Food

Food has always meant love to me. Family gathering? Food. Church function? Food. Something go right? Food. Something go wrong? Food.

That connection has caused me trouble over the years, especially when stressed. Food was comfort. Note how I said "was comfort," rather than "is comfort." I am working on separating my emotions from my food. Still a work in progress, but I'm getting there.

So what is my type of food? Ideally, fresh veggies, beans, and meats (usually venison) in stews, sauces, and curries. I am pretty adventurous with my eating though, so I will try anything once. Maybe only once, but I will try it. I like to read my cookbooks as if they were novels.

I have a garden, such as it is. I had enough turnips to keep me busy mashing them and using them in stews. Lettuce galore while it was still cool. Now I have enough tomatoes for daily salads or munching out of hand. I had my very first harvest of corn after five years of trying to grow it! But none of the vines have produced anything because it is too hot to set fruit. I love eating from my garden, but there is never enough for me, so I end up at the supermarket or--when I am not too lazy--from the farmers' market.

Then there is the baking. I love to bake--pies, cookies, bread, pastries--all of it. That is a dangerous hobby. I have to make sure that when I bake there are other people to eat most of the goodies, or I will freeze some of them. The only problem with saving goodies in the freezer is that they are there, watching me, calling to me.

So now that I am on a rather restricted diet, well, more of a lessened portions diet, it will be difficult for me to get used to changing my hobby over to healthier pursuits. Baking is not out, merely different. For instance: substituting whole wheat flour into my breads, using whole fruit instead of preserves, nixing pastry dough or using only half of the regular recipe. It is something that I will, of course, have to practice--on a smaller batch scale if possible.

I can still cook my old standbys--most of the dinners I cook regularly are low in calories and high in protein--I just need to watch my portions. I will be focusing on favoring tomato based curries instead of coconut based versions and using smaller portions of whole wheat pastas or brown rice instead of their processed white cousins.

Now that I have rambled my way through food, know this, my relationship to food is changing--by necessity.