Hi. I'm the Sexy Divorcee. Welcome to my blog. Let me tell you a little about what I'm doing here. (Sometimes I use bad words. Please don't be alarmed.)
I am a reasonably healthy adult, but the desire to be healthier was the push that started me down the road to becoming a more conscious cook. I have been slightly overweight since my mid-twenties, and I realized that once I hit my rapidly approaching thirties, just maintaining my weight was going to get harder, and losing weight was going to get significantly harder. Although I bike and walk everywhere and enjoy outdoor activities, I have an abhorrence of anything resembling structured exercise. If I was going to maintain my weight, changing the way I eat was far more realistic than suddenly becoming a jogger or something. I fuckin' hate jogging. Anyway.
I think diets are bullshit. If I was going to change the way I eat, the change was going to have to be permanently viable. I had to be able to continue to eat all the foods I like...that is, all the foods period. But I was willing to make some concessions in terms of frequency and amount. I didn't think this would be too hard; I don't eat a lot of junk food, and I don't have a big sweet tooth. I do love fries and pizza and stuff, but I only have those things occasionally when I'm out with friends. I cave to fast food cravings maybe three times a year. And I almost never spend grocery money on packaged snacks or highly processed quasi-meals. No pop tarts or hot pockets or soda or any of that crap. Once in a great while I would buy some tortilla chips (an entire bag of which, I will admit, I could easily have eaten in the space of two days, but still). So I didn't think making changes would be that difficult.
I went on the USDA's "my pyramid" website (it has since become the more sensical "my plate") and got a little obsessed with their menu planner tool. When I started plugging in the things I would eat on a typical day, I learned a lot about the state of my nutrition. Things I was eating too much of: Empty carbs, butter, and cheese (...and beer). I guess that wasn't a surprise. If somebody told me it was acceptable human behavior to do so, I could probably be content eating nothing but buttered sourdough toast and quesadillas for days on end. What I was surprised and intrigued to learn was how out of balance the rest of my diet was. I tried to be sure to eat fruits and vegetables and lean protein regularly, and I thought I was doing OK, but the truth is I wasn't getting enough of any of it. I realized that I was going to have to be very clever and creative if I was going to achieve a more balanced diet.
Now, after several months of experimenting, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I don't think my diet is perfectly balanced, but I'm not striving for perfection. It has gotten a lot better, and I know that I feel better in general as a result. I tend to be happier and have more energy, and I've even lost a little weight. Trying to meet my nutritional goals was frustrating at first; I spend probably twice as much money on groceries now as I used to. But I eat out less, and I waste a lot less of the food that I do buy, so it evens out. Also, incorporating more whole grains into my diet and cutting out all the butter and fatty dairy was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I've also cut back on the beer. Picking up a six-pack when I went grocery shopping used to be a matter of course; I only get beer occasionally now. (I haven't cut back on my beer consumption when I go out with friends, however. All things in moderation, including moderation, right?)
There are a number of challenges unique to my situation that I should probably outline. I have a very small kitchen, with virtually no counter space and a wee gas oven and range only 18 inches wide. I have no car, so all my grocery shopping has to be done by bike. Hence, all my groceries must fit on my bike. I live on a graduate student's small stipend (I won't say how much I make, but it's well below the poverty line), and I have a graduate student's hectic schedule. And, perhaps the biggest challenge, I live alone. I love living alone, but cooking healthfully and with variety for one requires a lot of creativity and adapting. Most recipes yield at least four servings, and the most economical and practical dishes--meals that can be made in one dish and keep well, like casseroles--typically yield job lots. A lasagna, for example, is a practical, healthy, affordable meal that will provide at least two dinners for a family of four. But if I made a regular-sized lasagna for myself, chances are it would go bad, or at the very least I would get sick of eating it, before I finished the whole thing, and I would end up throwing much of it away.
Must a single lady or gentleman subsist on burritos, sandwiches, frozen dinners, and takeout? Many do, but that gets monotonous and expensive, and doesn't allow for much control over nutrition. Through this blog I want to share my experiences with menu planning, shopping, and cooking to show that it's eminently possible for a person living alone to eat well and scrumptiously without expending tons of time and money. This isn't meant to be just another cooking blog. There will be a lot of recipes; some original, some adapted, some outright cribbed from other sources. But the objective is to present a record of the entire process: planning, shopping, cooking, and enjoying (or not) the results.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. I think this will be fun.
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