Side-side project

People seem to look at me like I'm silly when I tell them I'm doing this soup blog thing. I suppose they wonder who would care so much about soup. I do. I like soup. I think it's comforting, easy to cook, store, reheat, mix and match. On Friday, I take it to school with me. I let a frozen container of it sit in my car, and after my first class (at about 11.30) I grab it, microwave it and happily wait for my second lab class. It waits for me, knowing how tasty it is.

Okay, so, I'm not so obsessed to go that far, but I don't think Americans consume enough soup. They've done studies: people are a little healthier, on average, if they eat a wet food like soup, melons and fruits, etc. And it ends up meaning we don't need as much to drink.

I primarily chose it because of the shear number of attendants for the gaming night at my house on Sundays. It's a set number (including my husband and myself, it ends up being eight. Sometimes, we tempt a ninth.) Sure, spaghetti and chili work, but why? Because it's large, it's easy, it's reheatable.. Sound familiar? And, I don't know about you, but a room full of seven young college-aged men do not need a stomach full of beefy-beans.

This soup deal is not my first ideal project idea. I've had a few. This one is just the easiest and most convenient. Next year, after I alter my top chosen 'unhealthiest' soups (no idea how many I'll choose to do, it depends), I'll start a new project, or two. I have no idea how I actually want to approach either of them, though. Do I make a grid? Do I make one of those books that identifies 30,000 types of different things (like those plant books)? Do I do a large survey? 

Surely, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Have you ever thought, "Man, such-and-such is not working optimally; my doctor said an increase in blah-blah-blah would help. That means, I know I can eat such-and-such!'

Do you regularly think about this sort of thing? No? 

Who knows anything but staples? I mean things like how potassium is found in bananas; arsenic in apples (I hate you, Dr. Oz, but that's a different, much much uncalled for discussion). Proteins in meats; Omega-3 in salmon. Calcium in milk (or orange juice, as of the last few years.) Ascorbic acid (Vit. C) in many fruity things. The potential to become fat as the side of the barn in [insert appetizing food here].

Much more than that and we start to think perhaps there should be a place to go for that sort of thing. Which is where? Your doctor? Please, I'll hurt myself laughing at that one. Your dietitian? You know how busy those people really are? It's incredible.

I decided I wanted to fix that. However, poster board generally organizes one concept. Food + vitamins + minerals + healthy fats + carbs information does not equal one simple concept. 

What if you wanted diabetic-healthy foods? Or perhaps something else that's rising quickly in national interest/ (as a dietary problem): food more healthy for the elderly; for Crohn's disease patients; cancer patients; celiac's disease or related intolerances; vegetarians or vegans (they think they know everything, but really, I don't know if I agree.) 

I'm just throwing concepts out there. I can't see why, in the long run, they aren't legitimate things we can research.

They all have a need to alter their diet accordingly. Some are easier to apply to nutrition than others, and I would obviously want to wait before approaching the problems of Crohn's or cancer. Someone needs to at least put together current information on them, at some point, as a suggestion to those who are lost without a lot of complicated, wordy jargon, so that people without degrees can understand.

The first step in this field is to admit we know very little, hence why we need to get the ball rolling on this sort of thing. I mean all food scientists, nutritionists, dietitians. Those people in hospitals, the grocery stores, labs, all of us. 

For the record, it drives me insane when you look something up and you get information on anything BUT what you were looking for. Perhaps this is just me. 

How would I organize something like this? 

I'm thinking I need multiple things. But not everyone is so great with knowing which chart (or whatever) to use. Is what they look for a vitamin or a mineral? But, I suppose if you're that far into looking after your health, maybe you should be able to know the difference, or at least be a little more diligent in your search (either one). 

Would people use something like this, if it were credible? 

One has to realize I'd be accessing a lot of books, websites, and information from Ph.D's, doctors, nurses, and others who may be dealing with certain disorders or diseases. I'd be compiling a huge amount of information together that may change, which means by the time I get done I may need to just go back and redo it. Sometimes, the rate we discover things is great, and sometimes it makes staying current extremely difficult.

I know you read this for soup recipes and reviews, but what better target audience than you guys for these ideas? What am I going to do -- ask my department? Ask anyone in the collegiate world? They aren't normal people, no offense. They aren't a large percentage of the U.S. population. People working their butts off at X job, driving themselves insane because they have twenty kids, and about ready to run everyone over through the interstate -- THAT'S my target audience. 

This research could lead me to compile healthier comfort foods, calming foods, foods that enhance physical performance (when exercising, you naughty-minded thing, you). I would come across so much else and be able to cross reference. And it would be legitimately in your direct interest if information like this became available. Why? Well, haven't you noticed we're slowly getting sick of the chemical-food age? We're all slowly running back -- some faster than others -- to the agricultural world. New Jersey hates this, but that's not our problem. (I jest about the food chemical scientists. Don't think I actually write this thing with underlying hate toward some particular location or another.)

What would YOU be interested in accessing? What bothers you? What confuses the living bippity out of you? Do you feel like people treat you like you're fat or that you've lived a perfect life as a super model this whole time? If it were easier, what would you want to access to supplement your dietary choices? Would you want recipes, the whole-nine-yards, or just the rare and unheard-of?