ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2022-12-01 07:32 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2022-12-01 07:32 pm
Entry tags:
Diet and Mind
This article talks about food and mental health.
TL;DR: If your mind is malfunctioning, check your diet first, because a poor diet can cause problems which are then fixable simply by improving diet. If your diet is good or improving it doesn't help, then move on to other problem-solving methods. Trying diet first is cheaper and safer than other options for mental care. Getting into details...
Despite the wide body of research focusing on how what we eat — and when — affects our metabolism and mitochondria, relatively few studies have focused on the link between diet and mental health.
1) That's stupid. More scientific studies would help. It's always nice to have details.
2) It's also very modern-Western-centric. Various old cultures have advice on how to use food as medicine for physical and mental health. For some of the more comprehensive surviving examples, see Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some folks have been studying this stuff for thousands of years. So if your system has not studied it much, borrow someone else's!
What most people might not know is that diet also has profound effects on mental health and the brain.
I would bet that almost everyone has figured out how certain foods make them feel better. In some people it is subconscious, in others mindful, but almost everyone does it -- to the point that eating a tub of ice cream after a breakup is a cultural cliche. Why ice cream? Aside from being creamy and sweet and fatty (common traits in comfort food), the cold helps numb the pain, like putting an ice pack on an injury.
However, people usually do not follow that to its logical conclusion, which is that a crappy diet will reliably make you feel like crap. The modern western diet is crap, so unsurprisingly, lots of people feel like crap. Of course, modern western culture is also crappy and that does not help. But you cannot feel healthy and good if your body lacks the raw materials needed to make vital neurochemicals, red blood cells, etc. and many diets are poor in nutrients. There are some people who have figured this out, though. See Hippie Food for an example, and if you can buy yogurt in your local supermarket, thank the hippies!
What might be more surprising is that the neural circuits for loneliness overlap directly with the neural circuits that warn of starvation.
Yyyyyeah. That's part of a complex of stuff designed to discourage our ancestors from running off and maybe getting eaten by saberteeth. Today it doesn't work so well.
On the bright side, food is bonding. Sharing food creates and maintains human ties. One useful application of this is that you can use cooking or eating together as a means of strengthening ties. Another is that if your current comfort foods are junk, you can use this to introduce healthier ones.
There are at least seven different ways that dietary interventions can be helpful in addressing mental symptoms:
Addressing nutritional deficiencies, such as folate, vitamin B12, and thiamine deficiency.
A healthy diet should meet nutritional needs. However, if problems are occurring, sometimes it is helpful to check specific levels of nutrients which if low could cause that sort of problem.
Removing dietary allergens or toxins. For example, some people have an autoimmune disorder called Celiac disease that results in inflammation and other metabolic problems in response to gluten. This can also affect brain function. I’ve described the toxic effects of TFAs. There are many other dietary ingredients that can also impair mitochondrial function.
Let's not forget the thousands of allegedly "safe" chemicals in modern foodlike products -- preservatives, colorings, flavorings, binders, etc. Many of them are not as digestible as claimed, and this can cause problems.
Eating a “healthy diet,” such as the Mediterranean diet, may play a role for some people.
That's a good one. However, the African food pyramid has leafy greens as its bottom layer.
Improving the gut microbiome.
Be a kindly god to your indwelling creatures. They like it when you eat lots of fiber and live cultures. If you frequently murder them with antibiotics, your microbiome will suffer as other less-friendly creatures like yeast flourish. So if you need to use antibiotics, at least send an olive branch: consume high-fiber prebiotics and live culture probiotics to restore your microbiome.
Improving metabolism and mitochondrial function with a dietary intervention. This includes changes in insulin resistance, metabolic rate, the number of mitochondria in cells, the overall health of mitochondria, hormones, inflammation, and many other known regulators of metabolism.
