Food whore

I have decided that I am a food whore.

Given the chance to eat I will certainly take it.

I am quite proud of my revelation.

This was not always the case. Growing up I was very peckish with the food I ate. I know there are many children who have that problem, in fact there are a few in my family. I know I was afraid of trying new foods. I judged food by the look and the smell and was very stubborn about it. I remember vividly one night at the age of five having to sit at the dinner table for an hour passed everyone else had finished eating. My mother and grandmother were fed up with my stubbornness and wouldn’t let me leave the table until I ate my portion of pastel (for a recipe I suggest you go here).

Needless to say I sat at the table until my mother and grandmother gave in and let me leave. As an adult I understand why they did it. My grandmother had worked very hard making the pasteles from scratch and there I was being a brat. It wasn’t until I was almost done with college that I gave in a tried a bite. It was delicious. I felt so bad for not having tried it before then, but in my child’s mind it looked like poop, and I was a very stubborn child and teenager.

After my tasting of the pastel, I decided I was going to be more open to trying food I hadn’t given a chance before. One of those foods was avocado.  I since giving it a chance I love avocado with salt sprinkled on it. I have to control myself whenever I see it in the supermarket because I will buy way too many and given the chance I would eat it everyday.

Another reason I was not a hearty eater growing up was because of (in my opinion) the way my parents presented eating.  I never really felt my parents made food out to be awesome. I never ate the veggies in my meals or ate salad. I now do both and enjoy doing so, but it wasn’t until I found ways to prepare them that made them yummy. I will eat myself a ton of salad if it has a yummy dressing. I now add veggies to my stews, rice and hibachi noodles.

Here is one of my other vices…chips.

I can eat bowl after bowl of this type of chip. The brand is Tia Rosa’s (ironically the name of my mother-in-law). I would munch this down with Dr. Pepper while watching tv and be in heaven. I still do go crazy with the chips, just not as often and without Dr. Pepper (soda is not the healthiest thing you can consume so I try my best to not have it).

For those who don’t know my husband, he loves himself some chips and salsa. I am not a fan of the salsa he loves, but I try my best to not give him such a hard time about it. He likes spicy food (such as cayenne pepper with dinner, no matter the dish) and I worry about him getting heartburn. He is an adult and I keep myself from mothering him and nagging him about it. I don’t need to go there, its not good for our relationship.

Another reason I was peckish about eating was my sugar levels. As I have mentioned in past posts, I was hypoglycemic for a good ten years of my life. I now have my sugar levels under control. But back in high school I was under strict orders to have at least a 2,000 calorie daily intake. I was only allowed certain foods and protein options. I had to eat every 2.5 hours without delay. For me eating became a chore. How sad is that?? On top of that, I found that stress affected my stomach. Even if I was hungry, if I was stressed out at some point of the day, hell even earlier that week, I could only eat so much before my stomach hurt and I had to stop eating. Needless to say, it sucked.

This is why I am proud to be a food whore. I look forward to eating. I look forward to cooking something yummy. I don’t let myself be bound by eating every 2.5 hours. Instead I eat every time I am hungry while still making sure I have 3 round meals a day. I snack without scolding myself about it. I let there be sweets in my house (even if I forget they are there sometimes).

I think I have come a long way from being that peckish eater. I still have a way to go, but I know I will continue to try new foods. I try to get my husband to eat more veggies without making him feel bad (I got him to eat breakfast during the school week, which is a big deal to me!). I hope whenever we have kids that they will enjoy eating. I plan on making each meal special and leading by example. I know Will will help me out; he is learning to cook more and that is a start.

We may not eat the healthiest at times, but I can at least say we enjoy eating. I try to have a portion of veggies with each meal, but the most important thing is that we enjoy the meal.

Here’s to enjoying food and enjoying life! One meal at a time.

Last week and food

I forgot to post last week…so here is a two for oner, at least food wise.

I am a big fan of food. It hasn’t always been this way.

In 9th grade I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, which wasn’t fun to say the least. I found out that I had various cousins that also had it, but it didn’t help me much that along with the 6 inches I had grown in 6th grade (from 4’10 to 5’4″) along with another 4 inches I grew over the course of 8th grade and the summer before 9th grade  (from 5’4″ to my current 5’8″). I grew those extra 4 inches without gaining any weight…so just imagine being 5’8″ and weighing in at 115lbs. My aunt, a nutritionist, tried sooo hard to help me gain weight and hence help control my blood sugar levels. Lets just say that it didn’t stick. I was forced into a very strict diet of high protein and high carbs and had to eat every 3 hours. I remember a time when I grew tired of eating, especially because I wasn’t gaining any weight. It wasn’t until my senior year of college at the ripe age of 21-22 years old when my body decided to pay attention. I was able to gain a good 20lbs that year, raising my weight from 115lbs to 125+ lbs.

I had gotten so used to a strict diet that I was weary of trying new foods. Its funny in a sad way but I was one of those people that needed to know what was in a meal, not to count calories, but to make sure I had enough carbs and protein. To this day I still cringe while walking past the candy aisle in the supermarket. Candy per say just doesn’t do it for me. I got so used to not being able to eat candy and sugary food that I question weather or not I should buy Sara Lee pound cake, or a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, hell an occasional pack of ho hos last me a good week!

Fast forward to this summer and my weight gain to 140lbs. I am perfectly happy with my weight because I am not the skinny bitch anymore, even though I am still slender and my darling Ivy still calls me a Skinny Bitch.

Anyways…..

I have made it one of my lil quirks to try and cook new foods. I cook almost everyday (Will gets to “cook” once a week, which he either cooks or we go out to eat) and there are certain foods I have always wanted to try and make. Two examples are fried rice and lasagna. Below are both meals… my first attempt at fried rice and the Spinach and Cheese Lasagna I made for Will’s father’s birthday (he doesn’t eat meat).

Fried rice

Spinach

Pasta

Final Product

Not all my attempts have been delicious. I tried to make Canoas, baked green plantains with ground beef in the middle, with white rice. That day was a embarrassing day to say the least. Not only were the plantains overcooked and dried out, for some reason the rice was undercooked and to boot Will’s mother was there. I redeemed myself with the lasgna but I still feel bad about that. Especially since Will was telling her about how good my cooking was. Oh well, we can’t win them all.