There’s something amazing about New York when spring rolls in to town. It’s as if everyone hibernates during the winter, and when the nice weather finally arrives everyone sheds their layers, leaves their apartments, and heads to the only true outdoor area New York has, Central Park.
Today I, along with the rest of the city, strolled through Central Park. After watching lovers love each other, friends find each other, and tourist lose each other, it was time to find a place to eat.
This time of year is to me the most sensual time: men and women wear less clothing, the smells of cologne and perfume are enhanced by the heat, and the sweet smell of sweat is in the air. Of course bodies are all the rage when the weather gets warm – in Central Park the amount of bikinis worn and male torsos seen was pretty incredible. But the other thing that I spotted, especially once I got to the UES were tons of women who were way too thin. Suddenly the UES seems to be a hotbed for women who look like they’re going to break if your bag accidentally hits them. Has this always been the case and I just never noticed it before?
It’s strange to say this, but in Madrid women are thin – but it’s truly rare to see anorexic women walking the streets. Actually, after three years of living in Madrid – I have not seen one. But the other day on the UES it was insane. I used to live on the UES many years ago, but I never remember seeing such numbers of starving looking women. Now I live downtown, and rarely do I see anyone who looks sickly. Everyone downtown has that healthy yoga, pilates glow if they’re glowing at all.
What’s happening on the UES, or to the women who live there that 1 out of ever 10 people that walked by was brittle.
Lots of people think Spanish women are attractive, and, well, they are. And for me what makes them attractive is their attitude – especially about food. The idea is that they eat what they want, and enjoy it. But more importantly, they eat meals. They sit down and enjoy their food, they don’t eat on the metro and you’ll never see someone eating on the street.
It’s really the most simple concept when you think about it. If you enjoy what you’re doing you’re happier, and if you enjoy what you eat you aren’t thinking negatively about eating at all.
Before I left for Madrid I limited myself to only eating things that didn’t have fat in them – bad idea. Because then all I did was crave things like snickers. But once in Madrid – I started taking the time to make meals, making each one an event, and soon I stopped thinking so much about eating and just started to enjoy it.
In New York you’ll see people eating slices of pizza in the metro, devouring a candy bar in the street, and the reason is because most people don’t have the time here to enjoy their meals. Not having time to eat …. Sounds crazy to me. But what’s even crazier is that people don’t realize or try to make time to do it.
In alot of ways what I find difficult about New York is that only a select group of people find time to take care of themselves. People take more care of their blackberrys and phone plans then they do their bodies. If you can spend an hour waiting in line at a Verizon store – why can’t you spend an hour in your kitchen to make a meal?
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