Harder to troubleshoot, but one of them is easier with science. Every sugar has a pattern when it is digested and used. Often that's a narrow spike but some are broader. You have two options here: 1) Avoid foods that cause spikes and prefer foods with a slower release of energy (low-glycemic-index). Some diets aim for this. 2) Combine multiple sugars that peak at different rates to create a more balanced flow of energy and avoid peak-and-crash problems. Many energy bars do this, and a few have published wavemaps of the sugars they use so you can see the digestion curves. It is possible to achieve the same effects at home if you research different sugars that you might wish to combine in energy bars/bites.
Losing weight can help to mitigate the problems associated with obesity.
Gaining weight can be a life-saving intervention for those who are severely underweight.
Well, duh. Removing a condition tends to remove the problems associated with that condition.
The problem is that we don't have effective means of losing weight safely and keeping it off. What actually happens is that about 97% of people who lose weight not only regain it but pack on more. Dieting doesn't make you thinner, it makes you fatter. Even if you can't solve the problem, you can at least avoid actively making it worse.
About the only thing that does make major, lasting change is rebuilding your whole lifestyle. If you switch to a highly active career or a car-free neighborhood that makes you walk a lot, chances are you will lose weight and keep it off. That's not the kind of choice most people are willing or even able to make.
However, there's another option that can be helpful: make slow, small, incremental improvements in diet. Change refined grains to whole grains. Choose grilling instead of frying. Use less sweetener, and prefer natural ones (e.g. honey, bananas) over refined (white sugar) or artificial (e.g. aspartame) ones. This approach tends to have less dramatic effects, but can slow the rate of weight gain, and if nothing else at least you're eating better.
Gaining weight is only slightly easier. See How to Maximize Calories & Nutrition for some ideas.
There is also evidence that fasting, intermittent fasting (IF), and fasting-mimicking diets may play a role in treating mental disorders. They all result in the production of ketone bodies, which are made when fat is being used as an energy source. Fat gets turned into ketones. And, interestingly, this process occurs exclusively in mitochondria, yet another role for these magnificent organelles.
This may work for some people; there are traditions that favor it. The problem is that some other people begin to malfunction quickly and badly after just a few hours without food. Some become angry and violent. Others become confused and lethargic. Some throw up. All of these are counterproductive. Plus of course, fasting can make the body think it's starving and try to pack on more weight, which is also the opposite of helpful.
TL;DR: If your mind is malfunctioning, check your diet first, because a poor diet can cause problems which are then fixable simply by improving diet. If your diet is good or improving it doesn't help, then move on to other problem-solving methods. Trying diet first is cheaper and safer than other options for mental care. Getting into details...
Despite the wide body of research focusing on how what we eat — and when — affects our metabolism and mitochondria, relatively few studies have focused on the link between diet and mental health.
1) That's stupid. More scientific studies would help. It's always nice to have details.
2) It's also very modern-Western-centric. Various old cultures have advice on how to use food as medicine for physical and mental health. For some of the more comprehensive surviving examples, see Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some folks have been studying this stuff for thousands of years. So if your system has not studied it much, borrow someone else's!
What most people might not know is that diet also has profound effects on mental health and the brain.
I would bet that almost everyone has figured out how certain foods make them feel better. In some people it is subconscious, in others mindful, but almost everyone does it -- to the point that eating a tub of ice cream after a breakup is a cultural cliche. Why ice cream? Aside from being creamy and sweet and fatty (common traits in comfort food), the cold helps numb the pain, like putting an ice pack on an injury.
However, people usually do not follow that to its logical conclusion, which is that a crappy diet will reliably make you feel like crap. The modern western diet is crap, so unsurprisingly, lots of people feel like crap. Of course, modern western culture is also crappy and that does not help. But you cannot feel healthy and good if your body lacks the raw materials needed to make vital neurochemicals, red blood cells, etc. and many diets are poor in nutrients. There are some people who have figured this out, though. See Hippie Food for an example, and if you can buy yogurt in your local supermarket, thank the hippies!
