Changes II

Things have been way better since eating veggies again, not the least of which is eating soup. I think I could live on soup. Since I live alone, I make just enough to fill up my tank for the day. I also eat midday now, and not at all at night. When I eat soup I don't usually get hungry later, and if I do, a bit of cheese or a glass of milk does it. I'll still cook some meat every couple of days and eat a regular meal. It's a good way to have some meat for instant soup.

Here's my Instant Soup recipe
1 1/2 c. stock or broth or bouillion
1/4 lb. frozen mixed vegetables
some leftover cooked meat, diced
seasonings
Bring all to a boil, simmer 3 minutes. Done.
It's that simple, and is warm, nourishing and feels healthy to eat.

Through this process I've realized there are some things I've never liked but was trained to eat. The Clean Plate Club was enforced in our house. If it was served, you ate it. And so I grew up having to eat a lot of things I never would've willingly eaten. I'm thinking that's good programming for eating disorders, which I and my brothers have had all our lives. Starches abounded in a house with 7 or more mouths to feed. They're the norm of American food and are often a conveyor of good things. Potatoes, rice, pasta, pancakes. I never liked them. Now I don't eat them.  I'll take the good things we put on them- butter, cheese, veggies, meats- without the starchy stuff I never wanted in the first place. So this is a kind of new freedom I've discovered in all this.

Of course, it wasn't so easy to give up some things. I still miss bread now and then, but not much. Bread was too often a filler. We'd go through a whole big loaf or more at dinner. Again, stretching things to feed that many people. So yeah, I've had enough bread for a lifetime. And I always loved sweets. Suddenly sugar seems much too sweet to me. I had a few little baking chocolate chips today- semi-sweet at that- and they were cloyingly, unstandably sweet. Guess it's just the Midnight Ghirardelli from now on, if I get a chocolate fit. Tastes change, like anything else. These are just healthier changes.