Things I Eat And Drink
Jun. 25th, 2012 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
exhilarationAlready established facts:
1. I enjoy cooking and I am good at it and the people I live with love it
2. I do not eat dairy because it upsets my stomach
3. I am a caffeine fiend and my coffee machine is broken
4. I don't eat candy very often because I WEIGH TOO MUCH
With these things in mind:
1. I spend too much on fancy ingredients at the supermarket
2. My diet is seriously lacking in calcium, vitamin D, and protein
3. I've been experimenting with alternate energy beverages
4. I'm trying not to eat too many calories, cause that's really what weight loss/gain boils down to.
So here's my "Food And Drink With Lara" table of contents for today:
Chapter One: Things I Eat In My Garden, or, Everything I Know About Growing Food I Learned From Google
So, I think I did mention that we didn't really have winter this year, right? Also, my boyfriend used to work as a landscaper, so "making a garden" for me was something (he says) was very simple for him to do - acquire supplies, allot time, do work, done! He did all this work last fall preparing the garden in the front of the house, and then making two more beds in the back of the house, and planted some pretty things in the fall that we figured would be pleasant to look at for a month or so and then die over the winter. Instead, everything from last fall grew to massive proportions, we now have pansy bushes and huge flowing grasses, all the bulbs bloomed in February and everything he planted in the spring that was supposed to flower in the heat of August is flowering... NOW.
It also rained for all of May and most of June. So... our garden is freakin' amazing. I mentioned that I ate my cilantro already - Google told me that cilantro doesn't do well in heat or direct constant sun, so I'm not going to try to get it to re-seed or whatever. The flowers it make have turned into seed pods, however, which Google told me are coriander. So now I can cook something with coriander :)
There is also dill, and I have been picking the parts of the dill that are starting to flower and keeping them in a tupperware in the fridge, and then I cook something with dill in it every week or so. My dill plant is huge (cause where ever you pick some off, twice as much seems to grow in its place) and picking it bit by bit like that is kind of satisfying. Makes me feel like a responsible plant parent for checking on it every day :)
There is an oregano bush, which I haven't touched yet (because it didn't flower so it hasn't been a priority) and a tiny little thyme plant that isn't making many leaves. There's some basil in and among the flowers in the front yard, and I have been doing the same with those plants, picking off the parts that are about to flower and twice as many leaves grow in their place. So I have a very steady supply of dill and basil and more variety on the way. This is very exciting. I also have three cherry tomato plants, all of which are making tomatoes and all of which are falling all over the place. I thought cherry tomato plants were tiny, but these are pretty big so I guess they need something to prop them up. I dunno if that's normal or these are just giants due to the weather.
I also have a jalopeno plant, which makes peppers but some creature is eating them! y room mate Mark has as bird, and he says birds taste spicy things as sweet, so probably some bird thinks it found a candy bush. Something also ate all my strawberries! I had a strawberry plant in a pot, it was making huge leaves and flowers and had tons of berries already growing, but the other day I went outside and it was only stems! No leaves. No flowers. One green berry. SOMETHING HAD A SNACK! But Google said strawberry plants are like weeds, they take over everything (that's why it's in a pot) and this seems to be the case, because it already made new leaves and flowers and berries. I'm impressed. I wish my pepper plant would do that!
Evidence that I'm experiencing disproportionate anxiety: I find myself obsessing over the lily plants. Are they gonna sprout? We planted them, what's going on underground? It's been a while, where are the plants? WHY ARENT THEY SPROUTING? Are they gonna make flowers? I don't see any flowers. What if they don't make flowers? Did we plant them wrong? Why aren't they making flowers? OMG WHAT IF THEY NEVER MAKE FLOWERS???
For the record, whether or not they make flowers is entirely inconsequential to EVERYTHING. Relax, Lara.
