Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Hops on October 05, 2006, 03:58:59 PM
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Anybody want to talk about food issues? I think I will now and then. This board raises my awareness of a lot of things...why not that? (I watched a Humane Society video of factory farming at my desk today. I'm glad I did. I know about it, but I go in and out of denial. I'm lazy and I want gratification.)
I've been bingeing on sweet stuff (vending machine garbage, coffeecake, anything sugary) and I'm toting a belly I never had before. Iggh. Maybe as penance, I'm letter-writing to Salon again. Thought I'd share this one I posted today in response to their article on the foie gras ban debate.
(In a personal way it's in honor of my D's birthday yesterday. This is something I have always admired in her. (BTW, she called yesterday, affectionate and very happy. "I love you" is back! :)
--Hops
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Can't Legislate Compassion
...so, EDUCATE.
My baby had chances to see cows and horses. We would stop by the road and I'd let her pat their noses or feel their coats. Sometimes I felt like a spectator at something sacred. A calm and friendly animal would stand at the fence and regard my baby for some time, listen to her excited preverbal chatter. It seemed as though they, and she, enjoyed their awareness of each other. Perhaps as an infant she also FELT them, like a forcefield. And likely they always have this openness.
It was amazing to watch their mutual curiosity. She responded with intense delight and recognition, pinwheeling her arms and legs and crowing. When we started from the car she'd pummel me with her feet until we got to the fence. Then she'd have long moments of complete stillness, while she gazed at the animal. Excitement would break through periodically and she'd flail her arms at them, but they rarely shied.
Long story shorter, I believe that many people are unmoved by animal suffering because to feel enough compassion for an animal to become vegetarian, you do have to face the reality of their presence, their intelligence, their openness, their ability to bond, to greet, to form relationships, to suffer. It requires a kind of security coupled with vulnerability to the wholeness of life, to do this.
We could teach children to be grateful for the presence of animals. To greet their existence with a sense of wonder. Or perhaps our infants don't need to be taught reverence. Perhaps we do. Or, we can just let them go extinct and boil the planet. It is a choice.
When she was three, my chatterbox asked me in the car one day, what is your purse made of? I answered as gently and simply as I could. You mean, cows? she said. It hurt to nod "yes". She cried all the way home and never ate meat again.
She's now 26. She never lectures anyone. But she knows.
It really doesn't hurt anyone to eat vegetable forms of protein, does it. We do so many more difficult things in our pursuit of health and good looks (imagine the gym). We're not being deprived of anything we need badly when we give up flesh. I think most of us are just so cut off from the natural world that our senses are blunted such that only something as concentrated and intense as the flavor of a tortured, cooked and slaughtered animal can sate our cravings.
It wouldn't hurt to ask at a deeper level, what are we really craving? Is it to be more alive? If so, is it really unimaginable to inquire how we might do that without asking an intelligent and defenseless animal such as a cow or pig or goose to pay the cost of our journey?
Goose Guantanamo. Bovine Bataan. Once you know, you really do know. It's hard to stuff innate compassion forever.
I don't think absolutism of any stripe is much help. But denial isn't either.
-- 90% vegetarian & determined
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I didn't mean to have a judgmental spasm about those who select carnivorisnushinessism.
But I did. Sorry. Really. I get all preachy when I write to Salon.
It was a beeeyooooooooootiful memory of her babyhood, though.
She said to me once, when I apologized for my terrible judgment in marrying H2...
looking at me with pure forgiveness and love:
"But Mom, you gave me animals."
I think I realize looking back how extremely deeply she was affected by learning about meat, because she was an extraordinarily sensitive little girl. (No wonder she went "tough" to survive her losses in early adulthood. I think maybe she had no choice.)
I don't know if the cease fire will last but it did bring me such joy to get her happy call last night.
Anybody got a great vegetable story?
I know one!
There's a small town in New England where nobody locks their doors and everybody trusts everybody and it's pure peace. But once a year people roll up their car windows and lock them down tight. A tourist who loved the atmosphere and noticed this change in local behavior asked about it at the hardware store.
"Ayep, we do," said the proprietor. "Nobody can put zucchinis in th' car while you're sleepin'."
Hops
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:shock: :oops:
(((((((((((TT))))))))))))))
What an incredibly nice thing to say.
Thanks.
Hops
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:D
There's a small town in New England where nobody locks their doors and everybody trusts everybody and it's pure peace. But once a year people roll up their car windows and lock them down tight. A tourist who loved the atmosphere and noticed this change in local behavior asked about it at the hardware store.
