Sparkled Beauty

Now this is not makeup-relevant, but I think our beauty also depends on our diet - what and how we eat. Don't get me wrong, I aprreciate what makeup could do to a regular gal like me, and I can't say that enough. Makeup rescues my self-confidence, helps me be more presentable to people around me and brings me joy. But food is a such a big part of my culture, so I thought I would bring it up today.

I was growing up eating a wide variety of food. Our basic meals at home normally have steamed rice and a combination of some meat/seafood, some vegetables and some kind of soup that we have at the end of the meals. We don't have appetizers as everything is presented on the dinner table at the same time :-) And dessert is normally some fresh fruits. In the weekends, we normally prepare fancier meals with les - There are like 100 different kinds of noodle dishes, depending on the ingredients, the type of broths and the spices added into it, and the type of noodles being used. Or we can eat out. It doesn't have to be a fancy place, as there are many eating place, mom-and-pop's style, inexpensive.

Canadian food is a whole way different, and I do adjust to that. I have cereal for breakfast, a main meal at lunch, and a light meal (like a salad, or leftover) for dinner. Here, eating out is a break from cooking, a way to spend some family time, or to celebrate something important. I never thought of what I ate, just went with whatever I felt like having at the time, as I thought food was about fun and I could eat anything. Until 2 years ago when I joined a Healthy Workplace Committee at work. I was just doing it for fun, something different from my main job, but as I go along, I learned so much about healthy diet and what bad food could do to me (first I had to learn what "bad" food meant, as I didn't have that concept to start with). I did more reading online and came to "Lunch and Learn" sessions when the pros came and talked to us about what we didn't know (and should have known).

The reason for this post is actually a little article on Canadian Living about 8 healthy comfort foods. I found it interesting when they didn't tell you not to eat ice cream but told you to have something else instead, something healthier but is still a comfort food.

You can click on the link to read the whole article and see the reasons behind their suggestions, but here's the summary:

Splurge	Solution
Ice cream	Sorbet
Spaghetti	Soba Noodles
Mashed Potatoes	Mashed Cauliflower
Potato Chips	Salted air-popped popcorn
General Tao Chicken	Szechuan Chicken
French fries	Baked fries
Hot Chocolate	Homemade Hot Chocolate
Candy Bar	Dark Chocolate

What do you think? Would you reach one of the items in the solution list instead of our good old comfort foods that we have been very comfortable of? I am trying to.

Thanks for stopping by. I have a beauty post lined up after this one, promise!

Photo credit: CanadianLiving.com