Chapter Two: Starbucks Lunchbox Vs. Lara's Lunchbox, or, Convenience Isn't Really More Expensive Even Though I Paid Five Bucks And Only Got Half An Apple
So Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been spending all day at school. I only have one class in the afternoon, but my online class has scheduled times and meets in the early evening. I find that I stay on task and focus better when I'm NOT at home, and it's kind of a trip to get all the way over to school and I enjoy being in the city, so I stay on campus for my online class. Kinda defeats the purpose of my online class? Not really. I've missed NO classes so far. There've been several times where I missed my in-person class but attended my online class safe and sound at home in bed. It's been great. I simply prefer to stay on campus for the class, but I don't have to. That class is a super stickler for attendance, and I have attended ALL the classes. Last class is tomorrow night, final is on thursday. This might be the only class I've had perfect attendance for, ever.
I don't usually bring food to school with me. I am a little picky about food, and I am awful at packing a nice lunch. I usually bring my tea mug with my expensive tea in it, and refill it with hot water in the bookstore a few times a day, and I usually buy some kind of rice bowl at lunch time, but by mid-afternoon I am usually hungry again. So, one time, I went in a Starbucks and bought a fruit and cheese bistro box, because I always thought it looked like a tasty and healthy little snack but there was no way I was paying that much money for it when I could eat something more filling for less somewhere else.
Thing is, quick healthy food is hard to find. I could totally be just as full after eating some type of fast food (or more full) very cheaply, but, I mean, I REALLY need to watch what I'm eating. I weigh way too much for my height and body type. I REFUSE to be hungry, but I have no problem trying my best to be HEALTHY. So one day, I went for the box even though it's ridiculously expensive.
And it was delightful!
Also, as previously listed, I don't eat cheese or drink milk so... why a cheese and fruit box? And not a chicken and hummus box (which was also a choice?) I stopped eating dairy because it was disturbing my stomach. I assumed this had something to do with the fact that my digestive system was somehow damaged when I wasn't eating enough/doing too many drugs/overdosing too frequently and needing my stomach pumped and that was just that. There was something in it I couldn't digest, so OBVIOUSLY I should stop eating it. This is why I eat a lot of Asian food - it's not because I was in China so because I travelled to China I now like to eat Chinese things - it's just that for the most part, there's no dairy in most types of Asian food. I'm kind of known for being a picky eater, asking what's in everything before I will eat it or just plain refusing to eat somewhere and going without a meal while everyone else eats their cheesy creamy whatevers, but it's because I don't want to end up with intestinal distress! The whole time I was in China, this was a non-issue. There was no cheese, milk, or cream, in ANYTHING except for at like a KFC or McD's there was cheese on the sandwiches and there was ice cream around, and there were sometimes specialty restaurants with American or Italian or British or French food, but for the most part, I just ate everything in front of me with no issue.
And I've read that a lot of Asian people are lactose intolerant, either because it's just a genetic thing they're born with or maybe because they just NEVER eat that kind of food so their bodies don't know how to process it. Thing is, I know my mom was lactose intolerant, and she developed the intolerance when she was maybe... in her mid forties or so. She didn't always have it. So, I'd say I prob have it too. In fact, I clearly do, because if I take a lactaid pill I can have some cheese and everything is fine. I was hesitant to give this a try cause really, I don't want to take MORE pills, come on. Also, I didn't think it would really work. But turns out, I didn't do any sort of irreversible damage to my digestive system. I'm just lacking some enzyme that can be replaced by a pill. So if I take this little pill, I can eat the fruit and cheese box from Starbucks.
Did I mention how delightful it was? Everything in it was healthy, it was 450 calories, and I wasn't hungry again until like eight o'clock at night. There were a few slices of different cheeses, some multigrain crackers, a little container of dried cranberries and almonds, and half of a sliced apple. YEAH, HALF AN APPLE! This does not add up to very much food! Yet somehow, it still adds up to 450 calories, go figure. So I decided to make my own snack box, figuring that I could eat it at school and not spend five dollars at Starbucks (where I would conveniently also remember that I needed the little doubleshot can, making my total purchase more like eight bucks, and my sugar consumption significant rather than insignificant...) and my little box was equally delightful.
