Food

My food intake (and thus my weight) have really gone the wrong way lately. I primarily blame the Whirligig, because it hasn’t entirely settled down and it keeps a constant low level of nausea just below the surface. Fewer trips to the grocery store and other isolation measures mean I’m thrown back on my own resources for putting together meals, which often requires me to cook.

I have white board material on the fridge
and keep a rough inventory as a reminder

I don’t hate cooking, I just don’t want to spend the time every day to do it. And while I have a few dishes I do well, I’m not a fabulous every day chef. I do continue to improve. I took an internet month-long class in it once, and that helped. I love reading cookbooks, but rarely do I actually use one to make a dish. Most likely when I have visitors, ie not now. More often, I use the cookbooks as inspiration, techniques and seasoning approaches. I’m in a kind of routine, and I often make big portions so I can just reheat quickly. I’m good eating the same thing for 2-3 days before I get sick of it, but I’m getting better at freezing extra portions right away, so it doesn’t get bad and I have quick food sitting in the freezer.

Way back in March, when were all preparing to hunker down, we didn’t know exactly what to prepare for. I assumed there was a good chance I’d get sick, and I’d be physically on my own during the illness because I wouldn’t just run to the hospital. So much of my early shopping was for quick and easy convenience foods for the cupboard and the freezer - shelf stable soups, frozen dinners, popcorn, granola, cereals, energy bars, apple sauce. Things I could either eat raw or pop in the microwave. This came in handy at the peak of the vertigo, once I was ready to try to keep food in me. At the outset, I also shopped for WTSHTF (prepper term, google it). Heavy on beans and brown rice and big shelf stable boxes of broth and tomatoes, which went down into the basement. I filled the freezer with bags of frozen veggies and fruit. I bought fresh veggies which were likely to keep a while, squash and cabbage and lemons and limes.

I started out well, keeping an eye on the inventory and usually cooking the next thing that might go bad. I was determined not to waste any food. I ended up using vegetables that in happier times I likely would have pitched right out. Tossed into rice and lentils cooked in the Instant Pot, and frozen into portions to provide quick, microwaveable food. I made two trips to the supermarket in April, and one so far this month, focused on fresh foods, but also replenishing any shelf stable things I used. That turns out to be about every two weeks. My girl (who goes more often to the grocery) has picked up a few extra items for me, and I got a smallish delivery from Costco, focused on big bags of coffee and some bulk organic meat for freezing. I’ve done takeout about every ten days, and I buy enough one time to last 2-3 meals. And at the height of my vertigo I ordered several pound of Gin-gins to be delivered.

But my evenings have been a continuous problem. And they wouldn’t be such a problem if I didn’t bring the treats into the house in the first place. When I buy chocolate or ice cream treats, I try to remember to ask myself, “What is my intention in buying this?” I have two themes playing out in my mind. My conscious mind is saying “No food has power over me.” Good thought. “No food is “bad”. Another good thought. “I can have just a tiny bit and stop”. NOT TRUE, at least this is not how things usually unfold. My conscious mind is an adorable optimist!

The other theme playing is simply a constant but mostly unconscious refrain, “Everything is awful so I’m going to give myself pleasure by eating this.”

When I got vertigo last month, that second theme just rose up and took over.

In my own defense, I had severe nausea, and my digestive system went wonky from top to bottom. I needed to eat what I rarely eat - white carbs in the form of white rice, pasta, toast. Microwaveable chicken soup. And, sadly, sugar also sat well. No fiber - no beans, no cabbage family, no crusty whole grains. I grazed gin-gins freely (they really work well for nausea, I use them on the boat), and squares of chocolate seemed to smooth things over.

While the nausea isn’t completely gone, my overall digestive system is much better. But I’ve got to get a handle back on my eating, aiming at the vegetables and whole grains and controlling my evenings. I have some ideas - stay tuned.