Do You Eat A Balanced Diet?

Brothers of Briar

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RSteve

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I'm on the verge of joining a grocery/meal plan service like Hello Fresh. I'm tending to eat whatever is on hand or just handy. Yesterday, I made tuna salad in the morning and ate tuna salad sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Unless I'm cooking to eat with one of my daughters and their family, I just stuff something in my face and what's worse, I eat standing up at the work island in the middle of the kitchen. I know it's not healthy, but cooking for myself, alone, I find to be quite depressing.
One of my friends, divorced for many years, says he eats almost all of his meals in restaurants and during the pandemic had them delivered. I haven't reached that point as yet.
 
I became concerned about my food intake after major vascular surgery followed a few years later by antibiotics for lyme disease which left me gluten and lactose intolerant. After the surgery I gave up bread and root vegetables to bring down my blood glucose levels. After the lyme disease I had to give up all grains and dairy. Now I eat fruit whenever I'm hungry throughout the day and have an evening meal that is usually poultry or fish and a non root vegetable. By doing that I avoided diabetes medications and cholesterol medication. After dinner I have a Mediterranean dessert, a fiber rich piece of fruit, to absorb any excess saturated fat.
 
I try. I feel I do pretty well, but I could always do better. I used to eat candy as my food vice, but since most candy is now made with inferior chemical substitutes, they ultimately did me a favor. I rarely crave it anymore. Sugar was always my Achilles' Heel. I eat two medium meals a day, one being with a large spinach salad with a modest amount of dressing. I don't eat until I'm stuffed, and I'm lucky in that I'm not a nervous eater. I like food as much as the next person, but for most of my life, it's been a hassle more than anything resembling a pleasure or coping mechanism. I wish I could plug myself into a wall and get fuel that way. I work out five days a week for 30 minutes. I've been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years. I do eat standing up, and I can eat quickly. When I feel any anxiety, I don't drink coffee, eat sugar, or any simple carbs that turn into sugars. I'm pretty mindful of that part of cause/effect. I'd rather take a hot shower and relax that way than eat food. I wish I had a sauna . I do think that when you eat relatively cleanly, when you break away from that for any number of days, you really feel it. A couple weeks ago, I kept running into free food and foods I otherwise don't eat. After a handful of days, I really felt like I'd been eating a lot, like low energy, but I hadn't been eating A LOT. I'd just been eating things I don't normally eat and that aren't the most healthy. It wasn't the amount, but the consistency and the content. A good reminder that my normal eating habits are pretty decent.
 
We did the Hello Fresh thing. My daughter got us going…she joined up as a vegetarian and we added non-vegetarian meals to the routine. I cringed every time she started making something, She uses a pan or utensil and sets it down where last used and there it sits. Just like her mother. They take me longer to clean up after them than it does for them to cook the meal. No concept if rinsing things off or cleaning as you go. Me. When the food hits the table there is nothing left out that shows I was even in the kitchen. It takes me no more time to cook to clean up as I go. Bitch, bitch, bitch.

But as to the Hello Fresh itself…we liked it but eventually felt that most of the meals were cooked in the same way…oven roasted veggies…lots of fine chopping of veggies…yadda, yadda, yadda. You could likely do a search of reviews and get better info on reactions to the recipes themselves. But the ingredients were very good for the most part and always delivered fresh and cold. We did the 3 meal a week plan and after about four months it seemed like we were offered the same stuff frequently. The stuff was varied and often interesting and on occasion extremely good. But it ain’t cheap. My wife advises that it’s well worth a try. Options for vegetarian, low carb, regular, etc. Easy to quit if you want to.
 
We did the Hello Fresh thing. My daughter got us going…she joined up as a vegetarian and we added non-vegetarian meals to the routine. I cringed every time my daughter started making something, She uses a pan or utensil and sets it down where last used and there it sits. Just like her mother.
Being alone is infinitely worse. Smile, clean, eat and hug.
 
We did the Hello Fresh thing. My daughter got us going…she joined up as a vegetarian and we added non-vegetarian meals to the routine. I cringed every time she started making something, She uses a pan or utensil and sets it down where last used and there it sits. Just like her mother. They take me longer to clean up after them than it does for them to cook the meal. No concept if rinsing things off or cleaning as you go. Me. When the food hits the table there is nothing left out that shows I was even in the kitchen. It takes me no more time to cook to clean up as I go. Bitch, bitch, bitch.
I can relate to this. I don't understand not cleaning up as you go, and I don't understand, "We have a dishwasher. Who cares?" as they use every utensil and pot and dish in the kitchen, rather than thinking about what they're doing. I watched a relative make frozen ravioli, and they had to do two dishwasher loads to wash all the stuff they used. I'm not exaggerating. Why?

I've heard stories from both sides of the family talking about how my grandmothers wouldn't let my aunts and uncles into the kitchen. I get it. They were making food, cleaning, running a household all day long. The last thing they needed were kids turning the kitchen into a disaster area as they helped cook supper. And I've watched most of them cook. They can make a simple meal, and the kitchen looks like they made a 5-course meal for a football team. Again, why are you using every pot and whatever in the kitchen to make a couple things? Who wants to be cleaning up for an hour and doing multiple dishwasher loads for a single meal? "Work smart, not hard." isn't something they seem to understand.
 
This discussion is making me chuckle. My two daughters were raised identically. My older daughter is a confirmed "clean as you go." My younger daughter makes an unbelievable mess that takes longer to clean than to prepare and eat the meal. My late wife never cleaned anything until the meal was eaten and the table was cleared.
 
Right on. I hate cleaning up. So I don’t leave anything that I’d have to come back and clean.

Follow the mantra…wet grows bacteria…dry doesn’t. Even the notorious germ breeding ground, the kitchen sponge, is pretty much germ free if it’s wrung out really well.

Regarding eating a balanced diet. Absolutely…very important. My diet is very well balanced between bread and meat. I’m quite proud of that. 🤪
 
I've always tried to keep it simple by making my plates with at least 50-60% of vegetable at lunch and dinner. Beef 35%, chicken 35% and fish 30% of my main meal make up. Fruits, nuts and crackers for snacks. Salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper cooked on the grill is my favorite and still not giving up a large pizza every couple of weeks.
 
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