No apple in mine, cause I don't know the secret to keeping an apple from turning disgusting after it's sliced. Yes, I know you can put lemon juice on it. That makes it mushy and still somewhat disgusting. Starbucks must use some kind of super preservative that I'm better off not eating anyway. So no apple for me. I put blueberries, and they were delish. I also put Special K savory herb crackers instead of the multigrain crackers, and used only one kind of cheese (colby jack) because I didn't want to spent 15 dollars at the store just on cheeses so I could have one slice of each different cheese like Starbucks gives... and instead of almonds and cranberries I put some honey almond granola cereal.
Even though I used stuff I already had at home and even though I deliberately made mine with less variety, it actually cost less to just buy it at Starbucks. GO FIGURE. Although, I think it would add up differently if this were something I bought every day, rather than twice a week. So it's something to keep in mind for the school year in the fall, when I WILL be at school every day.
Chapter Three:I Drink The Life Fluid Of Baby Coconuts, or, Beverage Addictions Are Expensive Unless You Brew Them At Home
So, coffee is cheap and low calorie. Not like, Starbucks toffee nut soy lattes (which I love) or the little doubleshots in the cans (which are like crack) but just plain coffee, even with a splash of milk (soy milk or almond milk or coconut milk are all equally tasty in my mind) is pretty much no calories. It's like you're just having that splash of milk. Coffee is like water. I have been trying really, really hard to remove any unnecessary calories from my diet - half a glass of red wine instead of a bottle of beer, no milk in my coffee, no energy drinks or Starbucks lattes, no soda (not a big fan of soda anyway) or those fruit cocktail drinks that seem healthy but are just as sugary as soda - and really, I've never been one to "stock up" on beverages at home, for a lot of reasons. One, I don't drink stuff all day long. I know people do - I have lived with people who drink an entire case of snapple in three days, on a regular basis, or demolish a 2 liter of cola every day, have a fridge full of gatorades they're constantly replenishing, etc. I can't imagine being like that - I can't imagine even drinking WATER like that! I'd have to pee all the time!
I have mentioned before that I may or may not know if I have to go. "Knowing" pretty much equates to "knowing that, logically, due to my consumption of fluids, it's prob time to go." So basically... I drink stuff on sort of a schedule. Not all freakin' day long. So already, just, you know, replacing my "go to" drink with something diet or unsweetened is not going to help me cut out calories, cause my "go to" drink is already without calories and I don't just guzzle it all day long. Also, a pound of coffee is like ten bucks, tops, and lasts a few weeks. A case of snapple is considerably more than that, and I'm in the habit of conserving my resources here. Money is not in unlimited supply at the moment and never really has been, so I try not to waste it on stuff that's not good for me anyway. Besides that, I don't have a car, so transporting week's supplies of beverages is pretty much impossible - so is lifting a case of soda, or snapple, or monster, or whatever else you like.
My coffee machine is broken, though, so I've found myself drinking MORE calorie-laden drinks that I normally would just cause I'm either thirsty or want the caffeine. I've tried all kinds of things and I've been reminded of how picky I can be - I don't like carbonation. It makes my stomach feel weird. This is why I rarely finish my soda when I drink it - it tastes good, it really does. It just makes my stomach feel... puffy. I also don't like artificial color - I'm afraid it's dying my insides, and also, I suspect it makes me kind of, well, neurotic. More on that later. Also, sugary or caloric beverages me not hungry - so I don't eat anything, which might be good cause I just drank too many calories anyway, but then I get NO nutrition from it.
But I did discover coconut water.