"Ayep, we do," said the proprietor. "Nobody can put zucchinis in th' car while you're sleepin'."
Hops
Zucchini is a prolific veggie indeed! Used to find bags of them on my desk when I worked in our little church office... tokens of appreciation (or maybe not?! :shock:) from some of the members. Occasionally, someone would take it a step further and leave a wrapped loaf of zucchini bread. mmm... good stuff :)
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Hops
"I love you" is back!
I'm so glad - so very glad for you. - GS
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"But Mom, you gave me animals."
oh that brings tears, after all the things you've told us about her, you can see where the softer streak in her came from.
Your writing is excellent. Don't apologise for the perspective! It's what gives it passion, like good preaching! Who wants an article ( or sermon ) with no flair, we get enough watered down anaemic politics without the writers being worried about what people think!
You never have that shut up, ask no questions and do what I say attitude in what you write. I like that.
Me too. It's very good and I am sure touches a nerve with many people. Where I live there are still cows and horses in fields alongside freeways, and little byres and hayracks...but more and more the land gets sold for building, Houston is an ever-growing city and I know it won't be long before we say nostalgically 'remember when there were calves here...'
Nature has claimed parts of it back though- made it periodically flood so it has to be left alone to grow and nurture wildlife in peace. I like that.
~W
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Probably a mistake to detour into the ethics of eating.
So I take it back! :)
I would like to talk about the deep craving that contributes to overweight.
I think it's a big psychological/emotional health thing. But I wish I had a craving for something else...
I'm more out of control with eating than I've been in several years and it's a miserable feeling for me. I've gained 15-20 pounds after being at normal weight for my height, now I feel bloated, my clothes cut and gap (and I can't afford nice new ones...and need to be making a good impression for jobs).
But I don't know if I want to talk about control strategies, so much, as maybe...
the emotional eating...
What IS it? I'm just trawling for new thoughts about it, if anyone would like to share.
In some way I think it has to do with being too cut off from my senses. Not feeling the joy of them just now.
That really might be it. I don't need "sensual exercises"...I don't think...but, aha?...maybe to explore more how the rigid controlling atmosphere of my childhood maybe led to some MAJOR suppression of my natural sensuality.
Hmmm! One direction might be just to get sensuous in ways that DO feel safe to me.
Clothing, I guess.
I've been wearing a lot of bright things, but maybe I need some more flowing softer stuff. Well, there's always Goodwill.
I do know that Mom is not sensual at all...except for her own compulsive sweet-eating (we share a fridge, too, and one weird thing I do is to sneak around and eat some of her treats).
What's THAT about? Stealing sugar from my N-ish mom? Hmmm. That seems worth analysing.
Almost like dream analysis...behavior analysis.
I'm heading down to the kitchen...will hope for some of the fine brains here to have epiphanies and lend them to me!
Thanks,
Hops
PS--Whoa! I just remembered something. I haven't been remembering my dreams often lately but I had a deep nap today and did awaken from a VERY sexy dream of being firmly kissed by a handsome man. It was quite nice, although it was almost too firm. And, per usual, I had no sense of security, that he would stay...
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Hi Hop
the emotional eating...
What IS it? I'm just trawling for new thoughts about it, if anyone would like to share.
In some way I think it has to do with being too cut off from my senses
well your dream gives a clue- you maybe crave some love or romance or sex but have said ( like me ) you arent prepared to go there right now.
Weight gain surpresses libido and we don't put out as much when we feel unattractive.
the rigid controlling atmosphere of my childhood maybe led to some MAJOR suppression of my natural sensuality.
well, you're surpressing a lot of things in your self right now out of choice- or is it choice? Necessity more like?
I am really struggling with not having a partner and really fantasising and grieving each time a likely candidate comes into my life and 'I can't'.
A friend called me 'leery' this week when I was telling her about my crush ( she knows & likes the guy ) I didn't know what it meant really and looked it up: openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
And that's how I've been behaving forever I suppose. Wanting something and not being able to do it. Every few months a new guy comes into my life and if I am honest I come up with some excuse or get into a long protracted dialogue until he gets bored and goes away.
