#334: Retirees and Resolutions

It should be easier to stick to resolutions once we are retired---right?

Everything is in our favour.   There is greater incentive.  Finally: an opportunity to get healthy, eat better, or learn another language before it is too late!  Use It or Lose It is an imperative that is hard to ignore when we are over 65 -- this may be our last chance.  And what is stopping us? Opportunities abound.  We have more time.  We can be more flexible. The excuses we trotted out when we were working --I'm too busy or The class is on the night I work-- no longer apply.

These optimum conditions may not necessarily lead to greater success, however.

I was reminded of this recently as I stood in line at the grocery store.   I looked behind me and noticed a women about my age pushing a grocery cart surmounted by a gigantic bunch of kale, that uber-nutritious cabbage-cousin.   Beside the kale was a string bag containing about a dozen sweet potatoes, and behind that, several brownish boxes of what appeared to be quinoa, or brown rice, or barley.  Whatever it was, I was pretty sure it was healthy and whole grain.  I didn't want to peer too closely, but if I had, I am sure that I would have also seen a large container of blueberries and a nice piece of salmon.   MENU MAKEOVER!  MENU MAKEOVER!  This older shopper might as well have had a sign attached to her cart. 

But good for her.  And lots of luck with the kale.  Last year in January, I resolved to "eat more kale" and proceeded to produce a kale-full casserole that probably also included sweet potatoes and brown rice and possibly turmeric (super healthy!) and tomatoes (full of carotenoids!)  It was the sort of dish that always makes my husband inquire, suspiciously, "Is this a real recipe [and not just something you made up]?  Yes it was a real recipe, but one that put the "rough" in roughage.  It was the opposite of comfort food, if you take my meaning, and though the kale might not have been the problem, I composted the leafy remains.  My digestive system needed time to recover.

But that was a year ago, so maybe it is time to give kale another try.  And, although I can't face another kale-casserole,  I could do what I used to when I wanted to sneak healthy vegetables into my children.   Perhaps through the application of "stealth cookery" I can fool myself and Bruce.   Sure enough, when I Googled "kale" and "chocolate" this is what I found:   Double-chocolate-kale-muffins. 

It is a real recipe, but how badly do I want to keep that healthy resolution to eat more super-vegetables?   In truth, I'd rather have a plain old double-chocolate muffin with a vitamin pill on the side.