This is like some kind of fad drink these days. I dunno how healthy it REALLY is, but it certainly isn't UNhealthy. No artificial color or flavor or carbonation or high fructose corn syrup. It also seems to be similar to gatorade in that it has electrolytes in it, which I guess are good. They're certainly good on a hot day when I haven't had much to drink. It's not an energy drink, but it does sort of perk me up a bit, which I think might mean that I'm letting myself get dehydrated from not drinking enough cause I don't want to pee and consuming too much caffeine cause I'm sleepy. Gatorade is something I've always stayed away from cause it's so much artificial color, but if I knew the stuff in it would make me feel so much better, I might have tried drinking the clear/white kind or something. But I didn't, and now I really like this coconut water. And... I spent $25 on it for a case from Amazon. Cause it's like three bucks for a bottle or carton in the store, and sometimes it's on sale for like twenty cents less, but $25 for 12 is clearly the better deal and Amazon delivers it to my door but like... I never thought I'd be someone who paid that much for my beverage of choice. I mean, I paid about that much for my fancy teavana tea, but I still have that and one scoop gets me like five cups of tea! And I've had it for several months and I'm still not out of it!
Chapter Four: I Accidentally Ate Something Blue And It Made Me Sick, or, Trust Your Instincts Even When They Don't Make Sense
So, in my quest for some energy that wasn't coffee (cause it's also too hot to be drinking hot coffee when I'm out and about anyway) I drank an energy drink that wasn't carbonated and it was in a can. It was also blue. I didn't know it was blue because IT WAS IN A CAN. I could've checked the ingredients, but I didn't see anything that clearly stated "BLUE." But it was blue, I know because I spilled some on me cause someone startled me when I was drinking it.
Guys, blue makes me neurotic. Seriously. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I really really think it's true. I mean, I can tell when I'm acting strangely and don't feel like myself. I've thought for YEARS that blue makes me weird and I should just avoid it, but it sounds so absurd to say it. I'm just gonna go with it, though, because I don't like how blue makes me feel and I'm better off without any. There's no blue food in nature - blueberries are purple! - so if it's blue, I always say I don't want it. I was beginning to think this was crazy talk - no, crazy talk was me for the rest of the day after drinking something blue. I've just avoided it for so long that I forgot just what a difference it makes. I would prefer not to experience that ever again. I wonder if that runs in my family too, or if this is just me, or if I'm ACTUALLY crazy and the whole avoiding blue thing is just paranoia?
I'm not gonna obsess over it but I do wonder!
My finals are on Thursday and my next summer session starts after the holiday. I am going to try my DAMNDEST to enjoy this summer - I have only my online class next session, so if nothing else, I have LOTS of free time, so there MUST be a way to make this at least somewhat awesome.
1. I enjoy cooking and I am good at it and the people I live with love it
2. I do not eat dairy because it upsets my stomach
3. I am a caffeine fiend and my coffee machine is broken
4. I don't eat candy very often because I WEIGH TOO MUCH
With these things in mind:
1. I spend too much on fancy ingredients at the supermarket
2. My diet is seriously lacking in calcium, vitamin D, and protein
3. I've been experimenting with alternate energy beverages
4. I'm trying not to eat too many calories, cause that's really what weight loss/gain boils down to.
So here's my "Food And Drink With Lara" table of contents for today:
Chapter One: Things I Eat In My Garden, or, Everything I Know About Growing Food I Learned From Google
So, I think I did mention that we didn't really have winter this year, right? Also, my boyfriend used to work as a landscaper, so "making a garden" for me was something (he says) was very simple for him to do - acquire supplies, allot time, do work, done! He did all this work last fall preparing the garden in the front of the house, and then making two more beds in the back of the house, and planted some pretty things in the fall that we figured would be pleasant to look at for a month or so and then die over the winter. Instead, everything from last fall grew to massive proportions, we now have pansy bushes and huge flowing grasses, all the bulbs bloomed in February and everything he planted in the spring that was supposed to flower in the heat of August is flowering... NOW.
