Thought for Food - Part 2
Eat your way happy

Thought for Food - Part 2

Pulling a Habit out of a Hat

Habits are magical things. No more so than with food. 

We noticed a huge difference when we made pudding something for a special treat once or twice a week, rather than a nightly habit.

I recently realised that I was drinking a glass of wine or beer every night, unconsciously exceeding the recommended healthy drinking limits. As a result, I have switched more than half my wine consumption at meals to sparkling water. I am fully expecting to have more energy and to lose weight as a result. 

Similarly, my coffee consumption had crept up to four or five cups a day. I have now limited myself to two cups before 10 am and then only rooibos and chamomile tea after that. 

It's going well so far…

Veg Roots

I am pleased that we persevered in putting weird and varied vegetables in front of our three boys as they were growing up. They will now try anything and, if they are out, will shun burgers and fried chicken in favour of healthy salads and wraps, because they now genuinely prefer them.

Sleight of Pans

One of the best things I ever learned was how to cook. I say that like I have achieved it, which is ridiculous. Like magic, cooking is one of those things where you are always learning new techniques, new presentations, new approaches. 

I lost my fear of cooking thanks to a student newspaper article in my first year at college, then I was turbo-charged by Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef in the nineties. I have never looked back.

Cooking your own food enables you to control your diet more. I heard an American doctor on YouTube suggesting that the one thing that could solve America’s obesity problem was for everyone to cook their own food. “Eat whatever you like, just make sure you cook it yourself.” It sounds simplistic but I know what he means.

Improving with Thyme and Experience

My favourite way of cooking is to improvise, much like doing a close-up magic gig where I have a store of effects in my pockets and work out what I am going to use depending on the audience.

I look in the fridge and then cupboard to see what we have and then work out what I could make out of it. Granted, this takes some experience, trying things out, but you only get better with time. Or thyme.

I used to read Nigel Slater’s recipe books in bed(!) to get inspiration and ideas. Like watching a magic trick training video and then putting it away to develop my own routine without copying the demonstrator, I wanted to get the basic techniques and then put away the cookbook and make the recipes my own.

Vegetable Adventures

We get an organic vegetable box once a week from Riverford and I love it, you are never quite sure what you are going to get and sometimes you get vegetables that you have never seen before. This makes you resourceful and adventurous in your cooking. 

You can get much more interesting flavours out of vegetables than meat if you know how to cook them. I am not vegetarian but my approach is to make meat just one element of the meal, rather than the main feature.

To perform better, be like a discerning monk and choose your habits carefully.

--

John Hayns

Be Kind by MAGIC

Get your free eBook - "Be Kind to Yourself: Six Magic Insights to Transform Home-based Working"

John Hayns

Speaker and Entertainer- Sharing with you The MAGIC Formula to Win Respect & Co-operation

4 年

Riverford Organic Farmers Love your boxes so much I included them in this article :-)

回复
John Hayns

Speaker and Entertainer- Sharing with you The MAGIC Formula to Win Respect & Co-operation

4 年

Thanks for the like Nick Hollis. Hope you are well :-)

回复
John Hayns

Speaker and Entertainer- Sharing with you The MAGIC Formula to Win Respect & Co-operation

4 年

Duncan Bhaskaran Brown Not quite vegan, but heading in the right direction...

回复

要查看或添加评论,请登录

John Hayns的更多文章

  • Should I tell you my secrets?

    Should I tell you my secrets?

    Exposure, the act of revealing secrets, is a hugely emotive topic among magicians. Some believe secrets should be…

    4 条评论
  • Personality Un-Clashing

    Personality Un-Clashing

    Part of The Company A theatre magic show, even a solo show, demonstrates the work of many more people than just the…

  • Friends 2 – The One Where John Realised it’s Worth the Effort

    Friends 2 – The One Where John Realised it’s Worth the Effort

    Unique Mix A pack has 52 different cards. Once shuffled, no pack of cards will be in that particular order ever again.

    8 条评论
  • Friends 1 – The One Where an Introvert Learns to Make Friends

    Friends 1 – The One Where an Introvert Learns to Make Friends

    A Card Needs a Pack As a solo performer and an introvert, my natural tendency was always to keep myself to myself, to…

    13 条评论
  • What is Your True Hourly Rate?

    What is Your True Hourly Rate?

    An incredibly useful concept that I picked up some time ago from a Michael Hyatt podcast is that of an effective hourly…

    2 条评论
  • Credibility Part 3 – with Yourself

    Credibility Part 3 – with Yourself

    The first post in this trilogy was about being credible online, the next in person. This post is about having…

  • Credibility Part 2 – In Person

    Credibility Part 2 – In Person

    First Impressions I wrote previously about establishing credibility online. How about establishing and maintaining…

    2 条评论
  • Credibility Part 1 – Online

    Credibility Part 1 – Online

    One thing that I have learned over the years as a magician is the importance of establishing credibility. It applies…

    2 条评论
  • Love Your Reflection

    Love Your Reflection

    Reflects Action A couple of years ago, I asked myself why I was still a performer. It's not an easy life: no steady…

    2 条评论
  • Living in Tomorrow’s World

    Living in Tomorrow’s World

    One of my favourite childhood TV programmes was Tomorrow’s World. Michael Rodd & co.

    4 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了