Fat!

I've been thinking more about my reaction to Kim Severson's story in Dining In/Dining Out yesterday, and I want to expand on my comments to say more about why reading her account of the "Fat Pack" left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps my gut-reaction was too strong, but I cringed while reading a few lines from her story:

The journalists, bloggers, chefs and others who make up the Fat Pack combine an epicure’s appreciation for skillful cooking with a glutton’s bottomless-pit approach. Cramming more than three meals into a day, once the last resort of a food critic on deadline, has become a way of life. If the meals center on meat, so much the better.

and

“Most of us who are in this profession are here as an excuse to eat,” said Mimi Sheraton, the food writer and former New York Times restaurant critic who has chronicled her own battle with weight loss. Still, she said, “I’ve never seen such an outward, in-your-face celebration of eating fat.”

and in response to suggestions of moderation, she writes,

To which many members of the Fat Pack say: Shut up and pass the pork butt. Among a certain slice of the food-possessed, to suggest that indulgence might put one’s health in peril is to invite ridicule.

Admittedly, she ends the story with quotations from one former "Fat Pack" member who is learning to love vegetables, but I found the individuals she quoted to be mostly unsympathetic figures.

Why?

I'll confess something: I used to struggle with my weight. Ten years ago, I weighed about 40 pounds more than what I weigh now. Almost no one I know now can believe it, but it's true. The main culprits for my extra pounds, I think, were eating too much junk food, settling too often for a quick fast-food meal and failing to control the size my portions. It was not a result of eating too many haute cuisine meals (I did, of course, enjoy a fancy meal or two every now and then).

When I moved to California in 2001, I started exercising more regularly, first taking up running and then settling into a regular routine of swimming (I've been a life-long swimmer). I started to pay more attention to what kinds of food I ate, focusing on eating whole foods and leaving behind fast-food and junk food. I cut out soft drinks. By no means did I give up on eating nice meals, but I shifted the balance of my calorie intake and calorie usage, burning more calories than I took in. I became a conscious eater and a regular exerciser, and I've held my weigh more or less steady for the last seven years.

So, having found a good balance between healthy and mindful eating and exercise, I have little patience for the people Severson quoted throughout her story. I know that it is possible to balance eating flavorful and healthy foods, occasionally indulging in rich meals and working out. Throw in being mindful of the origins of the food I eat, and that's a decent recipe--dare I say--for a balanced lifestyle that guarantees nourishment, health and pleasure.

No doubt there are thousands of other stories like mine, and I would have preferred to read about at least one of them in Severson's piece yesterday.

As a parting gift, here's a memorable scene from "The Producers" with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane: