Book for Cook

I have a thing for cookbooks.

It's a new found love, prompted by the success of discovering this gem after being diagnosed with diabetes:

It's also a tenuous love.  Since I love this cookbook so much, it's been hard to find something that would compare.  And I spend a decent amount of time in the cookbook aisle at Chapters to know what's out there.  There's a lot out there.  When you have specific guidelines, there's far less.

I'm choosy.  I don't apologize for it.  While I don't consider myself an amazing cook, and I do have occasional success with making substitutions in a recipe while creating a meal, I need a solid base to work with.  I'm creative, but not so much in the kitchen.  And that's fine.  I rather prefer my meal preparation to be a deliberate, careful act.  It means (in my mind) that I'm also making careful, deliberate choices about what I eat.  And that's important to me.

The cookbook that comes home with me must have one key feature: it must understand that food and I exist in a very careful balancing act.  Allow me to illustrate.

A group of friends were discussing weight issues, and this cookbook (and the book that drove it) came up:

Sorry for the bad photo.  A quick look at these recipes shows this book to have an excellent array of delicious 'comfort' foods, made with healthful, nourishing substitutions to create low(er) calorie, high(er) nutrient meals.  The chocolate cake on the cover, for example, is a mere 170 calories per slice; not too bad, really, if you've allocated for dessert.

This book will work for some people.  They'll be able to take their usual onion rings, prepare a lower calorie version and enjoy many of the same meals.  It wouldn't work for me.  The success of my weight loss hinges on a strict no-fail environment.  170 calories per slice is pointless if I eat half the cake.  And I would.  It's a tough thing to admit, but it's the hard truth I'm willing to put out there.

I've said it before: it's not will power.  It's not moderation.  If I knew a thing about moderation when it came to food I wouldn't have diabetes.  It's that black and white. For me, the way to say 'No' is to simply not bring it into the house.  Bringing this cookbook into my home would open the door to ruin.  I would be able to convince myself for a short time that I was making good choices; I'd find a way to convince myself that I 'deserve' an extra slice.  And the slide would begin again.

Let me introduce the book I'm saving up for:

Some would probably consider this a fad purchase.  I enjoy Biggest Loser, therefore I must love Jillian and her branded merchandise.  Except that there is gold here. I've spent hours poring over this book in Chapters, even jotting down notes as I went along and tucking them in my purse. (That's not illegal, right?)  I prefer a book that says, "Throw the following junk out of your diet immediately" while in the same breath provides a list of essentials for healthy cooking, outlining what nourishing impact each of those ingredients will have on your body.  I thrive on that information. 

Once upon a time I would have loved the cookbook that offered me a 'healthy' chocolate cake; I would have consumed it with astonishing speed and found a way to convince myself it was a good choice.  While that impulse to eat compulsively may never leave, the girl who 'thrived' on that destructive behaviour is long gone.  I know what measures I have to take to protect my health, and I'm not afraid to do it now. 

It's a balancing act.  And I am finally standing more than I'm falling.  At this point I'd happily forgo the onion rings and chocolate cake if it means I can keep (or improve) my health.  Show me how to make quinoa.  Teach me the benefits of avocado over mayonnaise.  Educate me! I'm a sponge!

Yep. I love cookbooks.  It's a pretty exclusive love. But then most love is, isn't it?