I’m old. I know myself well enough by now that there are two ways I can make changes to something in my life. One is to think about it for a lengthy amount of time before suddenly doing it–like with my cats. I pondered it for years, looking at it from every angle, looked at hundreds of black cats, then just went and got them one day. It’s a lot of internal churning which is eventually matched by outer motion. Sometimes, the internal churning is less, but the outer activity is just as abrupt. See me cutting out dairy and gluten on the same day.
The other is a 180 from that mentality. It’s taking small, almost invisible steps one at a time until looking back months later, there is real progress. I’m in the middle of this with my diet. In the past, I ate all premade food and junk food. I struggled to get in my fruits and veggies as part of an overcorrection from my childhood when I was forced to eat them every day. Look, I would never deny they’re important, but having many power struggles over eating as a kid didn’t make me amenable to chomping on them as an adult.
It’s more important now because I’m finding I have a reaction to more and more foods. I’ll get to that in a minute. In addition, I decided to cut back on meat for ethical and environmental reasons. I wasn’t trying to eat healthier per se but to accommodate my many dietary restriction. I’ve cut down my eating meat to once a day at most. I’m aiming for more meat-free (chicken) days which means more veggies!
I’ve had my issues with veggies for a long time. I’ve eaten more fruits than vegetables in the past because I liked fruits better. But, unfortunately, I’m finding more and more fruits that are not good for my digestive system.
Side note: I’m pretty sure it’s IBS. I’m not going to get it tested any time soon, but the symptoms are pretty consistent. Also, I learned that allergies to things in nature can correlate to food allergies.
Side note to the side note: I don’t know how to describe the food issues I have because allergies with food are apparently not the same as allergies to things in nature. Or rather, people get super-salty if you say you’re allergic to some food and it’s not life-threatening. That’s not the technical definition, that it’s life-threatening, but it’s the layman’s perspective on it. Also, digestive issues can be either an allergy or an intolerance. I don’t have the rest of the symptoms so I say either intolerance or sensitivity or issues to emphasize that it’s not like I’m going to die from it.
Anyway. In addition to dairy (lactose) and gluten, here’s a list of foods that my digestive system cannot handle: onions and garlic (can have minimal), tomatoes (raw), berries (raspberry, strawberry, blueberry and blackberry to a lesser extent), cauliflower, and to a very minimal degree, oranges. The last one is most distressing because I eat one or two oranges/mandarins a day for lactic acid build up, and I’ve been dealing with it so far. If it gets much worse, though, then I’ll have to find a substitute. Unfortunately.
By the way, after unknowingly ingesting gluten a week or two ago and spending the next six hours (on and off) on the toilet, it was horrible, but it also made me relieved to know that I had made the right decision in cutting out gluten. I had done it on the same day as cutting out dairy which I knew I had an issue with so I was never knew for sure if I had an issue to gluten or not. I was pretty sure, but that wasn’t science. Neither was what happened, but it did confirm the reaction.
Side note whatever: I said this before, but elbow macaroni would not have been what I would have chosen for my gluten cheat day I had been planning on having. Now I’m not. It is definitely not worth it.
Six hours on the toilet! Feeling dehydrated and weak for another twenty-four hours. Definitely not worth it for a bowl of elbow macaroni.
Oh, more fruits that don’t sit well with me. Plums, grapes, apples, and ripened bananas–which is the only way I like them. What am I left with? Barely ripe bananas which I don’t like but will eat begrudgingly with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cherries, and peaches are on the cusp of ok.
A few weeks ago, my rice cooker’s plug broke in half. I got a shock when I plugged it in, but fortunately, it wasn’t any worse. I bought a new one that was basically the same rice cooker but with a steamer basket. I’ve never used one, but I thought it would be a good way to up the veggie content in my diet.
Plus, it’s so simple! Throw in veggies in the steamer basket and steam them while cooking rice. I’m working with tweaking how much water and how long to steam–it’s more difficult with cooking rice at the same time–but oh my god! Steamed veggies with vegan butter and rice? A dash of soy sauce and pepper? SO FUCKING GOOD. I’m blown away at how tasty they are! I’ve been like a fucking Evangelical about how goddamn tasty the steamed veggies are. And it’s so easy!
Side note infinitum: Cooking. Let’s talk. Fuck the instapot. Still bitter about that. My $40 rice cooker with my steamer basket is so much better than my more-than-twice the cost instapot that I used twice. I’ve used my steamer almost every day since I’ve gotten it.My current jam is butternut squash and sugar snap peas. With pods. I can eat a whole bag of the latter without breaking a sweat.
I’ve read that you can steam meat, but I probably won’t do that. I have steamed potato chunks instead of boiling for my mashed potatoes. That was after a failed attempt of only halving the Yukon potatoes and being too impatient to let them steam all the way. Chunking them first makes the steaming time go faster.
By the way, one thing I wished I’d been told about cooking before starting it–go simple and do what you want at first. I know myself. Anything with more than four ingredients is going to overwhelm me and I am not going to take hours to make something. I’m not looking to make anything fancy or elaborate. I just want quick and simple dishes that won’t take too much time or energy. That’s why mashed potatoes are one (and much easier with a steamer/stovetop than the instapot). I’ve also gotten into eggs. Making an omelet or just frying an egg is so easy. And if it’s the former, I can just throw in spinach to bump up that vegetable intake.
Also, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. No, that’s not cooking, but it’s still something I make. And because I’m a fucking adult, I use organic peanut butter and organic jelly/jam. That’s the thing. I’m an adult. I can eat whatever I want. And what I want right now is lots of veggies.
Double sabers. Yes, it’s a wild subject change, but within the same general topic of heath. My teacher has been teaching me drills and she posted the video of her teacher doing the Double Sabre Form. I’ve been doing several of the drills every day and I have a few things to say. One, I’m a step closer to being the human blender. Two, it’s a workout. People like to think taiji is all about health and mental health. It’s soooo gentle and all that. Yes, it is, but the weapons are WORK. Work that I’m happy to do, but they are definitely weight-bearing exercise.
Right now, I’m using two long sticks. I want a practice set of double broadswords (sabers), but I’ll make do with the sticks. For now.