Ask WHY?

My husband was making Navy bean soup for the family the other day so it would be ready to eat after we got home from church. Really, that was a very nice thing for him to do. But I noticed a handful of cut-up baby carrots, a handful of chopped onions and a handful of celery going into a pot of chicken stock to serve at least seven people. I knew the beans would go in last and the soup wasn’t yet complete but I was thinking to myself that the nutritional content per serving would be a rather thin. There was still a whole bag of baby carrots left on the counter along with a ½ an onion and 2 full stalks of celery. So Michael and I had a little discussion about how much to put into a recipe in order to create a BALANCED meal. His defense was that he was just making the recipe as written. My argument was that if I put 2 baby carrots on his plate along with a 3 inch stalk of celery and a tablespoon of navy beans—the equivalent of a serving of the soup he was making—he’d be wondering if I was trying to starve him to death. He didn’t like that I was changing his recipe by adding more ingredients than what was called for. I asked him if, in comparison, he intended to use an inadequate spreadsheet to keep the company books just because it was easier than figuring out a new program that would by far make his work easier in the long run? Of course, the answer was “no”. He would use a spreadsheet that met all of his business calculation needs even if it took a little more time and effort to get a more productive result in the end. My point was that it is the same for cooking. We must provide food that will be productive and results-oriented if we want to become the best version of health we desire. If we understand the WHY behind our purpose in eating then we will be empowered to succeed. So if you ask yourself WHY as you prepare a meal some of your answers may include: because I want to be healthy. Or, to have more energy. Or, I want my children to grow up strong. Bottom line, the WHY behind eating nutritionally-dense meals is to stay healthy and maintain an energetic lifestyle. More vegetables makes for a healthier meal. So keep the WHY in mind when you make food choices and even when you follow a recipe. Purpose powers passion and your passion to succeed will answer your WHY every time.