Egads! I was informed by my doctor to start eating healthier. So I decided to give it a whirl. The good news is, I think I'll learn to like eating healthier after a while (perhaps a LONG while). But the bad news seems to outweigh the good.
Healthy foods cost a lot more, have to be shopped more often, take EONS in preparation, and don't have much of a shelf life (and my vegetable peeler vanished in mid air. I can't figure it. I'm tedious about putting utensils right back when I'm done with them. But POOF! It's gone! And it's a lot harder to use a knife.)
Say what you will about the nutritional value of Hot Pockets and Pizza Hut Pizza, but all I had to do was throw them in the microwave and nuke 'em and that was all the muss and fuss there was.
I've spent the last two weeks splicing, dicing, chopping, bagging, sorting, and washing fruits and vegetables. AND eating healthy dirties up a lot more dishes to boot! It's like having a second (yet unpaid) full time job. 8-(
However in the process of this healthy eating spree I learned a good tip. If you're like me and despise the taste of raw carrots, I found that eating a piece of carrot with a grape or other fruit helps cover up the taste of the carrot so you can get it down. So I've taken to bagging my fruit and vegetable servings together for snacks.
And one bit of good news - I tried drinking diet soda many years ago and just couldn't stand the stuff - it had a horrible aftertaste. But I'm pleased to say that diet drinks have come a long way, and Diet Cherry Dr Pepper is my favorite. But I sure do miss real soda.
So at the moment, I have so many changes and adjustments going on in my life, writing just isn't getting much time. It can't. I don't have any waking hours left after working at work all day then exercising then coming home to work for eons in the kitchen. I can only hope I'll get faster at this prep work as time goes on. It's tedious.
And while the matter of dealing with fresh produce is indeed most distressing, there is something far more wonderful going on in my life right now. I've been praying for over 5 years for healing from back pain. It is debilitating and precludes any meaningful exercise. You cannot know the horror of being a prisoner trapped inside your body, not knowing freedom of movement until you've experienced it. I tried for years with numerous different doctors to get help, but they were useless. I've often told God I would give up writing in a heartbeat if it meant having a working back again.
Well He has required no such sacrifice on my part, and I am not completely healed, but God has chosen this time in my life to reduce the back pain enough that I have had more meaningful, sustained exercise in the last 2 weeks then I have had in a very long time. Walking has always been one of my favorite things to do and I have missed good lengthy walks more then I could ever say.
God is working in my life in so many ways right now! I still don't have an answer on when/where/how and what commitments to make in my schedule concerning my novel, but I am confident that God will answer in His time. He is busy at work for me individually right now and I have seen how He's working in me for others and through others. It's a very exciting time for me, kitchen prep or no.
It is a joyous time to be alive!
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3 comments:
Good for you! Might I make a suggestion about cooking from scratch? Make larger portions on the weekend, freeze them in individual tupperware, and all you have to do during the week is nuke away! No dishes.
I like cooking and so I don't mind that cooking from scratch makes more dishes. It's just a part of life. I thank God though for dishwashers. Can you imagine dishes in the 1800's? No technology to assist, no real dish soap, and the lye in the homemade soaps would have stripped your skin?
Yeah, for hot foods, I do cook and store individually on the weekends. But with fresh veggies and fruit I take as snacks, that still leaves the day to day prep. I also just learned that salad only tastes good if you wait and fix it right before you eat it. Otherwise it's YUCKY!!!!!
There are ways to make eating healthier fast. I love chicken caeser salad so when I cook the chicken up, I cook a lot at once then stick them in their own serving bags in the freezer. When I'm ready for lunch, it takes me less than five minutes from prep to eat.
I've also found the best veggie meal. Fresh broccoli, a pepper or two, zuchinni, summer squash, baby carrots, really whatever is in season and fresh.
Just wash and chop (no peeling!). I throw it all in a big ziplock bag. When I'm ready to eat, I put a bunch of olive oil in a skillet and saute it. Add whatever seasonings you like. Again, you're eating in less than ten minutes.
And it's sooooooooooo yummy! Of course, it's a lot of fiber so if fiber's not your friend, well . . .
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