My parents went to school in New Orleans. For as long as I can remember, they’ve regaled us with tales of life in the Big Easy. Even though it has been decades since they graduated, the NOLA experience is clearly top-of-mind.
The classic muffaletta - who could ever finish a whole one!?
No matter the context of our discussions of their days at Tulane, my parents always return to the legendary food in Louisiana. They’ve told us about long lunches at Galatoires, garlicky shrimp at Mosca’s, po-boys at Domaliese’s, muffelettas at Central Grocery and icy cold oysters at Acme. We’ve discussed in-depth brandy milk punches, hurricanes and the banana daquiri that my mother swears was her first ever alcoholic bebida.
Mom and Dad close each menu recital with veritable groans – hands over stomachs and some kind of masochistic smile on their face about how painfully full they would become. They’d talk about our grandparents coming to visit them and needing to spend days afterward fasting just to return to a sense of normalcy after the gluttony.
Urban Dictionary defines a food coma as ” The feeling of listlessness, bordering on sleep, that one feels after eating a large meal.” We all love the indulgence, but said feeling can be downright miserable, and bouncing back can feel like torture.
That’s why I’m adopting a new practice: the pretox. (No – not that kind.) Sure, we’ve all heard of the detox – after you have a food fest that would make my parents proud, you switch to salads, water and several dates with your on-again off-again lover – the Elliptical machine. Doesn’t it make sense to give your body a healthy head start to offset what you KNOW you’ll be submitting it to in the coming days?
As I head into a weekend in California (yay!), I’ve guzzled about a gallon and a half of water a day recently. I’m exercising like a fiend and just spent 45 minutes on a real Stair Master (you know – the kind with the revolving set of steps that is hard as hell on your thighs?). I’ve even been upping my fruits and veggies.
Will these extra efforts eliminate any glutton coma? Probably not, but they may reduce the intensity of the aftermath associated with wine tastings and every meal out. And, if they don’t is it that bad to have had a healthy week? If I keep it up, this Juicy Olive may just be bound for the Big Easy sooner than later.
Juicy Olive 