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Aug. 25th, 2002 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasSo, I'm semi-wittingly putting myself through an experiment with food. . .
I mentioned a couple days ago that I've discovered some things about how I eat food, and my food cravings. I crave things with a high glycemic index, which make me crave them more when I eat them.
So, I've been very careful about what I've eaten, until today. I went into my shift at the Samaritans (the suicide hotline). Wednesday, they had a party for one of the people who's leaving, which I missed because I chose to see the out-of-town friend who gave me the much-needed kick in the spiritual posterior. So, there was much leftover cake, ice cream, pasta, bread, chocolate, Coke, root beer, and so forth -- all of my favorite things which are bad for me, with notes saying, "Please help yourself."
I thought about it, and decided to indulge and not to feel guilty about it, but to write down exactly what I ate and when, and how I felt emotionally, mentally, and physically afterwards. Over my shift, I had a piece of cake, a brownie, three cookies (little ones), a piece of chocolate, a Coke, a root beer, and a plate of pasta.
The first thing I noticed was that, even though that is a lot of food that isn't good for me, that is, I believe, less of that sort of food than I would normally have over a four-hour period where I was doing emotionally and mentally draining work. The second thing I noticed is that I wasn't craving any more than I actually ate -- which surprised me. The concept of a craving actually being satisfied by eating something is new to me.
My mind got slightly foggy at some points during the shift, but not badly. And I dealt with calls with compassion and patience.
I made up bison burgers for dinner when I got home (the Butcherie in Brookline has kosher bison burgers -- yay!) which were good, but I'd never made them before, and they came out salty. (I'd read a tip to sprinkle salt in the pan if you pan-fry them, and I was somewhat overgenerous -- not disgustingly so, but the burgers came out thirst-inducing.) I deglazed the pan in white wine, and sauteed some onions in the resulting mix. That, I think, worked out well. I put the burgers and onions on rye bread, and it was good, although, as I said, too salty. Live and learn -- it'll work out even better next time.
But I was surprised to find myself with cravings just an hour later. So I had a square of semi-sweet baker's chocolate. (Okay, yeah, milk an hour after meat is too soon technically. I already decided I wasn't going to feel guilty about what I ate because of cravings today.)
And I started to have food cravings again, a while after that. So I thought about it, and tried to figure out if I could come up with a way to break the cycle.
At nine, I had a Balance Bar -- new flavor, lemon meringue. So far, it seems to have stopped the cravings cold. I'm not sure why. My cynical side says, "because it was sweet enough to satisfy the sweet cravings, but managed to still be disgusting enough that I don't want any food any more." My hopeful side says "because I've discovered something about protein/carbohydrate balances stopping cravings cold."
In other news, the teenager upstairs is having a party, and the ceiling is shaking to an extent and in a harmonic motion such that I'm afraid that there's a chance that teenagers are about to come through our ceiling. What exactly we'll do if this happens, I'm not sure.
I mentioned a couple days ago that I've discovered some things about how I eat food, and my food cravings. I crave things with a high glycemic index, which make me crave them more when I eat them.
So, I've been very careful about what I've eaten, until today. I went into my shift at the Samaritans (the suicide hotline). Wednesday, they had a party for one of the people who's leaving, which I missed because I chose to see the out-of-town friend who gave me the much-needed kick in the spiritual posterior. So, there was much leftover cake, ice cream, pasta, bread, chocolate, Coke, root beer, and so forth -- all of my favorite things which are bad for me, with notes saying, "Please help yourself."
I thought about it, and decided to indulge and not to feel guilty about it, but to write down exactly what I ate and when, and how I felt emotionally, mentally, and physically afterwards. Over my shift, I had a piece of cake, a brownie, three cookies (little ones), a piece of chocolate, a Coke, a root beer, and a plate of pasta.
The first thing I noticed was that, even though that is a lot of food that isn't good for me, that is, I believe, less of that sort of food than I would normally have over a four-hour period where I was doing emotionally and mentally draining work. The second thing I noticed is that I wasn't craving any more than I actually ate -- which surprised me. The concept of a craving actually being satisfied by eating something is new to me.
My mind got slightly foggy at some points during the shift, but not badly. And I dealt with calls with compassion and patience.
I made up bison burgers for dinner when I got home (the Butcherie in Brookline has kosher bison burgers -- yay!) which were good, but I'd never made them before, and they came out salty. (I'd read a tip to sprinkle salt in the pan if you pan-fry them, and I was somewhat overgenerous -- not disgustingly so, but the burgers came out thirst-inducing.) I deglazed the pan in white wine, and sauteed some onions in the resulting mix. That, I think, worked out well. I put the burgers and onions on rye bread, and it was good, although, as I said, too salty. Live and learn -- it'll work out even better next time.
But I was surprised to find myself with cravings just an hour later. So I had a square of semi-sweet baker's chocolate. (Okay, yeah, milk an hour after meat is too soon technically. I already decided I wasn't going to feel guilty about what I ate because of cravings today.)
And I started to have food cravings again, a while after that. So I thought about it, and tried to figure out if I could come up with a way to break the cycle.
At nine, I had a Balance Bar -- new flavor, lemon meringue. So far, it seems to have stopped the cravings cold. I'm not sure why. My cynical side says, "because it was sweet enough to satisfy the sweet cravings, but managed to still be disgusting enough that I don't want any food any more." My hopeful side says "because I've discovered something about protein/carbohydrate balances stopping cravings cold."
In other news, the teenager upstairs is having a party, and the ceiling is shaking to an extent and in a harmonic motion such that I'm afraid that there's a chance that teenagers are about to come through our ceiling. What exactly we'll do if this happens, I'm not sure.