An “Out-Of-The Box” Approach To Eating Well and Enjoying Life
At times, it feels like life is just one big experiment. Those were my thoughts yesterday as I hovered over the stove attempting to prepare a “Mushroom Rice Stuffed Cabbage” recipe from Bryant Terry’s stellar cookbook “Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes.”
Featuring a succulent picture of three exquisitely well crafted rolls that could grace the pages of any high end food magazine, the description read as follows:
“The mushroom rice in this recipe is inspired by Dijon-Dijon, a classic Haitian rice dish made with a rare black mushroom found in the mountainous region of northern Haiti. I served the rolls with sauce piquant, a classic Creole sauce, and onion-thyme cream to tone down the heat and uplift the overall dish.”
Needless to say, I spent an appreciable amount of time dicing onions and mushrooms, while sauces simmered on the stove; all the while adding a quarter cup of this and a pinch of that. In the end, while the dish was uber delicious (I had to punt though and alter the recipe a bit), there was a bigger lesson…..
“….our lives become healthier and more meaningful when we relax, prepare a meal, and enjoy some leisurely downtime.”
This very theme emanates from Cheryl K. Johnson’s award winning book “Box Lunch Lifestyle.” With a playful attitude informed by her decade of boxing training, Cheryl’s book delivers practical, everyday strategies for boosting your body, reclaiming your spark, and building a life that allows you to bring the best version of yourself out into the world every day.
As Cheryl is fond of saying:
“You don't need a gym membership, a new job, or to throw out everything in your pantry to start. You just have to decide to be your own champion.”
What was the catalyst behind your decision to write “Box Lunch Lifestyle?”
When I worked a corporate job, I saw too many people (including me) thinking about the kind of life they wanted as something that could start…next month. Or even next year. I thought, “At some point in the future, I’ll be the self I’m meant to be.” Like, for example, New Year’s Resolutions. Honestly? I hate them. To me, New Year’s Resolutions are excuses for not living the kind of life you deserve TODAY.
So how was your “Box Lunch Lifestyle” theme born?
I asked myself (ala Tim Ferris), what would “lifestyle” look like if it were easy? In its simplest form, there are two decisions we face every day: what we eat and how we spend our time. So what if we narrowed our focus and started doing just a little better with these two fundamental choices?
That’s how Box Lunch Lifestyle was born: an excuse-proof idea for how and when to start making these better choices. It's a method that's totally doable, and aligned with what we know about successful long-term habit change: a small, consistent, and fun way to get started (or back on track) with that life you deserve.
Can you describe this approach in greater detail?
It’s this simple: defend 30 minutes for your workday lunch break and spend 15 minutes eating food that makes you proud. Homemade if possible, and including two vegetables no matter what. ( I agree with Michael Pollan’s philosophy about eating mostly plants? Lunch can be the time and place to actually do it.)
And the other 15 minutes?
You’ll spend that doing something that matters to you personally. Maybe that’s oil painting, or writing the first paragraphs of your novel, or maybe it’s just learning the difference between a macchiato and a miel. I call these quiet aspirations Second-Place Dreams.
Please elaborate on this?
Second-Place Dreams aren’t guilty pleasures. They are the "wouldn't it be cool if..." things. And experiencing them is an investment in the You that you—for whatever mysterious and wonderful reason—were meant to be.
It's a virtuous cycle. Doing a little better with food gives you the fuel you need to do that something you love. Doing something you love motivates you to keep feeding that self as best you can. A little food, some time for you, and a little pat on the back for showing up. That’s a Box Lunch Lifestyle.
Given the life demands many of us face, we often neglect to carve out time for lunch or other activities that help us renew our body and spirit. Why should we reconsider this line of thinking? What sort of pushback do you often hear with respect to making time for these activities?
I suspect high achievers like your readers often trick themselves into thinking there’s a best way—a “right” answer—to a better lifestyle and that it must certainly be something new and extreme (for example, completely giving up sugar). But the opposite is more often true. When someone’s ready to change, habit research shows that doing something not totally new but instead reinventing in what’s already part of the typical routine is more likely to yield results. And lunch is already kind of a thing. So instead of giving up ALL sugar, try not eating sugar…just at lunch. It’s already on your calendar, and there’s no reason to wait for January 1 to have a better date to follow through on this.
Honestly, my days Cheryl rarely follow a consistent pattern during the week? As a result my eating habits tend to be hit and miss. Any advice on how I can better manage this?
Make the commitment to carve out 30 minutes for each workday, but then be flexible about when in the day it happens. Our activities during the week can vary a lot, but I think that if you want to squeeze all that you deserve out of life, a small daily investment in your whole self can’t be optional. So a better goal is a commitment to 15 minutes of food and 15 minutes for You, not 30 minutes at 12:30 on Tuesday. And the food part? Don’t give it more power than it deserves, and do not skip eating. You gotta keep going, so make the best choices you can. If you have one not-so-great day, show yourself a little mercy…and start again the very next day. (No waiting for New Year's Day.)
Growing numbers of people are now working from home post pandemic. Does this make things easier or more complicated in terms of embracing a Box Lunch Lifestyle?
Easier. Next question. :)
Seriously, I think it depends on the person. But what I hear from most Box Lunch Lifers is that it’s easier to prepare fresh food, get outside for a few minutes, or pick up the guitar when they don’t have to work every day in an office—or spend more time than they want driving to one.
If you’re working from home, though, be strong. Resist the temptation to use your lunch break to throw in the next load of laundry. Use that 15 minutes of Time for You, for something that otherwise might never make it to the top of the list. The laundry isn't going anywhere, and the person who'll be disappointed if you neglect your Second-Place Dreams is YOU.
What about those who are still working at a business office site?
Without sounding overly dramatic, I think that in outside-the-home workplaces, defending a better lunch break shows an important kind of self-respect. It breaks my heart when people feel too busy to eat, or to take a bathroom break, or to take any breaks at all.
At the end of the day you’re a worker, you’re a human. And the reason for a better lunch break isn’t so that you’re a more productive worker in the afternoon (although that’s not a terrible side effect). It’s to remind yourself that you’re more than your job title, and that you want a body and brain that has energy to spare for what happens when the workday ends. It's worth fighting for. You deserve it.
What is your greatest hope in terms of what readers walk away with after having read “Box Lunch Lifestyle?”
If you are reading this, I want you to know that every day is the start of a New Year. Why be one more person who “fails” with their New Year’s Resolution? Instead, be the “one-of-a-kind You” you’re meant to be today! Sure our world may have slowly turned the idea of lifestyle into a kind of product you can buy, but we are strong enough to handcraft our own beautiful and durable wabi sabi lifestyles. So choose your process over their product.
Any final thoughts?
One last note of encouragement to take back their lunches. Michael, you recently wrote about Ayn Rand’s influence, and it reminded me of this quote of hers that I think applies just as radically to a humane, sustainable, better lunch as it does to anything else: “The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.”
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