The Sandcastle

Actually, it’s not new food at all. In fact, it is as old as most native peoples treated their food for preservation purposes. Ok, it has a newer twist to it.

I’m talking about dried food. In this case, freeze-dried food.

A blog friend and I were commiserating with one another about healthful food not being easy food. We neither one like to cook but we have each discovered that what we eat affects our health.

When I set out in my van last fall I had stocked up on freeze-dried entrees. I only had to heat water, stir it into the food, and wait ten minutes. Easy, right?

But not healthful. When I showed the stats to a nutritionist at Structure House she was unhappy about the amount of sodium in those entrees. And I was unhappy with the amount of grains in them.

I don’t know how many of you have read the book Wheatbelly but I know my midriff bulge is wheat because it went away when I stopped eating grains and came back when I started eating them again.

So, I was looking online at beprepared.com where I buy my freeze-dried entrees when it occurred to me I didn’t have to buy whole entrees. I could buy meats, vegetables, and fruits individually. With the bonus that the fruits and vegetables had nothing on their ingredients list except that fruit or vegetable. Yes, the meats have salt but not as much as the entrees have. And some of the meats have grains and/or sweeteners so I still have to pay attention to their ingredients. I’m looking at you Italian Meatballs.

Each can of food lists a serving size and how to rehydrate that particular food.

So if I want a meal of one meat, two vegetables, and a fruit I have to have four different containers to rehydrate them, right?

Not so fast there. We were looking for easy, right?

So, who says I have to rehydrate them at all?

After all, something else I was looking for was snack type foods that would satisfy my desire for lots of crunchy pieces.

So here’s last night’s dinner: Italian chicken, peas, zucchini, and pineapple.

Scooped out of four different cans into a 9″ pie plate and eaten without rehydrating. Eaten with my hands like popcorn. Lots of hand to mouth motion. Easy. Healthful. About 300 calories.

Now, I just have to figure out how to add some fat to those foods so the fat soluble vitamins in the vegetables don’t go to waste.

Be aware when eating freeze-dried foods right from the container, though, that you need to drink lots of water. The guidelines for drinking eight 8-oz glasses of water per day originally said you get most of that from the food you eat. But not in this case.

I spent all evening drinking more than usual. Then made a couple extra middle of the night trips. So I should probably eat and drink these “new” foods earlier in the day, right?

In a few minutes I think I’ll have roast beef, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peaches. Sound good?

TTYL,

Linda

I just read this on a blog I read regularly, http://cairncrestfarm.com/blog/. “Almost all livestock fencing is ultimately a psychological ploy. This is obvious in the case of a single strand of flimsy electric twine successfully containing a few dozen beef cows”

It made me start wondering what fences around myself I’ve accepted as true boundaries.

Have you looked at your fences lately?

TTYL,

Linda

Our daughter pointed out to me yesterday that I never told you all I am back home. Been home a month already so sorry about not updating. I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to live healthfully here. Only semi-successful at that so far having tried and demolished several theories. I get bored so easily with any routine. I need a lot of variety. And I still don’t like cooking. Anyone out there want to tell me how I can eat healthfully without cooking? 🙂

TTYL,

Linda

Sometimes when I refer to the monster in my head I mean that misshapen being who misinterpreted so many things over the years which now tells me a lot of wrong messages based on those misinterpretations. I am working hard here to clear up some of those misconceptions–like food is my friend who entertains me or comforts me.

But the main monster that is giving me trouble right now is the one in charge of the mucus production facility in my head. It has gone bonkers and is way overproducing. I am constantly sneezing and my nose is running and I am not fit to be seen in public.

This monster went into overproduction last Saturday and I have been holed up in my apartment here ever since refusing to share this monster with the staff and other participants here. Selfish of me, I know, but I’m trying hard not to share this one.

The only people I see are the ones who deliver my food and medicines to me.

For almost a week now.

Most head colds last 7-10 days so I’m hoping my confinement will end this weekend.

In the meantime I have been sorting through the handouts from all the classes I’ve attended. I’ve been rereading many and doing unfinished homework from others and trying hard to teach my brain all the new things I’ve been learning here.

So it has actually not been a bad things to be confined to quarters.

But, I am ready for this monster and others to move on now.

TTYL,

Linda

We had heavy, wet snow here in Durham, NC, last night.

The power is out.

Which means the phone system here is also out. I can’t call up to the main building to see if they have the little comforts like heat, a working kitchen, etc.

One of the things people with eating disorders do is stay home and isolate.

We have a different type of isolating going on here today.

They have shoveled the path to my apartment but it is not clear all the way to the curb and they haven’t shoveled the cross path on my side of the street.

So, if I go out I need to walk through wet snow that is several inches deep to get to the cleared sidewalk on the other side of the street.

Thus, I was pleased to see someone coming up my path this morning.

It turns out many of the staff stayed here last night so they wouldn’t have to figure out how to get in to work this morning. Durham doesn’t often have this type of weather so they don’t have the snow removal systems we have in Minnesota. Here everything just pretty much shuts down.

Now the staff are going door to door assuring people that the kitchen has a gas stove so they are making limited breakfast items. And we can have it delivered.

So I am staying home this morning where I can wear lots of layers without caring who sees me.

And breakfast is coming to me.

And I have a cell phone number I can call if I truly need something.

Hopefully the rest of the paths will be cleared by noon and I can go up for lunch.

I hope.

TTYL,

Linda