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Jan. 17th, 2007 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicI was late to work today. I'm never late to anything anywhere, so why was I late today? Well, I was trying to be a good girl and follow the nutrition plan I agreed to follow, which meant eating something I've never eaten before.
Most who know me know that in addition to being a vegetarian, I am an extremely picky eater. And the things I do like to eat? Generally not so healthy. A simple rule of thumb is that if it's yellow, I'll probably like it, but if it's not, it's unlikely I'll want to give it a shot. Cheese? Good. Pasta? Yum. Bread? Cake? Butter? Corn? Check. Check. Yes. Good. Strawberries? Oh, um, I'm allergic.
See, that's my little trick. I am allergic to many things, but then there are some things that I just don't like. When someone offers you something, or suggests you try it, it's quite rude to turn it down on the basis of "I don't like that." At least, they take it as rude (though, they shouldn't, now that I think of it). They say "Oh, but this is GOOD. Even if you hate X, you'll love this X-heavy dish. Seriously! Try it!" And then they scoop pounds of it onto your plate and sure enough, you hate it. Being "allergic" to something offends no one, and you aren't forced to "try" something you know you won't like.
Anyway I've breezed through life surviving mainly on dairy and pasta, with a few fruits and veggies thrown in intermittently for shits and giggles. I don't really like too many fruits or veggies, but many of them are tolerable enough that occasionally I'll eat them to assuage the guilt of not having had anything healthy to eat in over two weeks. But now I'm on this nutrition plan (avoiding use of the word "diet") that I'm actually trying to follow and there's tons of crap on there that I just don't eat. First of all, it's protein-heavy, so there's meat at every meal, which I can substitute with soy products of similar values, so that's not really a problem. But the stuff that is vegetarian that I have no excuse for substituting out is mostly stuff I either really hate or have never actually tried because I was sure I would really hate it.
So what is this mystery food I had for the first time in my life today? Oatmeal. It's not that I think oatmeal tastes disgusting - I've had it in cookies and granola bars and it's too bland to be offensive - but has anyone ever looked at oatmeal? It looks like vomit. It kinda smells like vomit, too. How can anyone eat something that so closely resembles vomit?
Well, it's on the list of things I'm supposed to eat, so friends, I ate it. I'll admit, the maple & brown sugar flavor didn't taste half bad. It even smelled okay. It was not, however, an enjoyable experience. One packet of oatmeal took me nearly a half hour to force down my throat. It was more difficult than swallowing giant pills, even. With pills, I'm just afraid I'll gag and throw up. With oatmeal, the instinct is to spit it out, because that's what you do when barf collects inside your mouth. You don't swallow that shit; you run to the toilet, get it all out of your system, brush your teeth thoroughly, then buy a new toothbrush.
No matter how yummy they make it, I don't think I'll ever be able to painlessly ingest oatmeal. But for the next 12 weeks, I'll be forcing it down, because I'm dedicated....
Peace.
Most who know me know that in addition to being a vegetarian, I am an extremely picky eater. And the things I do like to eat? Generally not so healthy. A simple rule of thumb is that if it's yellow, I'll probably like it, but if it's not, it's unlikely I'll want to give it a shot. Cheese? Good. Pasta? Yum. Bread? Cake? Butter? Corn? Check. Check. Yes. Good. Strawberries? Oh, um, I'm allergic.
See, that's my little trick. I am allergic to many things, but then there are some things that I just don't like. When someone offers you something, or suggests you try it, it's quite rude to turn it down on the basis of "I don't like that." At least, they take it as rude (though, they shouldn't, now that I think of it). They say "Oh, but this is GOOD. Even if you hate X, you'll love this X-heavy dish. Seriously! Try it!" And then they scoop pounds of it onto your plate and sure enough, you hate it. Being "allergic" to something offends no one, and you aren't forced to "try" something you know you won't like.
Anyway I've breezed through life surviving mainly on dairy and pasta, with a few fruits and veggies thrown in intermittently for shits and giggles. I don't really like too many fruits or veggies, but many of them are tolerable enough that occasionally I'll eat them to assuage the guilt of not having had anything healthy to eat in over two weeks. But now I'm on this nutrition plan (avoiding use of the word "diet") that I'm actually trying to follow and there's tons of crap on there that I just don't eat. First of all, it's protein-heavy, so there's meat at every meal, which I can substitute with soy products of similar values, so that's not really a problem. But the stuff that is vegetarian that I have no excuse for substituting out is mostly stuff I either really hate or have never actually tried because I was sure I would really hate it.
So what is this mystery food I had for the first time in my life today? Oatmeal. It's not that I think oatmeal tastes disgusting - I've had it in cookies and granola bars and it's too bland to be offensive - but has anyone ever looked at oatmeal? It looks like vomit. It kinda smells like vomit, too. How can anyone eat something that so closely resembles vomit?
Well, it's on the list of things I'm supposed to eat, so friends, I ate it. I'll admit, the maple & brown sugar flavor didn't taste half bad. It even smelled okay. It was not, however, an enjoyable experience. One packet of oatmeal took me nearly a half hour to force down my throat. It was more difficult than swallowing giant pills, even. With pills, I'm just afraid I'll gag and throw up. With oatmeal, the instinct is to spit it out, because that's what you do when barf collects inside your mouth. You don't swallow that shit; you run to the toilet, get it all out of your system, brush your teeth thoroughly, then buy a new toothbrush.
No matter how yummy they make it, I don't think I'll ever be able to painlessly ingest oatmeal. But for the next 12 weeks, I'll be forcing it down, because I'm dedicated....
Peace.
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Date: 2007-01-17 04:43 pm (UTC)Cottage cheese is on the list, too, which is something I've tried once in my life and didn't like then...but I'm going to give it another try, I think...for the sake of having variety, anyway.
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Date: 2007-01-19 03:51 am (UTC)My personal oatmeal favorite is Cinnamon Spice, but Raisins and Spice is also nice (and would suffice). ;-)
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Date: 2007-01-17 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 03:49 am (UTC)Cheers!
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Date: 2007-01-19 01:29 pm (UTC)