Positive eating

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of hosting my aunties and mother down here in Melbourne for a weekend of shopping, wining and dining. It was a fantastic weekend and one that I won't forget anytime soon.

Aunty Lynette, Aunty Helen and Mum

Mum and I

One of the highlights of the weekend was the winery trip. We went out to the Yarra Valley on the Saturday and visited a number of wineries, including Rochford, Chandon, Yering Station, and we also managed to pop in to Yarra Valley Dairy to grab some beautiful local cheese.

Now what inspired this post was our lunch at Rochford Winery. A beautiful restaurant and amazing food, it got me thinking about having a positive relationship with food.

Yarra Valley Venison Sausage Cassoulet - Local venison sausage served on a bed of cannellini beans & autumn root vegetables served with a rich Rochford cabernet sauce

Seared Chicken Breast - Local chicken breast served with Chorizo & a smoked Spanish paprika spiced orzo pasta with Rochford fortified cabernet sauce

Roasted Pumpkin & Sage Risotto - Risotto simmered in Rochford sauvignon blanc with roasted pumpkin puree, spinach & aged parmesan

Seard Escallop of Tasmanian Salmon - Pan fried Tasmanian Salmon glazed with late picked chardonnay, sweet & sour peppers & chickpea salad

You see, after our delicious mains, we ordered dessert, and as my mother ate her dessert, she kept on saying to herself, "oh this is bad, how bad is this.." over and over again.

This was the devil itself, the one that was 'very bad'

Being the blunt daughter that I occasionally can be, I stopped her in her tracks and told her to be quiet and eat her dessert, enjoy it and stop feeling guilty!

Yes that's right, the dietitian approved the dessert! Why?

The grass is always greener...

If you are a regular reader of my blog (and if not I would encourage you to subcribe by clicking here), you will know that I encourage healthy eating at all times. But what I also say is that 'extra foods', those foods that are high in saturated fat and high in sugar, can still be eaten, just not every day. These foods should be kept to special occasions, or around once a fortnight.

Now this is the key. The key is to have these foods in small amounts every once and a while, so that you don't feel like you are depriving yourself of anything. As Dr George Blair-West notes, deprivation will only lead to the craving of that food. Often the grass is always greener on the other side. And as humans we tend to want what we can't have. But if we have a little bit of grass (those high calorie foods) once in a while, in small portions, then we will be less likely to crave them or want to eat them every day.

Creating a positive relationship 

So back to our lunch, sitting at Rochford Winery, eating our dessert, I said to Mum, "How often would you eat something like this?" (even though I knew that it was once in a blue moon that Mum would indulge in such a treat). I was right. So my response was that she needed to stop that negative self talk, stop saying how bad she was, and instead enjoy every moment of that luxurious mud cake and savour every mouthful.

Aunty Helen enjoying her Creme Brulee

So the moral of the story is, eat a healthy diet, and every so often, treat yourself to something you wouldn't have every day. Savour it, enjoy it, and throw away those negative feelings. We need to start creating a positive relationship with food.

Thank you to Rochford Wines for an amazing day in the beautiful Yarra Valley. It should be noted that no money or gifts changed hands to create this blog!