I'm starting to think it's because I haven't reconciled sex and the fact I don't want to be married or deeply attached! Maybe that's the whole deal with marrying my ex- that really was at a distance and if he hadn't behaved so badly I wonder if I would have settled and never addressed this. Maybe now I still am- by focussing on career, being prissy about fidelity whilst I'm still married....and by fantasising about a guy who I turned down!
I've recently dropped loads of weight because of my health Hops, and I eat tons, just different stuff. For a sweet treat there's Orville Rodenbacher toffee popcorn cakes $1.59 a pack and 40 calories each, I love them. Also Panda liquorice bars, @ 59 cents and 50 calories, in the health food section.
I couldn't lose weight for ages though so I had a strategy of weighing each morning and noting the natural fluctuations and getting a sense of what caused gain, then I had a long time where my goal was to stay the same. Now I just stick to the same healthy eating and exercise and it's coming down steadily- leaving lots of floppy bits though so don't gain too much if you don't want extra skin and stretch marks.
hope for some of the fine brains here to have epiphanies and lend them to me!
hope someone has one for me too. Where's Moonlight when you need her? :)
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Hi, Hops,
I don't know if this is right or not, but I wouldn't spend alot of time trying to dig into the deeper issues re: eating habits. Sometimes I think it's a simple matter of boredom and/or frustration... a form of addiction which has been allowed to fill the gap.
What I'm thinking is... maybe not everything is all that complicated? I like to think that some stuff is fairly simple... but that may be a bit of my own "denial" at work. I'm thinking plain old fashioned behavior modification... like when you find yourself headed for the frig or cupboard, unless it's time for a regular meal... replace that activity with something else... something else that you enjoy which does not add calories. It's said that if we continue a particular course for 30 days straight, we've formed that behavior into a habit. That's encouraging! When viewed in that light, this need not appear to be an insurmountable task which will involve a lifelong struggle... just a matter of forming better habits.
For me, although I'm not "fluffy" (lol Tt), the struggle has been to eat at set times whether I'm feeling hungry or not, and not settle for a handful of peanuts grabbed on the fly. I have been known to live on cheese and crackers and peanuts. It's not good.
I recognize the problem along with a certain underlying sense of rebellion, laziness, entitlement (I will have only what I feel like having at the moment and nothing else), but dwelling on all that won't change a bit of my behavior. I gotta buy good, healthy stuff and then drag myself to the frig to put a bit of it on a plate... whether I feel like it or not. There's alot to be said for good ole fashioned self-discipline. The rub is... sheesh, I gotta be disciplined over here, and over there, and now I can't just spoil myself when it comes to what I'll eat (or in my case, not eat)?? No fair!! Yup yup... there's a bratty quotient involved. Speaking of which, I've been up for hours and haven't had a bite.... bad, bad me. Peanut butter toast, whole wheat, and a glass of milk. I'm going!!
But first... re: your mother's goodies... in defiance of some of what I just stated, it does seem logical that you may be indulging there simply because you feel she owes you that much, at least!! Also, there's a certain element of irresponsibility involved. In other words, "Hey, I didn't buy the junk food... I can't help it that it's here." Maybe that's projection, but it kinda makes sense to me.
I hope this was a little helpful.... off to toast-land...
Hugs,
Hope
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HOPS ,
Maybe drinking more water will fill you up make you feel better and cleanse the system.
So many people are walking around dehydrated and pure water is so good for your kidneys etc.
Drinkinking water always makes me feel great.
Your animal story is so sweet
love
moon
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GOOD stuff everyone, thanks so much!
"fluffy" :)
Why do I feel fat -- wrong foods -- unhappy and dissatisfied -- more wrong foods -- feel fat 8)
defiance (my friend A was thrilled when she found in therapy that this is why she overeats) :shock:
water :D
Orville Redenbacher and licorice :D
These are all great thoughts. Thank you.
It's not just the what but the why, and I appreciate these insights on both!
thanks again,
Hops
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tracks, you inspiration you!
I think I'm going to see if there isn't an alternative energy company near me that would make me -- wait for it, wait for it --
an elliptical, or a treadmill, that would PUT POWER BACK INTO THE GRID when I am using it, just the way wind and solar generators can be set up to do. Don't know how much power I'd generate, but wouldn't that be a motivator!!!!!!!!
On edit: can't you see it now? One gym producing enough electricity to run itself and feed in surplus... green gyms. I gotta go ask somebody about this, right now.
Moon: if Mr. Moon knows anybody who does this, let me know!
