We’re enjoying the Black Hills of South Dakota for a few days of camping with our horses. Once we got settled, we were anxious to explore the trails through this beautiful national forest.
Trouble is, none of the trails are specifically marked. No worries, said our camp host. She downloaded a GPS-inspired app on my phone that showed us exactly where we were. At any given intersection of tree and trail, an arrow pointed us in the direction we were heading.
Sounded easy enough. But that first day, we spent more time looking down at my phone, rather than enjoying the ride.
Today was better. We rode along with some folks experienced with the trails. How nice it was to just follow their lead and enjoy the scenery!
This made me think about how we can be with food choices. Sometimes we spend too much time focused on the “right” way to eat and forget the simple pleasures of eating a varied, wholesome diet.
Relax, says the expert scientific committee who drafted the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). There are many trails we can follow to reach our specific nutrition goals. In fact, along life’s path, we are encouraged to tailor our food choices according to our personal, cultural and traditional preferences.
Vegan, meat-eater and everything in between, the DGA committee tells us to follow the trails that include these core elements: vegetables of all types, fruits, grains, dairy and nondairy sources of calcium, protein-rich foods and oils.
And to that point, I just have to share this endearing letter I received from a reader:
“My late mother of mixed Ukrainian Russian origin made the most delicious rice rolls my family and friends ever tasted — bar none! She would blanch young beet leaves till these were soft and pliable. Then, her rice was cooked with fine bacon bits, finely chopped dill and sweet onions, a few dollops of home made butter mixed into the large bowl she always used.
Then mom would make rolls in a pan and cook this dish in her old wood and coal stove. The overwhelming tantalizing smells of roasting chicken, beef, or pork roasts, along with her homemade bread and dry filled cheese buns, mashed home grown carrots and potatoes with rich brown gravy made us farm kids, dad, and the bachelors in the neighborhood rave over her famed homestead meals.
One of mom’s delights was feeding, or should I say stuffing people. You couldn’t come into her farm house without eating something — even between breakfast, dinner, lunch, and supper. Her pies and home made ice cream (plus Saskatoon jam) were always available.
Mom and her immigrant family had only very limited education, worked like Trojans, always happy, shared everything with our neighbors and lived to 95. Dad lived to 97. They don’t make folks like that anymore! Blessings to you and yours.
— Nicolaas”
Sounds like they were on the right trail, Nicholas!
Barbara Quinn-Intermill is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator affiliated with Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. She is the author of “Quinn-Essential Nutrition” (Westbow Press, 2015). Email her at to [email protected].