It also rained for all of May and most of June. So... our garden is freakin' amazing. I mentioned that I ate my cilantro already - Google told me that cilantro doesn't do well in heat or direct constant sun, so I'm not going to try to get it to re-seed or whatever. The flowers it make have turned into seed pods, however, which Google told me are coriander. So now I can cook something with coriander :)
There is also dill, and I have been picking the parts of the dill that are starting to flower and keeping them in a tupperware in the fridge, and then I cook something with dill in it every week or so. My dill plant is huge (cause where ever you pick some off, twice as much seems to grow in its place) and picking it bit by bit like that is kind of satisfying. Makes me feel like a responsible plant parent for checking on it every day :)
There is an oregano bush, which I haven't touched yet (because it didn't flower so it hasn't been a priority) and a tiny little thyme plant that isn't making many leaves. There's some basil in and among the flowers in the front yard, and I have been doing the same with those plants, picking off the parts that are about to flower and twice as many leaves grow in their place. So I have a very steady supply of dill and basil and more variety on the way. This is very exciting. I also have three cherry tomato plants, all of which are making tomatoes and all of which are falling all over the place. I thought cherry tomato plants were tiny, but these are pretty big so I guess they need something to prop them up. I dunno if that's normal or these are just giants due to the weather.
I also have a jalopeno plant, which makes peppers but some creature is eating them! y room mate Mark has as bird, and he says birds taste spicy things as sweet, so probably some bird thinks it found a candy bush. Something also ate all my strawberries! I had a strawberry plant in a pot, it was making huge leaves and flowers and had tons of berries already growing, but the other day I went outside and it was only stems! No leaves. No flowers. One green berry. SOMETHING HAD A SNACK! But Google said strawberry plants are like weeds, they take over everything (that's why it's in a pot) and this seems to be the case, because it already made new leaves and flowers and berries. I'm impressed. I wish my pepper plant would do that!
Evidence that I'm experiencing disproportionate anxiety: I find myself obsessing over the lily plants. Are they gonna sprout? We planted them, what's going on underground? It's been a while, where are the plants? WHY ARENT THEY SPROUTING? Are they gonna make flowers? I don't see any flowers. What if they don't make flowers? Did we plant them wrong? Why aren't they making flowers? OMG WHAT IF THEY NEVER MAKE FLOWERS???
For the record, whether or not they make flowers is entirely inconsequential to EVERYTHING. Relax, Lara.
Chapter Two: Starbucks Lunchbox Vs. Lara's Lunchbox, or, Convenience Isn't Really More Expensive Even Though I Paid Five Bucks And Only Got Half An Apple
So Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been spending all day at school. I only have one class in the afternoon, but my online class has scheduled times and meets in the early evening. I find that I stay on task and focus better when I'm NOT at home, and it's kind of a trip to get all the way over to school and I enjoy being in the city, so I stay on campus for my online class. Kinda defeats the purpose of my online class? Not really. I've missed NO classes so far. There've been several times where I missed my in-person class but attended my online class safe and sound at home in bed. It's been great. I simply prefer to stay on campus for the class, but I don't have to. That class is a super stickler for attendance, and I have attended ALL the classes. Last class is tomorrow night, final is on thursday. This might be the only class I've had perfect attendance for, ever.
I don't usually bring food to school with me. I am a little picky about food, and I am awful at packing a nice lunch. I usually bring my tea mug with my expensive tea in it, and refill it with hot water in the bookstore a few times a day, and I usually buy some kind of rice bowl at lunch time, but by mid-afternoon I am usually hungry again. So, one time, I went in a Starbucks and bought a fruit and cheese bistro box, because I always thought it looked like a tasty and healthy little snack but there was no way I was paying that much money for it when I could eat something more filling for less somewhere else.
Thing is, quick healthy food is hard to find. I could totally be just as full after eating some type of fast food (or more full) very cheaply, but, I mean, I REALLY need to watch what I'm eating. I weigh way too much for my height and body type. I REFUSE to be hungry, but I have no problem trying my best to be HEALTHY. So one day, I went for the box even though it's ridiculously expensive.
And it was delightful!