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Storm,
Great idea. Green gyms. I like it! Man I hope Mr. Moon knows someone!
teartracks
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I found a place in Washington state that makes pedal powered home energy generators and a not for profit in California that does large scale projects... I'm going to get in touch next week with both of them. :-)
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Hi HOPS TT AND STORMY,
YEP THATS WHAT WE NEED SOLAR POWER ,WIND ,WAVE AND FUEL CELLS.THAT IS THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH MR MOON IS WORKING ON NOW.
Mr moon is working on fuel cells for power back up and direct methanol fuel cells for lap top computors Green technologies are fun. :D :D :D
There are all kinds of new energy sources happening.Then when we go green that will easy up the stress on the Earth and political tension all around the globe .
Also wave power generators the power of ocean waves all this good stuff is right around the corner there is lots to be optimistic about with these new technologies 8)
LOVE TO ALL,
MOON
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Good to read this again.
I'm doing moderately better...but still "shoving in" more than I need. I don't LIKE the stuffed feeling.
So it amazes me that the brain ignores the obvious for the short-term comfort of taste, texture.
I feel a bit more relaxed than I had been, maybe there's hope the habits will change.
A thought I hadn't had before is that not only emotional pain, but physical pain, can trigger my sweet tooth. (Picture a walrus tusk...makthe me lithp...)
When my back is flaring up I want more.
Hops
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Hi Portia,
Asking this here instead of on Boundary thread...
How do you know when you feel you need supplements?
Does cod liver oil taste as terrible as I've always heard?
Do you worry at all about iron overload/heart disease?
Thanks,
Hops
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Hi Hoppy,
You didn't ask me but I think I know a little. If you are low energy, having strange cravings, problems sleeping, vague pains, these can be signs of deficiencies.
Cod liver oil, or the 21st century equivalent, comes in capsules so no need to suffer as we did in our youth.
Nordic Naturals makes wonderful supplements from fish and other oils for many different needs. I think they will send you a sample.
There is also a company in Germany called Salus Haus making iron and other supplements in liquid form. Try florahealth.com.
Plucky
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Thanks, Plucky.
I am leery of excess iron...it can cause heart disease.
I was taking coldwater fish oil supplements for the Omega 3s for a while, but had breath like a dinosaur's butt.
Not for the iron though...I thought that was the main thing about cod liver oil.
I'm feeling pretty good though! Prematurely happy at being out of the workplace! MAYBE forever.
(Though I worked til 2 a.m. yesterday to do the last chapter in a 75-pg patient manual with lots of clip art and formatting and stuff...plus editing it into tidiness. I actually enjoyed that assignment.)
My back's relaxed and I was able to actually ALERT THE MEDIA cook tonight. That means I did something other than beep.
I picked all my leftover tomatoes and cooked them in olive oil with garlic, onion, and fresh basil and served the sauce to Mom with grated fresh aged Parmesan (contradiction) over wholegrain rotini and a little leafy + broccoli + carrots+dried cranberties+olives+pecans salad...
It felt so GOOD to eat something so purely healthy. When I stick to that, I lose the sugar craving.
But I did see a dessert so evil on The TakeHome Chef that I'd make it for a party. It was amazing.
Wish y'all were all here and we'd do a group trip to watch the leaves turn and the doggie regatta tomorrow! Last time I asked one of the men why he'd gotten into it, and he said, it's the closest thing to sailing I could find on dry land. Wow. That image reallly worked for me, the dogs were like waves, the field...oh well, it's just an intensely delightful fall thing to do, and I haven't felt like doing much on a Sunday afternoon. Now I am eager!
Feeling blessed and lucky,
Hops
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Hoppy,
you cannot just throw out a term such as "doggie regatta" without some explanation. ?
Plucky
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:lol: Hi Plucky--Happy Sunday!
Picture a big field sloping away from you (like a bay, say).
The dogs kind of "tack" and whatever you call it (I learned sailing terms in French and can't remember the English) back and forth across the field.
It's not an exact image, but if the dogs are sleek little sailboats and the field is water and the sheep are gusts of wind...the dogs navigate their way back and forth to herd them with a lot of similar directional navigation to a sailor's.
I just got what he meant--the trainer I talked to used to sail, and the precise navigation of the dogs against unprectidable elements like bolting sheep (wind gusts, say) works something like sailing.
That help?
:)
Happy sunny (I hope for everybody..it is here) Sunday!
Hops
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my dog is here at my feet, prevented from her walk by rain, I'll take her when it slows down.
