True Nourishment Doesn’t Come From The Kitchen

Geneen Roth’s latest book has the word “appetites” in the title, but it’s not a cookbook. It does, however, offer recipes for living.

“Appetites, On The Search For True Nourishment” (Dutton Books, 1996) explores the meaning of success, thinness, friendship and fulfillment.

Roth’s other books, including the popular “When Food Is Love,” delved into eating and intimacy in women’s lives. When she faced new challenges - the loss of her health, her hair and her best friend - it opened her to new realizations.

Roth believes that if she stops dieting, everything will disintegrate; she will fall into a bottomless pit of eating chocolate and wearing muumuus and gaining 500 pounds.

But Roth realizes she is looking for true nourishment. Eventually, she says, you have to take the costume off and let yourself know the parts of you that feel forever fat and ugly.

Food can be used to express deep currents of feelings that a person doesn’t know how to express. In “Appetites,” Roth says: “If a woman can slow down enough to stop defending against emptiness, she can begin to discover what truly feeds her.”

In the cafeteria of life, believes Roth, if you are feeling empty, it is impossible to have a big enough tray. To have enough, you have to believe that you are enough. And when you believe you are enough, what you have will no longer matter.

Eating healthy food can matter a great deal in the quest for nourishment. Try this ham salad, a wonderful complement to spring weather, and discover that the true feast is yourself.

Honey Ham Salad

From”Eat & Stay Slim” (Better Homes & Gardens Books, 1997).

4 cups torn mixed greens

1 cup cauliflower florets

4 ounces lean cooked ham, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup shredded carrot

2 tablespoons sliced green onion

2 tablespoons golden raisins

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lime peel (green part only)

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard or prepared mustard

In a large salad bowl, toss together greens, cauliflower, ham, carrot, green onion and raisins.

For dressing, in a screw-top jar combine honey, lime peel, lime juice, olive oil and mustard. Cover and shake until combined. Before serving, drizzle dressing over salad; toss to coat well.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 151 calories, 4 grams fat (24 percent fat calories), 15 milligrams cholesterol, 22 grams carbohydrate, 8 grams protein, 401 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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