Also, as previously listed, I don't eat cheese or drink milk so... why a cheese and fruit box? And not a chicken and hummus box (which was also a choice?) I stopped eating dairy because it was disturbing my stomach. I assumed this had something to do with the fact that my digestive system was somehow damaged when I wasn't eating enough/doing too many drugs/overdosing too frequently and needing my stomach pumped and that was just that. There was something in it I couldn't digest, so OBVIOUSLY I should stop eating it. This is why I eat a lot of Asian food - it's not because I was in China so because I travelled to China I now like to eat Chinese things - it's just that for the most part, there's no dairy in most types of Asian food. I'm kind of known for being a picky eater, asking what's in everything before I will eat it or just plain refusing to eat somewhere and going without a meal while everyone else eats their cheesy creamy whatevers, but it's because I don't want to end up with intestinal distress! The whole time I was in China, this was a non-issue. There was no cheese, milk, or cream, in ANYTHING except for at like a KFC or McD's there was cheese on the sandwiches and there was ice cream around, and there were sometimes specialty restaurants with American or Italian or British or French food, but for the most part, I just ate everything in front of me with no issue.
And I've read that a lot of Asian people are lactose intolerant, either because it's just a genetic thing they're born with or maybe because they just NEVER eat that kind of food so their bodies don't know how to process it. Thing is, I know my mom was lactose intolerant, and she developed the intolerance when she was maybe... in her mid forties or so. She didn't always have it. So, I'd say I prob have it too. In fact, I clearly do, because if I take a lactaid pill I can have some cheese and everything is fine. I was hesitant to give this a try cause really, I don't want to take MORE pills, come on. Also, I didn't think it would really work. But turns out, I didn't do any sort of irreversible damage to my digestive system. I'm just lacking some enzyme that can be replaced by a pill. So if I take this little pill, I can eat the fruit and cheese box from Starbucks.
Did I mention how delightful it was? Everything in it was healthy, it was 450 calories, and I wasn't hungry again until like eight o'clock at night. There were a few slices of different cheeses, some multigrain crackers, a little container of dried cranberries and almonds, and half of a sliced apple. YEAH, HALF AN APPLE! This does not add up to very much food! Yet somehow, it still adds up to 450 calories, go figure. So I decided to make my own snack box, figuring that I could eat it at school and not spend five dollars at Starbucks (where I would conveniently also remember that I needed the little doubleshot can, making my total purchase more like eight bucks, and my sugar consumption significant rather than insignificant...) and my little box was equally delightful.
No apple in mine, cause I don't know the secret to keeping an apple from turning disgusting after it's sliced. Yes, I know you can put lemon juice on it. That makes it mushy and still somewhat disgusting. Starbucks must use some kind of super preservative that I'm better off not eating anyway. So no apple for me. I put blueberries, and they were delish. I also put Special K savory herb crackers instead of the multigrain crackers, and used only one kind of cheese (colby jack) because I didn't want to spent 15 dollars at the store just on cheeses so I could have one slice of each different cheese like Starbucks gives... and instead of almonds and cranberries I put some honey almond granola cereal.
Even though I used stuff I already had at home and even though I deliberately made mine with less variety, it actually cost less to just buy it at Starbucks. GO FIGURE. Although, I think it would add up differently if this were something I bought every day, rather than twice a week. So it's something to keep in mind for the school year in the fall, when I WILL be at school every day.
Chapter Three:I Drink The Life Fluid Of Baby Coconuts, or, Beverage Addictions Are Expensive Unless You Brew Them At Home
So, coffee is cheap and low calorie. Not like, Starbucks toffee nut soy lattes (which I love) or the little doubleshots in the cans (which are like crack) but just plain coffee, even with a splash of milk (soy milk or almond milk or coconut milk are all equally tasty in my mind) is pretty much no calories. It's like you're just having that splash of milk. Coffee is like water. I have been trying really, really hard to remove any unnecessary calories from my diet - half a glass of red wine instead of a bottle of beer, no milk in my coffee, no energy drinks or Starbucks lattes, no soda (not a big fan of soda anyway) or those fruit cocktail drinks that seem healthy but are just as sugary as soda - and really, I've never been one to "stock up" on beverages at home, for a lot of reasons. One, I don't drink stuff all day long. I know people do - I have lived with people who drink an entire case of snapple in three days, on a regular basis, or demolish a 2 liter of cola every day, have a fridge full of gatorades they're constantly replenishing, etc. I can't imagine being like that - I can't imagine even drinking WATER like that! I'd have to pee all the time!
