Kisses in your oatmeal

I just wanted to do an easy one today. I guess this is a life hack.

A few years ago I wrote on the main blog about what I called Moderate Changes, a plan for incorporating more nourishing foods into my life. The hardest thing at the time seemed to be incorporating more whole grains, which I have also written about in this blog, though that goes back even further.

One of the easiest and most economical solutions was oatmeal, not in the flavored packets (much more processed and much more expensive) but made with whole oats. It did not take long at all to get tired of that. I liked that I could add cinnamon, which is supposed to be good for diabetes (questionable benefit, but there is nothing wrong with adding cinnamon) and that I could add chia seeds for energy (I question how well that works also), but still, it got very boring, and made the sugary cereals extra tempting.

I don't even know why I got the idea to add Hershey kisses. I guess we had some around. Anyway, the chocolate really perked the oatmeal up.

I figured this was not a particularly good thing to do, but it was something that worked for me. It's like when people tell you that a salad with dressing has all the calories of a cheeseburger, but even if that is true, you are still getting a lot more green vegetables in the salad than you were on the burger. I did not expect the choice to be validated, but it was still getting me more oats and chia seeds.

Then doctors validated it.

I did not go seeking that. We were talking about nutrition in general, and my typical breakfast. I was expecting something about how it would really be better without the chocolate, or that it would be better with fruit, or at least stress how much better for you dark chocolate is (ugh), but on two separate occasions doctors have said "Actually, that sounds really good."

That's not necessarily that they are admiring my nutritional acumen. Really, I think in that moment they were wishing for chocolate in their oatmeal. Still, it felt pretty good.

Obviously there is always room for improvement, and I'm not recommending a total abandonment of nutritional concerns, but also, you do you.

Sometimes that works out.