Bacon, Cabbage, and Radicchio Toast
Thoughts on exercise, enlightenment, complexity, and easy dinners.
My friend1 Sam wrote in his newsletter,
, a few weeks ago about the concept of “embodied exercise.” Sam describes this as “moving your body while paying attention to everything you experience.” Rather than working out for the sake of working out, because you “have to,” it’s exercise because you get “want” to2.I love this concept. I think the greatest gift anyone can give themselves is the gift of finding embodied exercise. Once you make the shift from working out as something you “do” to it being a part of who you “are,” it changes your relationship with health. It’s not a struggle to “find time” to “work out” when moving your body feels as natural as eating, sleeping, breathing.
How do you get there, though? Sam thinks it’s innate — “a natural capacity we’re born with” — and you just do it by listening to “to your own sensations, desires, and evolving experiences.”
Easy, right?
Just like achieving enlightenment, which I was thinking about the other morning3. Pondering, really. If you have to ask yourself if you’ve reached enlightenment, have you actually reached it? Sometimes I think to myself, “man, I think I actually get it4.” Like I understand the bigger picture and can look pretty clearheaded at what’s going on. And then I think to myself, “if I’m thinking that I get it, I almost certainly don’t.”
My favorite part of Sam’s essay is that he keys in on the intrinsic motivation required for embodied exercise. And it goes far beyond exercise — intrinsic motivation is at the heart of anything, of everything. Why do we make the decisions we make? Because it intuitively feels right, or because we “think” it’s what we’re supposed to do? You’ll never find true contentment if you’re following the path you think you should be taking — instead of the one you want to take5. I think think that today’s culture often makes it convenient for us to go down roads without necessarily knowing what is actually at the end of them. It helps to stop, to breath, to listen, to reflect on where you actually want to go. Maybe embodied living should be the goal!6
At the same time, I struggle a little bit with embodied exercise as a panacea to health7. You don’t need to kill yourself during every workout, but sometimes your body is going to tell you to push yourself to the limit. Can you trust yourself to do that? Samsara is nirvana, remember? And everything in moderation, including moderation8!
I’ve probably blathered too long, so I’ll wrap it up with this: finding that self-actualization, that enlightenment, nirvana, or embodied something is an exercise9 in contradiction. You’re probably getting close to reaching exercise enlightenment when your motivation to “work out” comes from within — but at the same time, you might need extrinsic motivation to get you to the point where it can become intrinsic. Seeing external progress can be internally motivating. And, just like if you consciously have to ask yourself if you’ve achieved enlightenment, you probably haven’t, if you consciously have to think about embodied exercise10 — or embodied anything — you’re probably not quite there yet. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make an effort11, though.
One thing you can make an effort toward is an easy meal this week. Lot of mental energy required to process this week’s preamble. So to keep things simple, let’s put some bacon and veggies on bread and call it dinner.
Finely slice about a pound of bacon into ribbons and drop into a big ol’ cast iron pan. Let this cook until the fat is mostly rendered and the bacon is crispy. While that’s happening, slice up some cabbage and radicchio12 into similarly sized ribbons.
When the bacon is done, drain out as much of the bacon fat as you feel comfortable, and add in the veggies along with some salt and pepper. Cook until the cabbage is wilted and the radicchio is left with a slight but not overwhelming crunch. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Toast up a few slices of the best bread you have13, butter them14, drizzle with Dijon mustard, and then top with the bacon-cabbage-radicchio mix. Add additional mustard as you see fit, and enjoy!
So there we have it. While all your friends go broke ordering avocado toast at restaurants15, you can stay at home and make radicchio toast for cheap!
In all seriousness, though, this is a pretty delicious, and quick, recipe that’s worth adding to the repertoire. It’s also convenient because you can very easily swap or substitute ingredients, omit the bacon, switch up the greens, make it your own. Like a good shakshuka or frittata, this comes together easily and adapts to what you have on hand16.
With that, I’ll leave you to your weekends. We’re one week out from Thanksgiving, so at this point, I won’t even try to remind you to do as much prep work ahead of time as possible. Family CWD is heading up to the Granite State this weekend, enjoying some quality time with Tio and Auntie A. Eating some pre-Thanksgiving poultry. Playing some cribbage and Sequence. Probably getting a hike in. Preparing. This time next week, it’s holly-jolly season!
And reader!
I’m paraphrasing, so Sam, feel free to chime in.
I realize I do this quite a bit. I’m sure that says something about me.
But then… does making it a goal shatter the internal motivation?
To Sam’s credit, this isn’t what he is proposing. He and I have discussed this at length, and it’s clear that in Sam’s mind, extrinsic motivation and external goals can and should be part of your fitness “plan.”
As a hiking guide/chef once told me in the French Alps: Moderation is for monks!
Pun!
Like you start meditating by focusing on your breath, but you start meditating when you stop focusing on your breath. How’s that for a koan?
Or not make an effort? I sometimes get confused. Once you get into the Tao ideas of “non-doing,” you open up a whole other can of worms. Topic for another newsletter, though.
You could do just cabbage, or just radicchio, or really any mix of slightly bitter greens. I bet broccoli rabe would work well here too, with some garlic.
Paging Uncle Eddie… paging Uncle Eddie!
Is that millennial joke still a thing?
Did I just define embodied exercise!?
You had me at the bacon. I'm sold on this one. Avocado Toast is SO overrated. Only about 1 out of the 10 times I eaten it, I've actually said "This is worth eating." And that time it had an egg on it.
Love your life/exercise theory. I know exactly what you are talking about. (I strongly feel the "monk" life would not be for me, and you inherited some of my genes.) Exercise in any form just has to be part of your life's routine, like doing laundry. Some days I take my time and savor the smell of the clean clothes and fold everything at perfect angles, and actually feel gratified and fulfilled. Other days, I still do the laundry, but dread every moment of the process...but it still gets done!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of us in the CWD family. Here's to good food, good family, good fun, and good memories!