I have mentioned before that I may or may not know if I have to go. "Knowing" pretty much equates to "knowing that, logically, due to my consumption of fluids, it's prob time to go." So basically... I drink stuff on sort of a schedule. Not all freakin' day long. So already, just, you know, replacing my "go to" drink with something diet or unsweetened is not going to help me cut out calories, cause my "go to" drink is already without calories and I don't just guzzle it all day long. Also, a pound of coffee is like ten bucks, tops, and lasts a few weeks. A case of snapple is considerably more than that, and I'm in the habit of conserving my resources here. Money is not in unlimited supply at the moment and never really has been, so I try not to waste it on stuff that's not good for me anyway. Besides that, I don't have a car, so transporting week's supplies of beverages is pretty much impossible - so is lifting a case of soda, or snapple, or monster, or whatever else you like.
My coffee machine is broken, though, so I've found myself drinking MORE calorie-laden drinks that I normally would just cause I'm either thirsty or want the caffeine. I've tried all kinds of things and I've been reminded of how picky I can be - I don't like carbonation. It makes my stomach feel weird. This is why I rarely finish my soda when I drink it - it tastes good, it really does. It just makes my stomach feel... puffy. I also don't like artificial color - I'm afraid it's dying my insides, and also, I suspect it makes me kind of, well, neurotic. More on that later. Also, sugary or caloric beverages me not hungry - so I don't eat anything, which might be good cause I just drank too many calories anyway, but then I get NO nutrition from it.
But I did discover coconut water.
This is like some kind of fad drink these days. I dunno how healthy it REALLY is, but it certainly isn't UNhealthy. No artificial color or flavor or carbonation or high fructose corn syrup. It also seems to be similar to gatorade in that it has electrolytes in it, which I guess are good. They're certainly good on a hot day when I haven't had much to drink. It's not an energy drink, but it does sort of perk me up a bit, which I think might mean that I'm letting myself get dehydrated from not drinking enough cause I don't want to pee and consuming too much caffeine cause I'm sleepy. Gatorade is something I've always stayed away from cause it's so much artificial color, but if I knew the stuff in it would make me feel so much better, I might have tried drinking the clear/white kind or something. But I didn't, and now I really like this coconut water. And... I spent $25 on it for a case from Amazon. Cause it's like three bucks for a bottle or carton in the store, and sometimes it's on sale for like twenty cents less, but $25 for 12 is clearly the better deal and Amazon delivers it to my door but like... I never thought I'd be someone who paid that much for my beverage of choice. I mean, I paid about that much for my fancy teavana tea, but I still have that and one scoop gets me like five cups of tea! And I've had it for several months and I'm still not out of it!
Chapter Four: I Accidentally Ate Something Blue And It Made Me Sick, or, Trust Your Instincts Even When They Don't Make Sense
So, in my quest for some energy that wasn't coffee (cause it's also too hot to be drinking hot coffee when I'm out and about anyway) I drank an energy drink that wasn't carbonated and it was in a can. It was also blue. I didn't know it was blue because IT WAS IN A CAN. I could've checked the ingredients, but I didn't see anything that clearly stated "BLUE." But it was blue, I know because I spilled some on me cause someone startled me when I was drinking it.
