Eating My Way Through the South:  A Dietitian’s Perspective

By Bonnie Johnson, MS, RD

For weeks before my five day trip to Georgia I banked my “discretionary calories” (that’s a fancy term used by nutrition professionals that means extra).  I knew that I would be exposed to true “southern” cooking and I worried that months of work to lose the last of “the baby weight” would be negated by this trip.  If you aren’t familiar with “southern” cooking it can be summed up in two words:  fried and gravy.  The foodie part of me dreamed about it, the registered dietitian part had nightmares.

Breakfast:  My worst fears were realized at a place called “The Biscuit Shack”.  There I watched a man eat two fried eggs, two sausage patties and two softball sized biscuits covered with gravy.  Then I tasted it…the most tender melt-in-your-mouth biscuit I have ever eaten.  You could taste the love with which the biscuit was made and that filled me up physically and emotionally—I only ate half (and a side of scrambled eggs).

Lunch:  Mary Mac’s has been an Atlanta tradition since 1945.  They employ a “Good Will Ambassador” who greets the guests at each table, rubs your back (which I found very weird) and makes you laugh.  I was in awe of the vegetable choices.  While not all were prepared in the most healthful way, there were more veggie options than I’ve seen in a long time:  lima beans, black eyed peas, collards, green tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, squash…I enjoyed an entire plate of Southern veggies with a creamy corn bread muffin that had just been popped from the hot tin.  It was just what this RD needed.

I could go on and on about the fresh Georgia shrimp, the in-season blue crab, the pot lickers…in the end I realized there was nothing to fear about “southern” cooking.  In fact it was quite the contrary;  I learned some key lessons that are often overlooked when we talk about healthy eating.

1)      Pride in the plate.  At every meal I was impressed by the way dishes were described, discussed and prepared.  This pride seemed to make every bite more important, more satisfying.  I only cleaned my plate once…and that was at dessert!

2)      Slow down and enjoy.  No matter what time of day or how busy the establishment was I never felt hurried through a meal.  One lunch at a shrimp shack took me nearly two hours to finish (and I didn’t eat dessert).  Because I enjoyed every bite, I never once had the feeling of “what’s next”.

I arrived home after the trip and hopped on the scale.  All my nightmares about falling off the healthy eating bandwagon were for naught…I weighed the same at the beginning and the end of the trip!  The lessons I learned in my trip through the Georgia reinforce my belief that focusing on food, not nutrients, is the key to good health.