The Taste of Summer

Pluots – those delectable blends of plums and apricots – are plentiful this season.  I purchased an entire box of them the other day, and when biting into them was immediately transported back to summer days spent at my grandparents’ home decades ago.

Grandmother and Granddaddy had several huge plum trees in their back yard, and they produced the sweetest, juiciest fruit I had ever eaten.   Many an afternoon I languished on the back porch, popping one after another into my mouth until I was stuffed had thoroughly stained my shorts, shirts, hands and face!  Nothing was ever as good as this, but pluots come pretty close.Some recently purchased pluots were so juicy that I dared not even cut into them.  Instead I ate them while standing over my kitchen sink to keep from making a mess.  But eating them this way triggered another, completely different set of recollections about eating hurriedly while standing in the kitchen or eating straight out of cartons/boxes/bags.  As a mom-on-the-go, meals in the past were too often a subtext to some other activity.  They were not enjoyed so much as inhaled.

One of the ironies about weight management is that the more you savor your food, the less of it you will actually eat.  Taking the time to relish every bite – chewing it slowly and thoroughly; rolling it around in your mouth; concentrating on the burst of pleasure it is giving you – will satisfy your hunger much faster than food shoveled into the mouth and swallowed without much thought (or even mastication!) Of course, the other benefit of conscious eating is that you remain aware of how much food you are actually consuming.  Hello, portion control!

My pluots were certainly delicious but to get FULL enjoyment and nourishment from them next time I will take them out to my back porch swing, and with that endless summer state-of-mind relive the relaxation, health and natural abundance they offer.