The word of the day is tahini. I had no knowledge of the word up until about a week and a half ago. Several weeks ago, I was mulling over the definition of “health” and was feeling very dissatisfied with my grasp on the concept. Ten years ago, I was a health nut and a diet professional, but I finally realized my concept of health was messed up. What is healthy? What is unhealthy? Here is a list I used to have of “Healthy Foods”:
Low fat
Low carb
Meatless recipes
What was I eating during my professional healthy days? Is low fat really healthy? I was eating margarine (similar in chemical structure to plastic). Is low carb really all that great? I was eating artificial sweeteners, which are linked to cancer. Is ditching the carnivore lifestyle the way to go? I was eating soy based foods (increases estrogen levels and can lead to cancer).
At my most boastful “healthy” pinnacle, I realize in hinds sight I had no idea what “healthy” really means. In all honesty, I still am feeling pretty clueless, and my search for answers of making informed food choices is what lead me to tahini.
A few weeks ago I was reflecting on my “healthy” past (of which this blog is a result – read more here). A branch of my scattered thoughts lead me to reflect on the famous Hebrew, Daniel, who dictated his own royal diet and appeared to be the healthiest young man in all the royal court. I believe his food choice was divinely inspired, and very well might be a reflection of basic biology. Many Hebrew laws that I have come across have sound reasoning, even though it did not seem explainable several thousand years ago. For example, pork can be contaminated by a yucky pathogen, and the Israelites avoided eating pork. I could list and cite and investigate more examples, but that is moving away from the purpose of my blog, which is to find better ways to do things and to become a self sufficient member of society.
Since I knew that Daniel’s diet was a success in history, I decided to investigate. In short, there are whole blogs and books dedicated to Daniel’s diet. I poked around at the how-to’s and decided to try a few recipes. One recipe was for hummus, I thought is sounded delicious and pretty easy, so I included it on the menu.
One obstacle for making the hummus was an unknown ingredient, tahini. I looked it up and figured I would be wandering the aisles of the grocery store or running all over health-food-store-creation looking for this mystery ingredient, and I might as well buy some hummus. However, in my tahini investigation (yep, I googled “where is tahini in my grocery store”), I came across “how to make your own tahini.” Tahini is roasted sesame seeds and olive oil. Easy.
I figured it would be much faster for me to make my own tahini than look for it in the store, so that is what I am doing. Right now my roasted sesame seeds have cooled, and I am going to finish the process.
Adventure to Whole Life 