What might be more surprising is that the neural circuits for loneliness overlap directly with the neural circuits that warn of starvation.
Yyyyyeah. That's part of a complex of stuff designed to discourage our ancestors from running off and maybe getting eaten by saberteeth. Today it doesn't work so well.
On the bright side, food is bonding. Sharing food creates and maintains human ties. One useful application of this is that you can use cooking or eating together as a means of strengthening ties. Another is that if your current comfort foods are junk, you can use this to introduce healthier ones.
There are at least seven different ways that dietary interventions can be helpful in addressing mental symptoms:
Addressing nutritional deficiencies, such as folate, vitamin B12, and thiamine deficiency.
A healthy diet should meet nutritional needs. However, if problems are occurring, sometimes it is helpful to check specific levels of nutrients which if low could cause that sort of problem.
Removing dietary allergens or toxins. For example, some people have an autoimmune disorder called Celiac disease that results in inflammation and other metabolic problems in response to gluten. This can also affect brain function. I’ve described the toxic effects of TFAs. There are many other dietary ingredients that can also impair mitochondrial function.
Let's not forget the thousands of allegedly "safe" chemicals in modern foodlike products -- preservatives, colorings, flavorings, binders, etc. Many of them are not as digestible as claimed, and this can cause problems.
Eating a “healthy diet,” such as the Mediterranean diet, may play a role for some people.
That's a good one. However, the African food pyramid has leafy greens as its bottom layer.
Improving the gut microbiome.
Be a kindly god to your indwelling creatures. They like it when you eat lots of fiber and live cultures. If you frequently murder them with antibiotics, your microbiome will suffer as other less-friendly creatures like yeast flourish. So if you need to use antibiotics, at least send an olive branch: consume high-fiber prebiotics and live culture probiotics to restore your microbiome.
Improving metabolism and mitochondrial function with a dietary intervention. This includes changes in insulin resistance, metabolic rate, the number of mitochondria in cells, the overall health of mitochondria, hormones, inflammation, and many other known regulators of metabolism.
Harder to troubleshoot, but one of them is easier with science. Every sugar has a pattern when it is digested and used. Often that's a narrow spike but some are broader. You have two options here: 1) Avoid foods that cause spikes and prefer foods with a slower release of energy (low-glycemic-index). Some diets aim for this. 2) Combine multiple sugars that peak at different rates to create a more balanced flow of energy and avoid peak-and-crash problems. Many energy bars do this, and a few have published wavemaps of the sugars they use so you can see the digestion curves. It is possible to achieve the same effects at home if you research different sugars that you might wish to combine in energy bars/bites.
Losing weight can help to mitigate the problems associated with obesity.
Gaining weight can be a life-saving intervention for those who are severely underweight.
Well, duh. Removing a condition tends to remove the problems associated with that condition.
The problem is that we don't have effective means of losing weight safely and keeping it off. What actually happens is that about 97% of people who lose weight not only regain it but pack on more. Dieting doesn't make you thinner, it makes you fatter. Even if you can't solve the problem, you can at least avoid actively making it worse.
About the only thing that does make major, lasting change is rebuilding your whole lifestyle. If you switch to a highly active career or a car-free neighborhood that makes you walk a lot, chances are you will lose weight and keep it off. That's not the kind of choice most people are willing or even able to make.
However, there's another option that can be helpful: make slow, small, incremental improvements in diet. Change refined grains to whole grains. Choose grilling instead of frying. Use less sweetener, and prefer natural ones (e.g. honey, bananas) over refined (white sugar) or artificial (e.g. aspartame) ones. This approach tends to have less dramatic effects, but can slow the rate of weight gain, and if nothing else at least you're eating better.
Gaining weight is only slightly easier. See How to Maximize Calories & Nutrition for some ideas.
