Inspired by a Certain Female Singer's Diet

First, let me explain what sparked this "engrossment." It began when I saw a weekly magazine article about a female singer in her 50s getting married. The article, spanning several pages, delved into her romantic history and how she met her much younger husband, typical tabloid fare. However, a few lines within it captivated my curiosity.

It discussed why she maintained such beautiful skin even past her mid-50s. According to the article, she adhered to a strict diet, rarely ate out or drank alcohol, meticulously consumed "over 30 different food items daily," and prepared everything herself. To store the vast quantities of ingredients required, she even had three refrigerators. The article concluded that this regimen was the secret to her flawless complexion.

Using popular hashtags, the points that caught my attention were #30FoodItemsADay, #HomemadeEverything, and #ThreeRefrigerators.
Indeed, in photos and on television, she appears to have fair, supple skin with an alluring sensuality. As a professional, it's immediately clear to me that her skin's beauty isn't solely the result of makeup. Unlike in our 20s, a woman's skin in her 50s reflects her daily habits far more profoundly than her innate complexion. The fact that her skin is so beautiful implies...!

We often hear the well-known saying, "You are what you eat." While it might take a hundred explanations to grasp, seeing her diet and skin would likely make it undeniable in a single instance. Perhaps this is what "seeing is believing" truly means. This is how my "engrossment" was ignited.

Incorporating "Healthy Foods" into Your Daily Diet

However, there's actually another reason behind this. Shortly before reading that article, I found myself thinking, "I've learned the fundamentals of nutrition, but I want to study healthy eating more directly related to daily meals." I searched online and discovered a correspondence course. It was called the "Healthy Food Coordinator Training Program."

The course focused on understanding nutrition and then applying it to daily meals, or aiming to become a coordinator who can propose healthy eating plans.
While I don't particularly aspire to become a coordinator, the course content perfectly matched my personal desire to learn, so I decided to enroll.

Right after receiving the first "Textbook 1," I stumbled upon the aforementioned article. It's true that what we focus on tends to catch our eye. However, since having three refrigerators or abstaining from dining out isn't feasible for me, I'm now incorporating what I'm learning about "healthy foods" into my daily meals, using the singer's diet as a goal within my own limitations.

That said, I'm not preparing anything extraordinary. For example, with chilled tofu, a common dish this season, I add various toppings like grated ginger, perilla leaves, sesame seeds, okra, or pounded umeboshi to ensure a diverse intake of nutrients. When making pork ginger, I generously coat the pork with grated onion to enhance the absorption of Vitamin B1. Or, since lycopene in tomatoes, known for its antioxidant properties, is better absorbed when heated or made into a paste, I might prepare "Tomato and Bell Pepper Gazpacho" or "Stir-fried Eggs and Tomatoes" using olive oil.

Aiming for Future Beautiful Skin!

Adding various nutrients, combining ingredients that enhance each other's nutritional value, or preparing food in ways that maximize its inherent benefits – when I plan my meals not just for taste but also by incorporating the nutrition I've learned and am currently studying about healthy eating, daily cooking doesn't feel like a chore; it's actually quite interesting. That's why I'm so engrossed.

And I'm realizing anew that for home cooking, the most important thing isn't luxury or simply filling your stomach (unless you have grown children to feed), but rather a healthy foundation. By making this way of eating a habit, I hope to enjoy my daily meals with the goal of achieving healthier, more beautiful skin in three weeks, three months, and three years from now. I want to be able to say with confidence, "I am the proof!"

• Series | TOP of Michiko Fujiwara