I love walking in the rain. We get a lot of sun here, so a rainy day is now like a sunny day used to be in England!
Most times it buckets down too, so the soft gentle misty days are precious.
I've had to cut out dairy, found myself getting tons of catarrh/ throat problems/ congestion etc and decided it was my love of cheese which has undone me!
On that topic I have been writing an excellent back and forth poem with my little sister, it is so good to share these little things with people.
I am so much tuning in to the little things which are meaningful and are the composite of the big picture 'happy life'.
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Write and ALL, Happy Sunday
Tuning in and the right frequency this sounds so good to me I will keep my heart's understanding of life so called little "gifts"......................
I have my internal radio on.
Every time it rains here there is major excitement, we all love to run outside and revel in it the whole thing
the lightning and thunder the clouds rain is a major reason for the moon family to go in back yard and jump up and down and act like 10 year olds . :D
(we give ourselves permission to play)
Hops , love the sailing analogy .I am a cat person so any insight to the wonderful world of dogs is beauty to me.I can almost feel the breeze on my face.
About food I do not eat meat I used to eat fish do not do that anymore.Lots of reasons.
But I will eat soy tofu poached egg I am sure I am not getting enough protein I will have to educate my self on nutrition.
All my Love Always
MoonLight
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Hey everyone, this thread is a good one...lots of places to go. I am not afraid of iron because I am almost always anemic (but I lose a lot of blood each month :() The cod liver oil is something I am supposed to do but forget a lot. Doc says it will help with my hurting joints . I use the lemon flavored cod liver oil so it is not bad.
Problem I have with food right now is I am getting a gut. I used to carry all my weight in my thighs but since I have been in my 40s it is settling right on my midsection (right below my boobs.....) It's gross. So when I sit down I get real bad heartburn.
What I do is stress and anger eat. I walk the dogs every single day but my metabolism is so screwed up. And I have this thing with sugar.....or white bread..............or pasta...................it all converts to sugar and I am insulin resistant so the sugar runs around my body and has no where to go so it plants itself on my middle. This prediabetic condition is stupid because I need to correct it so I can be healthy. My dad has diabetes and he can barely walk, is impotent, has heart problems - it's a big deal!! He'll die prematurely because he could not keep the sugar out of his mouth and unfortunately I am following suit.
I would like to address some of these patterns of getting angry and running to food. Gettin bored and running to food. Getting stressed and running to food. Has anyone found some tactics to avoid all this insanity!! Maybe Overeaters Anonymous?? I mean, Al-anon is doing me wonders.....
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Wow, kelly, that's a great idea. Overeaters Anonymous really might speak to you!
Gonna try it? I agree, no need at all for you to follow in your Dad's footsteps. Sounds like you're going to resist that fate, though...good for you.
I have not overeaten at all today...and I know why.
Last night I did that healthy, satisfying dinner. My body FEELS good when I do that.
And then today, I felt happy. At church, driving around the country, watching a brilliant young border collie do her thing with some very fed-up sheep. I saw beauty, I spoke with friends, I felt joy.
I'll need reminding in the winter that I already have some fat to live off.
Sometimes I MAKE myself down the huge veggie salad, grumbling all the way. But it does help stave off other stuff.
Moon, you're doing great if you're doing tofu/egg stuff...that's great protein. (If you weren't getting enough protein you'd never have the energy to run around in the rain like a 10 y/o. I so love it that your family gets wacky!) :D
I think maybe one answer for me is to rediscover that I enjoy cooking. Just vegetarian stuff, so it can involve some sleuthing to find nice and EASY reciipes. But when I do make the effort and cook something that's yummy AND healthy, I seem to be content with less. Hmmm.
(Things out of packages and boxes that are...well, crap food...don't give me that EMOTIONALLY satisfied feeling. So maybe if I get more involved in picking fresh produce from the market, thinking ahead a bit to what I could experiment with next, etc....I'll take more pleasure in what I eat, and thus eat better.)
It also doesn't hurt to watch The Takehome Chef on TLC. He is delicious.
(Aha. I probably eat because I have no sex life, too.)
There we go...the topic roars! :P
Hops
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You are right, when you buy something to cook and it's organic and fresh, you feel better. WEll, I am going for it today. 3 points down - I think I am going to try a little more exercising!!
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You go, Kelly! 8)
I've only been eating better for about a week, and the scale has noticed.