There is also evidence that fasting, intermittent fasting (IF), and fasting-mimicking diets may play a role in treating mental disorders. They all result in the production of ketone bodies, which are made when fat is being used as an energy source. Fat gets turned into ketones. And, interestingly, this process occurs exclusively in mitochondria, yet another role for these magnificent organelles.
This may work for some people; there are traditions that favor it. The problem is that some other people begin to malfunction quickly and badly after just a few hours without food. Some become angry and violent. Others become confused and lethargic. Some throw up. All of these are counterproductive. Plus of course, fasting can make the body think it's starving and try to pack on more weight, which is also the opposite of helpful.
no subject
A lot of my eating was linked to emotions. Now what I'm eating is helping my emotions. Anyway, I saw your cutline and knew this was going to be an interesting read. Thank you.
Thoughts
Yay!
>> I have been on low carb diet (and very low sugar). This is because I suspect I'm pre-diabetic. I began eating a pre-diabetic diet and noticed a huge change not only in how I feel but also how I think.<<
Some health problems are caused primarily or wholly by diet, and these often respond quite well to a specialized diet. So it's good that you found something which works for you.
>> As a long term sufferer of anxiety and depression I have noticed a difference in how I experience it since eating strictly this way for a month now. I continue to notice improvements.<<
Yay! If you haven't already discovered them, there are also lists of mood-boosting foods, herbs and spices, etc. Some teas are good if you want flavor without sugar.
>> I've lost a little weight and less swollen everywhere such as face and feet. I look healthier.<<
That's wonderful. Yes, diet can help with swelling: some foods are anti-inflammatory, some are inflammatory, and some are diuretics.
>> Or maybe my diet has caused a more positive point of view and I just feel I look better because I feel better. It's all very interesting.<<
That's also possible.
>> A lot of my eating was linked to emotions. Now what I'm eating is helping my emotions. <<
Nonsense hunger, where the body misinterprets some other need for food need, is very aggravating. It doesn't produce the same symptoms as not eating when you need food (accurately or inaccurately) but then you have to find some other way to fix your emotions or fill up your self-worth or whatever. Coping skills are worth brushing up if necessary.
>> Anyway, I saw your cutline and knew this was going to be an interesting read. Thank you.<<
Well, that's flattering. :D
I talk periodically about food because the American foodstream is so terrible, but there are other options out there.
Recently we were in the African store and they've got a lot more greens now, dried in pouches -- they even had moringa. I confess I'm curious. Even though I'm not a big fan of greens, I've had some mixed into other things, like parsley or cilantro in soups or bean dishes. I'm wondering if dried green flakes might work in African bean dishes, because the time we tried making Hoppin' John with kale was not something we wish to repeat. I need to look back through my African cookbooks for stuff we skipped because we didn't expect to find the ingredients. It'll be interesting to see if they ever get fresh African greens -- some are garden plants instead of trees or bushes and might grow here. My partner loves greens so I might consider trying new ones.
Hmm, are you anywhere you could garden? That makes it MUCH easier to get things you can't find in stores or they cost too much. A lot of older cultivars are less sweet than modern ones, plus there are many edible plants that don't rely much on carbs to begin with. And things you can eat but people don't because they're impractical to sell, like squash blossoms; I got those in a Mexican restaurant once, in a fondita. I have a Thursday series going where I post about landraces and some of the crops available are fascinating.
Basically my idea of how to pursue a healthier diet is to read cookbooks of potentially tasty and healthy things, then try the most interesting ones. Good food should be irresistible.
no subject
Being flippant on sooo many levels here, but... food is a "love language" after all! I knew it!
I've never heard of Oldways. I am enjoying looking at the various "cultural diet" pages they have...
I'm very unhealthy at this time in too many ways to count. But this entry has me resolving to at least choose a healthy lunch at work today instead of my usual impulsive, desperate choice to grab the first things I see to put something on my stomach and give me enough energy to get through the day (lately a Slim Jim and an energy drink, yuck). It's only making me sicker when I do that but I keep doing it... Gosh, I'll at least grab a hummus-and-pretzel pack and a yogurt and drink water instead. It says chickpeas are a good prebiotic with fiber, so that combined with a yogurt might be okay?!
