There are very few things reliably in my freezer. Probably some frozen fruit, probably some chicken or shrimp to use in a pinch. Definitely ice cream. And, a frozen puff pastry. For SURE.
Microwave meals are one route to a quick and easy dinner. And a frozen puff pastry is another. Just a brief thaw on the countertop, and we are all systems go to do things like the top a casserole with a puff pastry crust, make the simplest morning pastries and make a pizza that will please everyone in the crowd.
This particular winter’s night, we were starting to get antsy for spring to arrive. We’re down to the very last winter squashes I hoarded from the market last fall, and soon there will be a massive space waiting and open for the perky green things that the new season will provide. But for now, it’s winter, and we’re eating like it. Warming soups and stews, curries, warming grain bowls and porridges, and on special nights when I have even less time to cook, pizzas made with buttery puff pastry. And while it may sound weird, this is the most health-conscious thing I can do for my body, for setting my being up for a busy, active, sport-filled summer ahead.
Pizza as power fuel? YES. Here’s why.
I’ve been fielding many many MANY questions, from clients, friends, and fellow athletes, about what the “perfect” meal is: for a post-ride recovery, for pre-ride fuel, to ensure that the miles we’re putting in, the ways we’re filling the bowls MATTERS – for performance and well-being. Many on the receiving end of this question have a bottled answer – about macronutrients and calories, and maybe some idea of what that would look like on a plate. It’s a formula, not a recipe. But unfortunately, from a holistic standpoint, the formula isn’t complete.
When we put something in our mouths – anything – our tongues taste the flavors present, then send signals to our gut to start producing enzymes to break that thing down. The signals differ whether the food is sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter or astringent. And it has nothing to do with whether we’re eating protein or carbs and it REALLY has nothing to do with calories.
These flavor queues tell our bodies how to break down and assimilate our foods, what to do with our nutrition. The flavor queues also signal to our bodies that we’ve onboarded “enough” nourishment. Macros and calories, are the afterproduct of all this flavor action — not the inspiration.
So you may be saying:
“WHY DO I CARE? I don’t want to gain weight, and I want to be fitter on the bike, in my running shoes, on race day, so does it matter what the enzymes in my gut are saying and doing?”
The answer is that if you care about your performance, and you care about your physique, you care a LOT about what the enzymes in your gut are saying, doing + recognizing. Because, without those enzymes doing their jobs, none of the nutrients in your food is broken down or assimilated. And if they don’t do the job completely, or properly, then the nourishment you were hoping to use for performance or to whittle your waistline won’t benefit either…in fact, they will likely negatively impact BOTH.
To go one step further, inflammation and weight gain are most often not the effects of too many macros or calories either. Both are physical symptoms that the body is experiencing an uptick or an imbalance in one of the earth elements that comprise the body, and the flavors or combinations of the flavors we’re choosing complicate and exacerbate this effect. Choosing flavors that counterbalance the body will help to reduce both inflammation and lose weight.
The flavors of our foods are important. Because they fuel our bodies in energetic ways that go far beyond calories and macros. Our bodies need different flavors for different purposes and in different seasons. Each of the six flavors we perceive has a different purpose. And in the wintertime (and for most of the year, really, the sweet flavor is the one we need to focus on.)
For as long as I’ve been writing this little newsletter, I’ve been sharing the flavors of the ingredients in my recipes with you. It feels high time to dive deeply into what each of those flavors means (and thus, deep dive into why a puff pastry pizza is a prime fuel in the winter.) Here we go.
The sweet flavor is one of the most prolific flavors we can perceive, and one of the most important. Sweet foods benefit the mucus membranes throughout the body, including those lining the mouth, the lungs, the GI tract, the urinary tract, and the reproductive system. Sweet foods lubricate, moisten and support tissues around the body in critical ways.
Foods with sweet flavors strengthen, nourish, energize, tonic, and soothe the mind and body, enhance our clarity and awareness, and they have a cooling effect on the body. What does that mean for us as athletes + overachievers? Sweet foods are the super ingredients that rebuild, fortify and reduce inflammation through the body. They help our bodies to repair from injury, improve our immunity, and contribute to the root life force energy that enlivens us and encourages us to go for it in the first place.
Sweeteners such as granulated sugar, maple, honey, and molasses are sweet foods, but cravings for sweet foods don’t necessarily mean that we’re craving ONLY these foods. On the contrary: nearly all fruits are sweet, grains, and dairy products too. Root vegetables, lentils, nuts, and spices such as basil, cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, mint, nutmeg, saffron, and vanilla. And all of these foods will sate sweet cravings (and are wonderful options!)
Sweet flavors are critical for athletic lifestyles in any season, but particularly in the winter when our busy bodies are working hard to stay warm, to rebuild in line with the natural rhythms, AND to fulfill our training demands. These sweet foods, in conjunction with pungent and sour flavors, help our bodies to stay nutrified through the brutal cold of the season, to brace against the winds and the weather, and to bolster our organs against the cold when we’re training out in the blustery chill. During this season, foods that are warm, brothy, grounding, rich and nutrient-fortified are most appropriate…and here is where the pizza comes in.
A lovely puffy, flaky crust (sweet for certain), dolloped with sweet ricotta cheese, dolled up with lemon and chives (pungent + sour!) and then spread amply with sweet winter squash + a few sprinkles of smoked red pepper flakes (pungent!) is just the thing we ought to be eating in the winter to cozy up, root down and fuel up.
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