On Food, Redux
Feb. 15th, 2012 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spryngWay back in July I made a post about the current state of my diet. I thought it was about time to revisit that theme, seeing as how SO MUCH has changed, what with the three Whole30's and the re-introduction of a CSA portion to our lives and my recent, very tragic run-in with a donut.
That run-in went about like this: there was a stray donut a Friday or two ago at the lab, leftover from their 8am lab meeting. I was hungry, so I ate it. And then I felt nauseous for the rest of the day. I was even burping up nasty donut gases later that night when we went running. Not a good time.
I don't know what the difference is between this last Whole30 and the other two, but I feel like the whole concept of "you are what you eat" has finally clicked. Junk food not only makes me feel icky, but I now have a different outlook on it entirely. For example, instead of eating that donut, I could have had a proper dinner complete with veggies and chicken and gotten a variety of vitamins and minerals plus some good protein and fats. My body would then have used that to recover from crossfit earlier in the day and continue happily plugging along in other regards. Instead, the donut I had was full of sugar and simple carbs, with naught a vitamin or mineral or happy protein or good fat in sight. So it's not just that it was junk food, it was a waste of food.
Now it's not that something like a donut every once in a while isn't still fine. But shitty food builds up. That's something I just never fully comprehended when I was calorie-counting. Something I'm still having trouble remembering when faced with something scrumptious, like a fresh-baked scone or cupcake.
I was looking for some sort of post from a year or two years ago where I talked more about what I ate, and when I couldn't find one, that inspired me to go ahead and talk about it now. I know this time last year I would have a bagel or a yogurt + granola for breakfast, followed by some sort of fruit as a snack. But I can't remember what I was having for lunch or dinner - black bean tacos a lot, sometimes enchiladas. I would occasionally have a sandwich, and I remember frequent quesadillas. And there were many a night we had hot white bread from Safeway with their creamy tomato soup. Oh, and taco bell. That happened. A lot. Despite being vegetarian, there was a distinct lack of vegetables.
Now, I'm still not Ms. AwesomeDiet. I made and ate red velvet cupcakes yesterday. Last week we ate TJ's pizza and cookies and watched the Biggest Loser. Plus, there was cake and booze for Doug's birthday, along with fried chicken.
But generally, I've been doing okay. Definitely much better than last year. Definitely much different. Kind of swung the complete opposite direction from vegetarian when I quit that way back in August. Now I'm one of those terrible people who eats meat at almost every meal. I'm trying to cut back some, and even made a completely vegan meal on Monday night.
Lots of eggs. Lots of sweet potato. Big fan of turkey bacon. Chicken is wonderfully versatile. Pot roast is easy. Kale is good in everything, but especially as chips. Collard greens, mustard greens, beat greens, chard = yes. Working on beets still. Roasted cocoa-dusted cauliflower is amazing. Also, cauliflower can be ground up and used in place of rice for so many meals. Smoothies are good for those times you just want something a bit sweet and you're tired of sweet potatoes.
I'd like to work in more greens (MOAR GREENS). There was a TED talk I got excited about which came to the conclusion that a shit ton of veggies is good for you, specifically sulphur-rich veggies, leafy greens, and colorful everything. I'm trying to rework the way I mentally put together meals into something that values veggies first, instead of meat as is normal in our society. The CSA we joined is helping some, since we have to start getting creative in how we use our share.
TL;DR: I used to eat lots of things like bagels and yogurt and tacos and bread and now I eat lots of things like eggs and chicken and collard greens and cauliflower. This makes me happy.
That run-in went about like this: there was a stray donut a Friday or two ago at the lab, leftover from their 8am lab meeting. I was hungry, so I ate it. And then I felt nauseous for the rest of the day. I was even burping up nasty donut gases later that night when we went running. Not a good time.
I don't know what the difference is between this last Whole30 and the other two, but I feel like the whole concept of "you are what you eat" has finally clicked. Junk food not only makes me feel icky, but I now have a different outlook on it entirely. For example, instead of eating that donut, I could have had a proper dinner complete with veggies and chicken and gotten a variety of vitamins and minerals plus some good protein and fats. My body would then have used that to recover from crossfit earlier in the day and continue happily plugging along in other regards. Instead, the donut I had was full of sugar and simple carbs, with naught a vitamin or mineral or happy protein or good fat in sight. So it's not just that it was junk food, it was a waste of food.
Now it's not that something like a donut every once in a while isn't still fine. But shitty food builds up. That's something I just never fully comprehended when I was calorie-counting. Something I'm still having trouble remembering when faced with something scrumptious, like a fresh-baked scone or cupcake.
I was looking for some sort of post from a year or two years ago where I talked more about what I ate, and when I couldn't find one, that inspired me to go ahead and talk about it now. I know this time last year I would have a bagel or a yogurt + granola for breakfast, followed by some sort of fruit as a snack. But I can't remember what I was having for lunch or dinner - black bean tacos a lot, sometimes enchiladas. I would occasionally have a sandwich, and I remember frequent quesadillas. And there were many a night we had hot white bread from Safeway with their creamy tomato soup. Oh, and taco bell. That happened. A lot. Despite being vegetarian, there was a distinct lack of vegetables.
Now, I'm still not Ms. AwesomeDiet. I made and ate red velvet cupcakes yesterday. Last week we ate TJ's pizza and cookies and watched the Biggest Loser. Plus, there was cake and booze for Doug's birthday, along with fried chicken.
But generally, I've been doing okay. Definitely much better than last year. Definitely much different. Kind of swung the complete opposite direction from vegetarian when I quit that way back in August. Now I'm one of those terrible people who eats meat at almost every meal. I'm trying to cut back some, and even made a completely vegan meal on Monday night.
Lots of eggs. Lots of sweet potato. Big fan of turkey bacon. Chicken is wonderfully versatile. Pot roast is easy. Kale is good in everything, but especially as chips. Collard greens, mustard greens, beat greens, chard = yes. Working on beets still. Roasted cocoa-dusted cauliflower is amazing. Also, cauliflower can be ground up and used in place of rice for so many meals. Smoothies are good for those times you just want something a bit sweet and you're tired of sweet potatoes.
I'd like to work in more greens (MOAR GREENS). There was a TED talk I got excited about which came to the conclusion that a shit ton of veggies is good for you, specifically sulphur-rich veggies, leafy greens, and colorful everything. I'm trying to rework the way I mentally put together meals into something that values veggies first, instead of meat as is normal in our society. The CSA we joined is helping some, since we have to start getting creative in how we use our share.
TL;DR: I used to eat lots of things like bagels and yogurt and tacos and bread and now I eat lots of things like eggs and chicken and collard greens and cauliflower. This makes me happy.