Thoughts
Yes it is, and a very popular one. Many of my comfort foods are hippie foods -- fresh fruit, yogurt, quickbread, hot tea, etc. My partner and I enjoy reading cookbooks and cooking together.
>>I've never heard of Oldways. I am enjoying looking at the various "cultural diet" pages they have...<<
They have a whole handful. If you hunt around more, you can find others.
>> I'm very unhealthy at this time in too many ways to count. <<
Alas! That is what America supports, and some other countries are just as bad. >_<
>> But this entry has me resolving to at least choose a healthy lunch at work today <<
Yay! That's good to hear.
>> instead of my usual impulsive, desperate choice to grab the first things I see to put something on my stomach and give me enough energy to get through the day (lately a Slim Jim and an energy drink, yuck). <<
Most energy drinks are high in sugar and caffeine but low in nutrients, which is the opposite of helpful. A few herbal ones have more nutrients but they are much less common. This can be a difficult habit to break if you are often tired, though.
Remember that you will eat what you have (at home) or can get (elsewhere). If possible, stock healthy foods, and then you will eat more of those. Some inspiration ...
https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7881517/best-healthy-lunch-foods-to-eat/
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/snacks-at-the-office
https://www.loveandlemons.com/healthy-lunch-ideas/
>>It's only making me sicker when I do that but I keep doing it... <<
:( Don't forget that junk food is engineered to be addictive. Literally, the definition of addiction is continuing to do something despite negative results.
>> Gosh, I'll at least grab a hummus-and-pretzel pack and a yogurt and drink water instead. It says chickpeas are a good prebiotic with fiber, so that combined with a yogurt might be okay?! <<
Good idea! Chickpeas are high in fiber and protein, plus the pretzels (made from grain) should make for more complete protein. Yogurt adds even more.
Starting with a focus on one meal, especially a meal where you usually eat junk, is a good idea. Try to find things that you really enjoy eating. For instance, hummus comes in dozens of flavors, so if you like it, you can switch around. Every meal where you choose healthy items is a success. Don't obsess over perfection, look for small easy changes you can build over time.
I've tried a wide range of lunch foods, and what I usually go for nowadays in some flavor of hot muesli. Other midday things I often eat include yogurt and fresh fruit. When we're traveling, I more often go for meat because it's easy to get something like a roast beef sandwich. I really miss when Jimmy John's used to use sprouts instead of lettuce on their subs. But now there is Naf Naf, though we usually make that a supper stop because it's tons of food.
Re: Thoughts
Sorry ahead of time for this boring rambling, but:
I did end up choosing a sandwich and yogurt for breakfast, and then having a hummus-and-pretzel pack and a "healthy" energy drink (it didn't taste very good but it worked well enough) for a snack at work, and then some sort of microwave meal that had shrimp, linguini, and tomatoes in it for lunch. I felt better today than I have for a little while. I think maybe I'll try to switch to tea for the caffeine and quit the energy drinks, but it's just been hard to adjust to my current work schedule (4:30am-1pm) but I actually gave in and closed my availability so I won't be scheduled before 6am. I have to wake up at least 2 hours early because I need to take my time getting ready for anything and I like to get there at least 15 minutes early so it's not a rush to clock in immediately. I feel bad, like I'm letting them down, but I hope they approve the availability change because I guess it's just too hard on me to manage this schedule and get adequate sleep. I'm sick of relying on an ineffective combination of sleeping pills/NyQuil and energy drinks.
I didn't go crazy or do much research, but because me and my mom have been sick lately from the unhealthy food we've been eating, I did some grocery shopping after work and bought stuff for stir-fry and salads. =) I got frozen stir-fry vegetables and some mushrooms to add because I had read mushrooms were a decent prebiotic with fiber (? I hope I'm not mistaken about that) and I'm going to make it with chicken strips, Korean bbq sauce, kimchi, and rice. I'm trying to help improve our gut health.
