate hot and healthy lunch.  After a couple of bowls though, you might get bored.  Here’s some ways I spice it up a bit:

1. Spices - This one’s a no brainer, but it will change up the dish enough to give it a fresh taste.  A few dashes of spices, herbs, more salt, or cayenne pepper will go a long way.
2. Feta & Pine Nuts – This one is both tasty and festive.  While the soup is warming, brown some pine nuts in butter (I like mine quite dark to get that toasty flavor.)  Crumble some feta and when you bowl the soup
3. Sausage – Cut up some sausage and brown it in a little olive oil (sparing!)  Then just as it’s done, toss it into the warming soup and give it a few stirs.  Serve with crackers!
4. Make it a side – Instead of making the soup a main dish, use it as a side for a main course.  This is a hearty and warming comfort dish, so it would be a good compliment to something else hearty like a small steak, or nice piece of fish.
5. Salad – Ok, not in the soup.  Along side it.  Basically you are making a meal out of two side dishes.  Great way to up the veggie count.
6. Sammich! – Make a sandwich to go with your soup.  I like to try and make it firm enough to dip, like perhaps a grilled cheese.  BLT’s are good too.

That’s my six ideas.  How would you guys spice up your soup?

That kind of mindless consuming is obviously fraught with danger.  You may be eating healthy things in healthy portions, or you may not be.  With the current state of mass food production in this country I would guess the latter to be much more likely, and since Westernized methodology of producing and consuming food is spreading around the globe at a rapid pace, I am ever more certain that the latter is most likely true no matter where you are.  In any event, knowing what you are eating is certainly more prudent than not.

Becoming mindful of our eating is one of the best, and most powerful, steps we can take in reclaiming our bodies.

It was for me.

One of the first tools I reached for when I began to recover was keeping a journal of everything I ate, and drank.  Everything I shoved in to the tube.  Every night I sat down and wrote down everything I had eaten, and drank, that day.  Everything.

I did not at first work to modify what I was eating, either frequency or portion size.  I just noted it, with as much dispassion as possible.  The result was a radically increased awareness of what I was in fact eating.  Slowly my choices improved as I came to realize that not choosing was, in fact, a choice.

That lead to reading labels.  Scary, I know.  When I first started I had not a clue what 90% of the words on the labels were, and I’m not terribly dim as human beings go.  So, I started researching.  I did not run to the library and board myself in, but I did look up a term every once in a while.  That led to more awareness of what I was eating and a gradual changing of choices.

The tool of journaling was indispensable for the first five years of my reclaiming my vitality, and body.  The tool of educating myself about ingredients going into the food I eat continues to be a good friend along the way.

I have also heard of, and tried, a few other methods.  I offer them here as possibilities for you to consider:

1. Chewing.  Most of us don’t chew our food enough.  Chewing is a necessary part of the digestion system, and bypassing it leads to less efficient digestion which means you get less bang for your caloric buck, which means you create a deficit of calories, which leads you to be hungry more often, which leads to excess consumption.   Chew your food until it is well mulched.  As an occasional practice you can chew until the food is gone without a conscious act of swallowing.  (Don’t do that all the time. It takes a long time.)
2. Use utensils.  Any food that can be held in your hands leads to more rapid eating.  If anybody looks at you funny for eating your burrito with a fork and knife, just assume a haughty expression and stick your pinky fingers out.
3. Enjoy it.  Food is not only fuel.  If someone has gone to effort to prepare food for you and that does include you!) you should at least take a moment, or several, to enjoy it.  Taste the food.  Explore the textures.  Consider what might be changed and what that would be like.  Think about what you are eating. Savor. You deserve it.
4. Pausing.  This goes well with idea 2 & 3.  Take your time.   Slow down.  Fast food does not have to mean fast eating, doubly so with slow food.  Put your utensils and food down between bites as you chew, and enjoy what your mouth is doing.
5. Breathe.  One of the more embarrassing episodes of my early morbidly obese days happened while I was wolfing down my three sandwiches at the cafeteria table.  The girl sitting across from me made a attention getting sound.  When I looked up I saw the mildly shocked expression on her face.  She said, “Um, your lips are turning blue.”  Breathe.

Eating is an activity you will likely be engaged in more than a few more times in your life.  Give it a little consideration.  Believe me, it goes a long way.

Peace, and good eating!

The path of reclaiming my fitness, my body, my peace of mind and my place in the kitchen has been a long one filled with many twists & turns, ups & downs. I look forward to sharing those lessons with you, and learning from your experience in turn. Welcome to my blog!