I know it's best never to go on "diets" which just trigger rebound, so I haven't.
The one thing that's changed is I got involved in the cooking, and thinking of the delights of a healthy dinner with good ingredients. How I could get whole grains, fruits, and veggies into one simple meal. And I start the day with whole oatmeal with frozen blueberries and pecans, skim milk in the bowl, microwave 1 and 1/2 minute. That makes a big difference. At lunch I feel normal and not starving, and my blood sugar doesn't wobble around. Lunch is a big bowl of veggie salad and soup or half a sandwich of whatever. Apple or other fruit in the afternoon.
One thing I am always, always looking for is (these would be the recipes of my dreams, as my fantasy is to put everything in the crockpot (slow cooker) in the morning and then at dinnertime, just take off lid and serve). I'll share one I made up that's served us well. (If you want meat, add chunks of turkey keilbasa instead of tofu, or any other lean meat).
EASY CROCKPOT BALANCED VEGETARIAN ONE-DISH DINNERS
Crockpot Vegetable & Tofu Stew
Big can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup barley, 1/2 cup brown rice (or 1/2 cup amaranth, plus 1/2 cup wild rice...whatever mix)
1 box frozen corn
1 box frozen lima beans
1 box frozen spinach
1 one block firm or extra-firm tofu
1 bay leaf
any herbs you like
water or stock or tomato juice as needed to cover about 2/3
Put everything in the crockpot in the order listed, except for the tofu. Cook on low 6-8 hours, stirring once about midway (but if you're at work, no worries, it doesn't have to be stirred). For last hour, add cubed tofu and stir gently.
Very easy winter recipe, but I'm getting tired of it. Anybody got some other one-dish balanced things?
Thanks!
Hops
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OK, the Lima beans and corn I could do without. What about carrots?? Of course, they are loaded with natural sugars.......I do a pot roast in the slow cooker. But that's the only thing I have ever tried. And that is not a low cal food (but my 19 year old LOVES it...)
I would love some other ones. At weight watchers they have this veg soup that is FREE. In other words, you can eat as much as you want and it doesn't count as points. It has fat free chicken stock, a tad of tomato paste, green beans, cabbage, onions, carrots.....I put mushrooms (love mushrooms), oregano, salt pepper.............I think that is all. I got fresh green beans. I bought a bag of cole slaw mix to make the cabbage part easy.................It was alright. Not great!!
Need to cut back on white stuff. The other day I found some whole wheat pasta so I did that instead of white. It was ok. My family would freak.....
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Oh you are so wise about "white stuff" Kelly.
Bread is something like sugar for me...can turn into "stuffing" food. If I just get whole grains front and center, I have less interest in breads. Oatmeal, brown rice, cous cous, amaranth, barley, etc. Good place to visit is a natural foods store and tell them you'd like to try cooking some different whole grains. Some of them are really delicious, taste nutty. I forget the names but I've had some delicious ones.
Sure, I think for the veggie stew you could leave out the corn and lima beans. Use carrots and, how about one little parsnip? Would be good to use some small quantity of something that seems vaguely starchy for texture...I know! Put in a can of water chesnuts. That would take up all the flavors and not be fattening. You could also chop some celery and toss in. I think those would work well. Hmm. And the corn added sweetness. Carrots, yup, got that covered.
Don't know about your tolerance for spices, but if you like "hot"--Hot 'n Spicy V8 Juice--or tomato juice with added red pepper sauce, are amazing appetite quenchers.
Thanks for sharing your tips, Kelly...hope we'll be getting more!
Hops
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Hi Portia,
Hi Hops! :D
Asking this here instead of on Boundary thread...
I've only just read this!
How do you know when you feel you need supplements?
When I feel drowsy/tired...
Does cod liver oil taste as terrible as I've always heard?
capsules as Plucky said, before food so you don't burp a fishy taste afterwards...
Do you worry at all about iron overload/heart disease?
I take iron when i need to and I know when I need to...do not ask...)
Thing is, apart from the compassionate and why-don't-we-feed-the-world thoughts, I don't think much about food at all, which is why I didn't read this thread. i don't think much about my weight, body either. Don't understand the oh-i-could-eat-a-pack-of-biscuits thing.
I discovered lentils recently and quite like them...but not too many at once... :? :o :D
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Ooooh bravo.