I got myself some stuff for salads. Mom has trouble eating them, so it's mostly for me but I could probably add some of the spring mix to a panini for her. I bought eggs to boil and some vegan "chicken nuggets" to add a little something extra to my salads.
We've got some chicken in the freezer that my mom forgot about and we're going to cook that into a big chicken and vegetable soup tomorrow, too, and freeze it in bags and have it there for last-minute meals when we don't feel like cooking (instead of ordering fast food).
Well, I apologize again if that was mind-numbingly boring information. But I wanted to tell you because I appreciate your encouragement in eating healthier. All I needed was the prompt to make better choices here and there. It'll probably get easier as I go.
Re: Thoughts
Do you like oatmeal? It's like that -- most blends contain oats -- but chunkier. Typically it contains a mix of rolled grains, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. I like Bob's Red Mill so I alternate among different flavors like Old Country, Gluten-Free, or Fruit & Seed.
Both cold and hot muesli versions are available; I currently favor hot.
https://www.cherrypicksreviews.com/breakfast-muesli-cereals
Oh, and if you are often rushed, consider overnight oats or muesli:
https://eatlittlebird.com/bircher-muesli-overnight-oats-recipe/
>> Sorry ahead of time for this boring rambling, but:<<
I don't always have time to answer everything, but I do like talking about food.
>>I did end up choosing a sandwich and yogurt for breakfast, and then having a hummus-and-pretzel pack<<
Go you!
>> and a "healthy" energy drink (it didn't taste very good but it worked well enough) <<
Yyyyyeah, the problem with some "healthy" foods is they don't taste good. Then it's a chore to eat or drink, which is bad, because it's unsustainable -- people wear out after a while and quit doing it. The key to sustainable lifestyle changes is to find things you like. Don't try to force yourself to eat or drink things you dislike. There are many delicious drinks you can find instead. Me, I'm a big fan of smoothies -- tonight's is cashew butter. I've found fairly decent yogurt drinks at the store, and there are other things like vegetable juices or kombucha.
I grew up on hippie food. It got hard to find for a while, then when it came back in the late 1980s-early 1990s most of it was awful. I spent years telling people that no, wholegrain bread wasn't supposed to taste like cardboard, it should be nutty and delicious. >_< Making good health food requires understanding a bit of kitchen chemistry and psychology. You have to know what you like, and how ingredients behave. So for instance, hippie quickbread is made with wholegrain or mixed flours, fruits and/or vegetables (banana, strawberry, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.), oil instead of butter, and applesauce so it only needs a little sugar. My partner and I can kill a whole loaf in less than 2 days. :D
>> I felt better today than I have for a little while.<<
Yay!
>> I think maybe I'll try to switch to tea for the caffeine and quit the energy drinks, <<
Good idea. Even if you add sugar or honey to tea, it's probably nowhere near the sugarbomb that most energy drinks are. When you're trying to stay awake, a sugar crash is not your friend.
https://camillestyles.com/food/best-teas-for-energy/
https://www.thefabulous.co/qa/what-are-the-best-teas-to-drink-in-the-morning-to-replace-coffee/
>> but it's just been hard to adjust to my current work schedule (4:30am-1pm) <<
You have my complete sympathy. I spent 2 years of high school getting up at 5 AM and it sucked, plus college when I got stuck with early classes. With a 2-hour round trip commute. :P
>>but I actually gave in and closed my availability so I won't be scheduled before 6am.<<
Very sensible.
>> I feel bad, like I'm letting them down, but I hope they approve the availability change because I guess it's just too hard on me to manage this schedule and get adequate sleep. I'm sick of relying on an ineffective combination of sleeping pills/NyQuil and energy drinks.<<
You need to protect your health. Those people aren't going to take care of you if you make yourself sick. A lifestyle that needs drugs just to wake up and fall asleep is usually not a healthy one.
