My complicated relationship with food
I’m not really into food. I mean, yes I like to eat when I’m hungry but I’m just not overly specific. Or I guess you could say, my tastes aren’t incredibly sophisticated.
There are those who go out to fancy restaurants for $500 meals. I can’t think of anything remotely satisfying about that. There’s no way my enjoyment from a meal could be worth that value. I’m not judging people who do this, I mean a lot of people wouldn’t pay $50 or $80 to run a 5K or half-marathon and I do that on a semi-regular basis. Some people are into running, some are into food, many are into both, others are into neither. I am just making the point that I’m really not a foodie.
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Of course I like to eat when I’m hungry. And I’m not saying I never over-eat. I have times when I can finish an entire bag of chips before even noticing the damage. But anyone can eat fast and convenient sweet or salty snacks. It takes a whole other level of attention to food to plan, buy and prepare healthy, tasty meals. Again. And again. And again.
Obviously as a runner, I understand the importance of proper food. I therefore try to have my basic go-to healthy meals and snacks which I don’t have to put a lot of time or thought into. These are nothing creative or fancy, just the basics: sandwiches, fruit, veggies, crackers. If dinner contains more than three or four ingredients I start to get overwhelmed. I prepare food because I have to, and the less I have to do it, the better. Below, is a typical weekday dinner at my house:
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But suddenly everyone in my house is hungry ALL THE TIME and I feel like my life revolves around planning, buying, preparing and cleaning up food. My husband and I are both very active, and the more we work out, the more we have to eat. This is annoying to me.
On top of this, my children (ages six and eight) are suddenly bottomless pits. We used to leave restaurant meals with half the meal in a take-out bag for the next day’s lunch. Nowadays, we get in the door from a restaurant and someone immediately says “I’m hungry.”
I can’t think of two less welcome words for my ears. But you can’t leave someone hungry.
I try to get them to get their own meals, but oftentimes, that results in a mess of cereal spilled all over the floor.
In a typical day, I wake up, make three breakfasts (my husband does his own) and then pack two lunches. Throughout the day I graze and don’t prepare much beyond crackers, nuts or an easy sandwich for myself. But I’m still thinking about food because I’m planning that night’s dinner and wondering if we have enough bread, yogurt and fruit for tomorrow. I usually have to buy at least one ingredient every day. Then I pick up the kids and feed them a snack after school:
This all requires much more kitchen time than I’m happy with, but I see no way around it. Once dinner is made, my husband typically joins us, we eat, I clean up and my kids immediately start expressing their hunger again.
That’s usually when my head explodes. At this point when I hear “I’m hungry” I just say “No.” I don’t know if I mean that they can’t be hungry or that I’m not making any more food.
This is when they know I’m beaten and they go in for the cookies while I collapse in a broken heap on the couch, as far away from the kitchen as possible.
I’m not sure what all this means. I think I’m looking for something that can just fill us up already. Just fill the voids so we’re not always hungry and I can stop being in the process of buying and preparing food.
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