I know that when I'm my healthiest I don't think much about food either. I think as a human animal, it's not really normal to. Back when I was a cave woman, when the food appeared, I cooked and ate it (it was lean, too, those mastodons kept moving). When there was no food around I tended the rug rat, and concentrated on my cave paintings and practicing my howling for the next moon meeting. The rest of the time I just sat in front of the cave and watched birds, and the wind in the trees, and smelled the air. Lately I noticed that some plant keeps growing where I dumped some gourds. I wonder...
Today we're just bombarded with food advertising and so many people make every contact with another person a chance to focus on "Let's have lunch/dinner/coffee and pastry/wine and cheese/dessert..."
Maybe I should answer, well, no thank you, but let's have a nice talk! :shock:
When I feel most myself I am excited, in the moment, sniffing the breeze, not obsessed with tasting.
Hops
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And...I wonder if one reason many of us get so wound up about food that we overeat is because the culture has shed so many of the small community rituals that used to connect people to each other, and bring them together?
We don't sit in the sun and weave baskets together, or prepare our meals communally.
We don't sing together regularly (unless we're Write :))
We are in our separate apartments/houses/jobs and could go long stretches with no communal activity that is nourishing to our inner pack animal.
Hops
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I wonder now if I’m running chasing the mastodon or not! (Those guys haven’t brought enough back again and I don’t feel like picking berries….where’s my spear?)
"Let's have lunch/dinner/coffee and pastry/wine and cheese/dessert..."
Maybe I should answer, well, no thank you, but let's have a nice talk!
Oh I do not like eating with people I don’t know well. I really don’t like it. And business lunches ooooooo! Cringe city. Yuk. I once went to a Chinese with three males – one colleague, two bosses. This prawn thing only contained 3 huge prawns. They all attacked this dish and took one each. I was the poorest and lowest paid and I loved prawns and I will never forget that!!! :x Haha. True. Now were they rude? I think so. yes I think so. 8)
Eating brings out the worse in some people I think. And those stand up buffets are painful. How can anyone eat like that and enjoy it? I can’t. oh it’s about being social? No……food is too close to home, too necessary for life. I don’t want to eat with strangers (do I want strangers in the other bodily function areas of my life?).
And food is so close to love, is love, if prepared with love. The whole food ritual is so intimate. Think where it starts! :D
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Anybody got some other one-dish balanced things?
I liked your recipe, Hops. I will try it. Here is one of mine that is good for using whatever veggies you have in the fridge:
Chinese-like veggie stuff:
Sautee onions, garlic, minced ginger (all or just one or two of them).
Add whatever veggies you have around (cabbage, carrots, broccoli, peppers, yellow squash, peas, etc.), and sautee a couple minutes.
Add cubes of tofu and some broth -enough to make it soupy.
Add soy sauce and maybe a dash of Chinese 5-spice powder (both optional).
Bring it to a boil and then thicken with corn starch-water mixture, as you would thicken a gravy.
Serve over brown rice.
Sorry about the lack of measurements - I just make it up as I go along.
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I was the poorest and lowest paid and I loved prawns and I will never forget that!!!
you know that quote The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love well this is the opposite :x
They should have offered you first anyway in our culture!
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New, I can do that one! Thanks. Sounds yummy.
Prawns, eh, P? Well, your tastes sure evolved... :)
Hops
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Well, for me, I grew up in a very religious family who didn't drink, smoke, cuss, have premarital sex, yada yada yada.........but we had potlucks. Boy we ate. And we still eat. It's the only thing my family does. My husband? Drink. We went out for my birthday - not a couple of weeks ago but a year ago. He said, "Let's go out to eat for your birthday." Well, I ate...............he drank. Hey!! Maybe he thinks he is getting his hops, barley and wheat!! A vegetarian dish!!
But for me................I eat when I'm...................sad, angry, lonely, bored, etc. If there is a cookie near by the cookie monster comes out in me...............It's almost like if my stomach does not have something in it I feel empty. Isn't that crazy? It's like I am feeding this desire to be filled up with ................something. In another thread someone said when you get rid of a bad thing, you have to replace it with something good.....................so when I am dieting and I have that "need" to have something in my stomach or need something to do, I need to take a walk or drink a big glass of purified water....................any other thoughts??
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Kelly,
I think that would be referred to as emotional eating. At least that is what I hear Oprah call it. I've always had more problems keeping weight on than off, but I rarely make friends saying that.
