Are You Stuck in a Food Rut?

All day long, I talk to patients about what they eat. Some of my patients eat a far more healthy and diverse diet than I do; when they talk about food, I take notes. Others eat fast food 3 times a day, 7 days a week. I don't criticize them, I simply am amazed; I try to understand what it is like to subsist entirely on fast food. There is always a lot to learn about how people eat.
Most of us are somewhere in the middle- we eat a variety of things, in a variety of ways. But we've probably restricted our choices a bit- we've come to rely on a few, or perhaps many, foods we like that we commonly eat. There are other foods that we MIGHT like, we've just forgotten about them.
I call this forgetting about foods a "food rut." Being in a food rut may not be at the top of your list of problems. But perhaps there is MORE you could be trying, MORE variety you could be experiencing in your culinary life. If you ever feel like, "I'm hungry but I don't know what I want to eat," perhaps you're in a serious food rut.
So try this exercise. Next time you are in a supermarket, look around for foods you've never tried, or foods that you haven't eaten in awhile. I bet you'll even find some "familiar old friends"- foods you used to eat and love, but that you've just neglected or forgotten for a few months (or years). Try buying something new. If you don't cook, try eating something new, or neglected, next time you are in a restaurant. But get yourself a cookbook at the bookstore the next day, because YOU REALLY SHOULD COOK.

FOOD OF THE DAY: CHIVES
I found chives by trying to think about foods I hadn't eaten in a long time. For me it was easy; I simply had to think about foods that grow in my garden that I hadn't eaten in a long time. I have chives all over my garden, mostly because they are reliable, attractive perennials that grow where most plants die instantly. In fact, I garden with them so much, and admire their flowers so often, that I was just oblivious to the culinary treasure growing right under my nose.
Chives, for eating purposes, are much like little green onions. You can essentially eat them in any recipe that calls for green onions, but good ones are milder and less "oniony." Try dicing them up and putting them on a baked potato, some pan-fried fish, a salad, a bagel with cream cheese, just about any soup, or even a sandwich. I think you'll agree: CHIVES KICK ASS!

CHIVES: BENEFITS
-Chives are full of fiber, B-vitamins, vitamin C, zinc, and potassium.
-Chives are like a mild spice; they can be used in moderate amounts on MOST cooked food. Raw, they add spice and taste to salads and sandwiches.
-They are so damn easy to grow that even the brownest thumb can grow them profusely. Don't have a garden? Stick a small seedling in a window box or indoor pot with potting soil.
-Chives really work magic on baked potatoes and baked white fish, 2 foods that can be relatively bland otherwise.

CHIVES: DRAWBACKS
-They tend to be sold in little clear plastic boxes that are a huge waste of packaging.
-Chives are overpriced in most stores, given that they grow like weeds.
-They don't keep very well. That's why you should grow your own and cut them as needed.

So do yourself a favor. Get out of your food rut. Get some chives!