.. talking about healthy soul food!

The South is known for its delicious food, no doubt. Unfortunately, the Deep South and diabetes and other so called diseases of civilization are synonymous as well. However, I think the rise of these diseases is caused by a combination of overuse of sodas, the cheap sugar-enriched and highly processed food you can buy in every grocery store these days, and lack of exercise caused by changes in lifestyle (my neighbor drives with his SUV to get his post from the postbox, no comment :-). There is one other, sort of cultural, factor: everything is of course bigger in the US (sorry, I had to). When I recently moved I had to buy new dishes. I ordered the simple beige dished from Crate & Barrel and I was amazed about the size of those new plates and bowls. I used these bowls a lot for instance for my favorite desert: pecan pie tarts with vanilla ice cream and a bit of bourbon whiskey on top (it can be flambed!!!) I would kill for it!  Well, after a couple of month I noticed that I had developed a little ring at a place, where other people proudly grow a beer belly. Oh my god!  More exercise and no more ice cream helped with that issue, but I am missing my treats. Ever since then I am on the lookout for ice cream without tons of sugar and fat (according to wikipedia 10-16% fat, 12-16% sugar, 9-12% proteins and carbohydrates = energy bomb). A couple of weeks ago I found it... an ice cream with only one, natural ingredient: banana ice cream. It really works, it tastes like real ice cream and think about all the healthy potassium you are getting in addition. If you like bananas this is the best thing since sliced bread. I just put some nice and ripe bananas in the freezer and will experiment later with adding some peanut butter to the recipe................................Bon apetit!