I have played cards every Monday afternoon with a great group of women for nearly 10 years. We take turns hosting at our homes. The hostess is responsible for providing lunch and we usually do soup, salad, dessert and snacks. About 5 years ago we created our own cookbook since we were exchanging so many recipes. The following is a very popular recipe that we have all made at some time or another because it is so easy and very low in fat and calories. I'm sure you could leave out the chicken and replace it with something vegetarian if you chose.
Skinny Minnie Tortilla Soup
1 can 16 oz. fat free refried beans
1 can 14 oz. low-fat chicken broth
1 can 5 oz. chunk chicken
1 can 11 oz. whole kernel corn with liquid
1 can 15 oz. black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup chunky salsa
Optional: 2 cups shredded low fat cheese & baked tortilla chips
Combine first 6 ingredients in pot. Bring to boil, stirring until refried beans are completely mixed in. Turn down heat and simmer till serving.
To serve, ladle soup over tortilla chips in bottom of bowls and top with shredded cheese.
Can be made in slow cooker.
It also freezes very well.
Brigid
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Hi Kelly,
That was me...about when you let go of a bad thing it's important to fill the space with something good.
Hmmm. I totally understand eating in response to mood and emotion. I seem to be getting a grip again now.
I remember when I once lived in a tiny town on the Chesapeake Bay a woman lived across the road from me in a simple, pictuesque house, with her husband, a waterman. He had a girlfriend. She had terribly sad eyes and was very heavy. I wanted to be her friend. I remember one day I was in her kitchen and she looked at me and said, the only joy I have is what goes in my mouth. I was young (22) and it broke my heart. I could see she had stopped dreaming of anything.
I think it's sadness. I think when life trims our sails and we feel trapped...in this culture where food and reminders of food are everywhere, it's like artificial joy.
I think for me, the only thing to fill it up with is community (child, friends, my church) and creating (writing or painting) and connecting to the earth (gardening) and maybe helping others.
Barack Obama said tonight that his mother used to always ask him, are you being useful? When I think about that...I'm not hungry.
My overeating isn't hunger anyway. The good food, healthy stuff...covers me physically.
Hops
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Chesapeake, huh? I have some very good friends that live in the Hampton Roads area...............was there last year August for one of their weddings!! Small world.
Well, in my mind, I am trapped in a cycle of eating and I blame it on my nmom. That fact that I know this and can acknowledge it is ludacris. Part of me won't let me look as good as nmom. She is thin, has had many face lifts, a tummy tuck, etc. She has always been successful and younger looking than she should and rich and thin..............something that I have not been able to get to. I always live in the shadow of my nmom. And the fact that I have to "play the game" and be nice at work as I plan my exit strategy just validates the "I lose and she wins" in my head. The reason I say that is if I speak my mind and try to take charge she just fights with me....so I have come to the point where in the long run I will be better off if I just sit back and let her take the lead.....hopefully making plans to sell. Plus I know that I know that I know that if I stand up for myself, I am screwing myself financially in the long run because I stand to inherit quite a bit.......so that frustration that I feel deep inside is what drives this monster to overconsume. It is this false sense of who I am - a self-fulfilling prophecy.......................Kelly will never be as successful, as thin, as beautiful as nmom........
So if I can get over this brain-freeze called stupidity.................I can stop filling that void with food!
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Hops,
I remember when I once lived in a tiny town on the Chesapeake Bay
My paternal grandfather's family was from Havre de Grace (not sure I spelled that correctly) and I have an old newspaper clipping from there which shows a picture of the general store on the main street with my great grandfather and great uncles sitting out front. The store carried my maiden name.
I absolutely loved James Michener's book Chesapeake.
Brigid
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:D :D :D
I've been to Havre de Grace several times (used to live in Bawlamer).
I love the Eastern Shore....
(I bet you like Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, too, Bridg?) Great dogs!
Hops
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Haven't heard of that town but I have visited my friends (twins) several times since they moved away after the 10th grade (over 30 years ago.......) One thing that sticks in my mind is the hot, hot, hot humid August. I have never sweated so much in my life. I am from the midwest and I never get that hot.........and speaking of, those twins are from a functional family. Always loved those people. The parents were "real." Loving. They made their kids do chores. They cooked and had meals together. It had been 13 years since I had seen them.............but it was like a day had'nt gone by. One of the twins had a stroke a year ago on Halloween. Hasn't walked or talked since. Awful. Too young. Three children.
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Maybe you and your D can take a nice getaway to the Eastern Shore to visit them?
Great time of year to go....
Hops