Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman

Jennifer:
First of all, I'm normally not obsessively drawn into non-fiction books (as I believe I previously posted...).

Secondly, I did not create this blog so that I could write about eating more grains and vegetables.

And yet, I find myself compelled to write about this book because I stayed up late reading it, and was so excited by it that my husband got his own copy to read after I told him how important it was to me that we read it together. Mark Bittman's attitude about food and eating is probably the healthiest and most realistic one out there. (And by "out there" I mean the United States.)

In short, if a person makes an effort to eat primarily plant-based foods (keeping meat in the diet but at a much lower level than is typical for our country) and avoids any processed/prepared foods which contain more than five familiar-sounding ingredients (if you don't recognize the ingredient, you probably shouldn't be putting it in your mouth anyway, n'est-ce pas?) - then that person will feel a lot better, have a much lower environmental impact on the Earth, and will probably end up losing some weight in the process. I'm telling you that after just a few days of letting myself having all the veggies, fruit and grains I wanted; eating when I got hungry; and avoiding junk - I felt a heck of a lot more energetic.

It's a short book, inspiring and (best of all) singularly realistic in it's approach. Plus...it's chock full-o-recipes. Gotta love that detail.

My Non-Fiction Challenge

Jennifer: I'm compelled to write about the fact that, at the moment, I'm reading (or, more accurately - attempting to read) a non-fiction book. It is slow going. I mean, I'm the woman who polished off almost 1000 pages of Ken Follet's latest in about 72 hours (give or take). I inhale good books - too quickly in many cases. Someone in my non-profit management course recommended that I read The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Posner). I have to admit - it's pretty good. I've certainly gained some insights...but I'm not zipping through it. And I'm starting to avoid my night-table because I'm no longer in the mood to read when that's all I've got.

I mean - when I read fiction...good fiction, that is...I can't put it down. I lose sleep by staying up all hours reading, and then I dream about it once I do fall asleep. While non-fiction strikes me as interesting theory, fiction is "real" to me.

My favorite movie of all time is Ever After (with Drew Barrymore). I suppose plenty of people would consider it to be a simple piece of fluff, but for my money, there's more truth in a well-written fairy tale than in some non-fiction business stuff. Maybe that's because I think love drives people more than money or logic.

In a way, that's one of the messages in The Leadership Challenge - not love per se - but the idea that people work harder and do more when they're inspired. Life is just more fun when you care about what you're doing and the people you see every day.

This isn't an official review of The Leadership Challenge because I haven't finished it. It's good - and maybe someday I will finish it - but in the meantime, I'm returning to the world of fiction. I've missed it. I suppose it's enough of a compliment to Kouzes and Posner that I've talked about some of the ideas in the book to friends and I kept plowing through it for a good two weeks. That's saying something in my case. Tonight, however, Morgan le Fay beckons. I'm re-reading The Mists of Avalon, which I haven't read since I was in Jr. High. I'm bound to gain some leadership insights from her and Arthur.