>>I didn't go crazy or do much research,<<
That's okay. It's more sustainable to do it a little at a time. Say, look for one new ingredient to try, or foods that do a certain thing.
>> I did some grocery shopping after work and bought stuff for stir-fry and salads. =) I got frozen stir-fry vegetables<<
Go you!
>> and some mushrooms to add because I had read mushrooms were a decent prebiotic with fiber (? I hope I'm not mistaken about that) <<
Yes!
https://www.eatingwell.com/article/9583/5-amazing-health-benefits-of-mushrooms/
One of my favorite mushroom recipes is for taco/tortilla filling, would also work as a topping on baked potatoes, salad, or other things.
2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
8 oz. package of mushrooms, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 pound ground meat (beef or bison work well)
seasoning
Saute onions and mushrooms until they just start to soften. Add ground meat, break it up, and cook. Stir in seasoning. I like sage, juniper berries, and sea salt but you could use taco seasoning or almost any world spice blend. The onions and mushrooms make it so much more juicy and flavorful than plain meat.
>>and I'm going to make it with chicken strips, Korean bbq sauce, kimchi, and rice. I'm trying to help improve our gut health.<<
Also excellent. If you like kimchi, it's fairly easy to ferment at home, there are "instant" versions, and it can be made with many interesting vegetables and spices.
https://kimchimari.com/10-kimchi-recipes-homemade/
>> I got myself some stuff for salads.<<
\o/ Woohoo!
>> Mom has trouble eating them,<<
Because of texture, flavor, ingredients? A huge variety of things are called "salads."
>> so it's mostly for me but I could probably add some of the spring mix to a panini for her.<<
Spring mix is great stuff. Watch for the kind with herbs added.
Another option is sprouts, good both in salads and on sandwiches or paninis. Many varieties beyond alfalfa are now available.
Paninis are good in general, especially if you can find a nice whole wheat, multigrain, or sourdough bread that stands up well to grilling.
https://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/20524/main-dishes/sandwiches/hot/paninis/
>> I bought eggs to boil and some vegan "chicken nuggets" to add a little something extra to my salads.<<
Eggs are great.
Vegan "meat" is iffy. The biggest problem is that it is all ultraprocessed stuff, which is generally bad for people. Think of it as a meat-flavored donut: fine as a treat, but not a staple.
However! There are many delicious meat substitutes among whole foods that you can explore.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140614022510/https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/vegetables-that-can-substitute-for-meat/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321474#15-best-vegan-proteins
Also, if you wish to explore vegan or vegetarian delights, look for recipes from cultures with many vegetarian people. Many Asian cultures are like that, and so is Indian cuisine.
>>We've got some chicken in the freezer that my mom forgot about and we're going to cook that into a big chicken and vegetable soup tomorrow, too, and freeze it in bags and have it there for last-minute meals when we don't feel like cooking (instead of ordering fast food).<<
Excellent choice. :D Many soups are healthy and freeze well. Among my favorite freezer foods are spaghetti sauce and sloppy joe filling. In both cases I chop a bag of produce and put it in a crockpot for hours. The main difference is just how much ground meat I add.
>>Well, I apologize again if that was mind-numbingly boring information. But I wanted to tell you because I appreciate your encouragement in eating healthier. All I needed was the prompt to make better choices here and there.<<
I am so happy to hear that! I love turning people on to new things.
>> It'll probably get easier as I go.<<
It really does, because:
* You learn new foods that you love.
* You figure out where in your area sells healthy ingredients.
* You stock your fridge and pantry with healthier ingredients that make it easy to fix good meals.
* You build up a collection of favorite recipes, cookbooks, etc. that are healthier.
Try new things one or a few at a time. Keep only the foods and recipes that you love and will want to enjoy again. Especially watch for things where one base concept has many variations -- salads, paninis, hummus, grain bowls, there are hundreds of recipes. It's a fun culinary adventure, and the world is full of exciting foods.