Guys, blue makes me neurotic. Seriously. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I really really think it's true. I mean, I can tell when I'm acting strangely and don't feel like myself. I've thought for YEARS that blue makes me weird and I should just avoid it, but it sounds so absurd to say it. I'm just gonna go with it, though, because I don't like how blue makes me feel and I'm better off without any. There's no blue food in nature - blueberries are purple! - so if it's blue, I always say I don't want it. I was beginning to think this was crazy talk - no, crazy talk was me for the rest of the day after drinking something blue. I've just avoided it for so long that I forgot just what a difference it makes. I would prefer not to experience that ever again. I wonder if that runs in my family too, or if this is just me, or if I'm ACTUALLY crazy and the whole avoiding blue thing is just paranoia?
I'm not gonna obsess over it but I do wonder!
My finals are on Thursday and my next summer session starts after the holiday. I am going to try my DAMNDEST to enjoy this summer - I have only my online class next session, so if nothing else, I have LOTS of free time, so there MUST be a way to make this at least somewhat awesome.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-06-25 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-26 12:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-26 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-26 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-26 03:39 am (UTC)As I've mentioned in my journal I've been really into healthy eating & cooking lately, so I could relate to this post. Here's the lunch I pack every day for my practicum, which is economical, healthy and filling: a homemade burrito with refried beans from a can in an organic whole wheat tortilla. I sprinkle cheddar cheese on mine but you could leave it off if you want. Then after I microwave it prior to eating I squirt a packet of Salsa Del Sol picante sauce on it. I think it's delicious and convenient, especially since I have access to a microwave at the hospital. Do you like burritos? I often pack a bit of fruit to go with it too. I've also been eating unsweetened oatmeal with yogurt or nuts for breakfast every day. So at least my breakfast and lunch have no sugar, enough protein and lots of fiber, which I think is good for weight loss and a steady supply of energy. At first I didn't notice any weight loss, but since I stopped eating walnuts with my oatmeal I did lose a pound or two. I want to go back to eating walnuts sometimes since they are so good for you, but I'll have to be careful since they are so high calorie. I love incorporating so-called "superfoods" into my diet...pomegranates, blueberries, spinach, tomatoes, salmon, sweet potatoes, turkey, etc...in most cases they are foods I love anyway.
I tried a coconut milk beverage recently...it was one flavored with acai and pomegranate, and I really didn't care for the taste. Maybe it was just the flavor I had, but it was too sweet and kind of weird tasting. I had to force myself to finish it. My favorite beverage in the summer is unsweetened ice green tea I make in my fridge with ice and lemon or lime juice. It's really refreshing and easy to make. I love coffee and ice coffee with milk too. Have you tried Kombucha with chia seeds? It's kind of expensive to buy bottles of it at the health food store, but it's invigorating and they have some nice flavors.
Good luck on finals! I hope you will share more healthy recipes!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-26 09:33 pm (UTC)Burritos are def not a food I would seek out if hungry, but they do sound practical if you have access to a fridge and a microwave during the day. Kombucha with chia seeds, though, I've never even heard of that and googled it - I'm intrigued. And I'm not sure if that counts as a beverage. I do like iced green tea though. I only like iced tea I've brewed at home, actually. I think it's because when it's bottled it has a lot of sugar in it.
For breakfast I've been eating a Special K protein bar and a piece of fruit - I used to have rice and an egg (with some butter) and some dried seasoning like thyme or tarragon or something - delicious, and never upset my stomach, but I decided it was too many calories. I'm more used to finding calorically dense things to eat, since I always was so so skinny and never hungry, trying to limit my calories has been kind of a challenge.
Hm, a healthy recipe... I know how to make a really good black bean salad that is nice to keep in the fridge and eat some every day. It's more of a late summer food, cause it uses fresh corn (must be fresh, not canned) and tomatoes, but here is how it's made: one can of black beans, some cooked corn cut off the cob, chopped tomatoes, diced avocado, diced poblano pepper, fresh cilantro, lime juice, mixed up in a bowl. I've eaten it on a rice bowl, fried with an egg, on toast, on lettuce, in curry sauce, in a pasta salad, just as it is... it's pretty versatile, and entirely delicious. I'm really big on making a big bowl of something and eating it many different ways until it's done, but now that there are so many people in my house my food all gets eaten in a day or two!