Here's a few miscellaneous points, mostly about food and eating. I'm so aware of the privileges I have: both time and money to control most of what and when I eat. The tidbits below reflect where I am right now, not necessarily any kind of a model for me or anyone else.
- I'm really really trying on mindful eating. To that end, I am trying to break one very long-standing habit: I no longer read while eating alone, whether a meal or a snack. And I even try to avoid listening, at least to words (no podcasts, books or radio). I'm trying to concentrate on what I'm eating. I'm trying to slow down, smell and taste, really pay attention. As it turns out, rumination can take me away just as completely as some books, but I am continually trying to come back to the food - what am I eating, how do I feel in my body as I eat? I've been living alone for 42 years, for 42 years the majority of my meals have been alone, this is a huge habit for me!
- I am doubling down on Michael Pollan's advice:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
I think this covers what are right now termed "ultra-processed foods", which Pollan would call "food-like substances". I'm not interested in cooking absolutely everything from scratch (I'm not going to bake my own bread or make my own yogurt or smoke my own bacon) but I am reading lots of labels and buying things with less processing. Fresh bread from the bakery, not packaged breads filled with fillers and preservatives. Tortilla chips made in the store, not shipped in the bag. And always, always, trying to eat more veggies.
- There are certain fresh foods that I pretty much only buy at the farmer's market when in season. Corn on the cob, peaches, and large tomatoes come to mind. I've not found store-bought versions, even fresh and labeled "local" to be any where as good. I do use frozen corn and canned tomatoes other times, but I won't bother buying fresh.
- Other veggies, like eggplants and broccoli and zucchini, are better at the farmer's market, but the difference seems less. However, I was shocked one time by the difference. Early in the summer, I bought a cute little cabbage at the market and shredded it and made a vinaigrette cole slaw to eat that day and it was so good I still remember it! Before that, cabbage would have been my poster child for "no difference". But cabbage still is acceptable as it gets old, just has to be treated differently.
- I live alone, and shopping is often an exercise in restraint. Fresh food doesn't keep long, that's just the way it is. I try to restrict myself to only one or two vegetables in a supermarket shopping trip, with a specific plan about what I will make when. I don't cook every day - often there are leftovers and even my schedule can get full - and so I have to pay close attention. But I'm able to get to the store often, with my loose schedule.
- Restraint is much harder at the farmer's market, since there is so much that is so appetizing, it's only available for a short time, and I often am not able to get there every week. But, unless I'm sharing with others, two ears of corn (eat that night), four peaches (one a day), and three tomatoes (one a day) seems to avoid throwing things away.
- I don't want to cook elaborately very often. In the past, I often relied on convenience foods and bottled sauces to get dinner together quickly. I'm now trying to avoid bottled sauces because many of them contain odd ingredients. So I'm cooking from recipes more than I used to - but probably not more than once a week. I also strive to portion out and freeze meals from the leftovers because my tolerance for the same thing might be three days at most.
- I am aware I have a habit of getting involved in something in the afternoons and then in mid-afternoon realizing I'm very hungry and I don't have the energy or will to cook something from scratch. I'm tackling the habit by consciously trying to start cooking much earlier in the day, sometimes eating "dinner" in mid-afternoon. This also requires planning light meals or snacks for the early evening, so I don't grab the cookies.
- I do still buy convenience foods for when I'm tired and don't have leftovers. Frozen meals from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods still have long lists of ingredients but can be tasty. There is a line of frozen foods at Whole Foods, "Saffron Road", that has a very tasty lamb saag. And Trader Joe's has a saag paneer that is really good. But I'm much better at managing my own leftovers from the freezer, so the processed store bought ones are much less of my diet right now.
- I discovered I can air fry frozen vegetables right from the freezer! So much tastier than microwaved! That helps me add veggies to the diet when I don't have fresh ones hanging around. And I do indulge myself sometimes in the conveniently pre-cut veggies at Whole Foods, though the markup is appalling and makes me ashamed of myself. (It's not the money, per se, it's the laziness.) I know I won't cut up a butternut squash - way too much hard work - so I've been buying the cubed stuff. Today, I found a peeled-and-cut-in-half butternut, wrapped in plastic. It was half the price of the cubed stuff, so I'm going to give it a whirl.
- Finally, a recipe. This unusual chili is probably the most elaborate thing I make, though really it’s not that much. But it’s also got the most complex and intriguing tastes and textures of anything I make. I’ve made it several times, usually with fake vegan meat, though most recently with turkey since it was for just me. It lends itself to slow and mindful eating by virtue of its complexity and goodness. Highly recommended. https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/turkey-and-butternut-squash-chili/. (If the recipe is firewalled and you want it, let me know and I can put a copy in the comments.)