Re: Thoughts
You’re setting perfectly reasonable boundaries that are necessary for your health. That is *important*. If they’re relying on you wrecking yourself in order to get things done, that’s a problem, but that does not make it your responsibility to let them solve that problem by sacrificing your well-being to it.
Re: Thoughts
I encourage people to defend their boundaries, but that makes it very difficult to get a job.
Re: Thoughts
It definitely does make it harder to get a job unless you completely open your availability and put up with just about anything. Also, I know it's a poor excuse, but the schedule and the amount of time I'm having to spend working over is actually making it harder to get a different job. It's tricky to schedule interviews or do online assessments for applications when I have to go home and immediately eat, do laundry, and then take a sleeping pill so I can wake up again on time. Plus my hands are so numb and sore!! I had two days off in a row and basically just laid in bed recovering. I've had enough.
I've got a relatively good job that pays very well for the type of work it is (retail & food service) and I like the people I work with, but I'm so tired!
Re: Thoughts
It's a lot farther from the head to the heart than it is from the heart to the head. You need both logic and emotion to make good decisions, but it's harder to balance them with emotion yanking at you.
>> and also like now I'm dooming someone else to be stuck in my position. But there are quite a few people here who don't seem to be bothered by the schedule or even prefer it. So really I'm fretting about nothing.<<
Different people are bothered by different things. I'm the pest control here at home because it doesn't bother me.
>>It definitely does make it harder to get a job unless you completely open your availability and put up with just about anything. Also, I know it's a poor excuse, but the schedule and the amount of time I'm having to spend working over is actually making it harder to get a different job. It's tricky to schedule interviews or do online assessments for applications when I have to go home and immediately eat, do laundry, and then take a sleeping pill so I can wake up again on time.<<
That's a problem. Used to be, employers were quite willing to work around other job or school requirements, which made it feasible for folks to piece together multiple commitments. Now even the part-time, unreliable employers act like they're buying the whole person. That is not only wrong, it is ruinous to society.
>> Plus my hands are so numb and sore!! I had two days off in a row and basically just laid in bed recovering. I've had enough.<<
Your job should not damage your physical or mental health, nor your family life. A lot of them do, because employers are not held accountable. All you can do is pay attention and decide what is merely annoying (all jobs have parts that suck), what is physically/mentally dangerous, and what is damaging your relationships or other life aspects.
>> I've got a relatively good job that pays very well for the type of work it is (retail & food service) and I like the people I work with, but I'm so tired! <<
That sounds very frustrating.
Another risk to keep in mind: not only will constant exhaustion undermine your health, it makes you less able to avoid hazards while working or traveling. It runs down your dexterity and reaction speed.
I hope you can find a better, safer job soon.
no subject
I've changed enough (And my hangry's gotten worse) that it wouldn't be a good idea at this point.
But I'll tell you wat. The Isogenics (The program I was on at the time) cleanser definitely does it's job. It took out all the half-digested crap and extra watter-I lost seven pounds in the first month. And whatever was in their brain cerum is something I miss. Outside of the meds, I'd never know anything that made my brain work that well, and that clearly. It was both terrifying and comforting. Terrifying because I wasn't used to that level of clarity, comforting because, at the time, I knew I could keep it that way so long as...
But like most systems, it was prohibitive in cost, so I hd to stop. Not to mention they wanted you to do the MLM thing, whic I wasn't comfortable with, no matter that their products worked for me.
(they had two options. One was the intermitent fasting. The other was to take their cleanser once a day. I miss their shakes: they tasted better than the other system I moved to some year ago, and have sinces topped using because their site sucks for accessibility, and they don't seem to want to acknoledge that despite a CPACC (Certified professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) reaching out to them. Twice, even.
These days I try filling in the gaps with supplements and diet-it seems to be doing the trick.
-T~