The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: undercover on January 17, 2019, 04:06:11 PM
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Anyone else do this? I find it saves time and money. It’s so amazing to walk into a store and know exactly what you’re there for. The thought of bargain shopping and then meal planning around that or even *shudders to think* going to multiple stores in a day sounds like a definite nightmare.
Disclosure: I’m 28, single, and cooking for myself.
Another huge benefit which is primarily the reason I started this is to challenge myself to only eat what I prepare myself (except snacks) since I’m trying to get in much better shape. And I’ll admit since I’m single it’s become SO much easier to avoid restaurants.
So yeah...it usually means a healthier and fitter me plus it saves time and money. It’s been great so far.
Of course I occasionally throw a wrench in it all but mostly I’m happy eating the same things. I’ve been literally eating the same two meals a day although I plan on getting different meals for different days but eating the same meals every week.
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A variation of this... I buy mostly the same 20-30 items all the time... and they are all very versatile and can be combined in a large number of ways. A lot of them are various frozen vegetables, so I don't have to worry about using anything in a particular time frame. Meats get frozen too, until the day before they are cooked. I don't buy many things that expire quickly -- or if I do, I know to use them first.
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I ate a ham sandwich for lunch every (work) day for about 12 years. But it helps that it was at work, so I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention anyway.
I kind of enjoy grocery shopping though, so I can't relate to the not wanting to go to different stores for the lowest prices. That's the best part! It's fun!!
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Idk,, Cooking can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be if you ask me. You can simply buy numerous types of chicken and just by different cuts and different seasonings really change the taste. Same with pork and beef. And you really dont need to go to different stores. Find one, maybe two and I buy and we eat whats on sale. Mix it up, keep it simple and seems like enough change.
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Anyone else do this? I find it saves time and money. It’s so amazing to walk into a store and know exactly what you’re there for. The thought of bargain shopping and then meal planning around that or even *shudders to think* going to multiple stores in a day sounds like a definite nightmare.
Disclosure: I’m 28, single, and cooking for myself.
Another huge benefit which is primarily the reason I started this is to challenge myself to only eat what I prepare myself (except snacks) since I’m trying to get in much better shape. And I’ll admit since I’m single it’s become SO much easier to avoid restaurants.
So yeah...it usually means a healthier and fitter me plus it saves time and money. It’s been great so far.
Of course I occasionally throw a wrench in it all but mostly I’m happy eating the same things. I’ve been literally eating the same two meals a day although I plan on getting different meals for different days but eating the same meals every week.
Urgh, I'm struggling with this right now. I have a chronic endocrine condition that makes me prone to diabetes and heart disease. I don't care much for cooking (though I like most kinds of food), and I dread meal planning/shopping. Because of my health condition, we did a total revamp of how we ate about 15 years ago. And since then we've subsisted happily with a very predictable, small, rotating menu of dinners (and for me, breakfast). Low in sugar/simple carbs/animal fats, low glycemic (diabetic friendly), high in produce of all kinds, low in processed food, easy to cook, automatic to shop for, and tasted great (to us at least). We were eating healthier than anyone we knew, and unlike all our peers, we had no trouble with weight maintenance as we aged.
I thought we had that shit locked down.
Then about 7 years ago my digestion slowed to a crawl and I began trying all kinds of tweaks to diet to speed things up again and spur my appetite. It was SO tiresome to have to think about food all the damn time, and even more tiresome when NOTHING worked. I began to struggle to maintain weight (b/c I physically couldn't ingest enough healthy food to get the calories needed...too much bulk). Eventually I resorted to adding plant fats (nut oils/olive oils, etc) to my meals to boost calories. That stabilized my weight finally.
Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
Except for dropping all the added plant fats, which is easy (though will probably result in my struggling again to hold onto weight), this means we are theoretically looking at another complete revamp of what we eat and how we cook.
IT IS SO DAMN TIRESOME. We're trying to look at it as an opportunity to 'try new things' (which really means eating much more boring and restricted meals), but my routine-loving brain is still defaulting to viewing it as a giant pain in the ass.
Now I truly understand how people with lots of food allergies feel! Honestly, my attitude at the moment is that something will kill me eventually, and I'm not sure it's worth it try to upend my entire diet and give up so many obviously tasty and healthy staples. I feel like I'm just going to try to do a little reduction, and remember to be thankful I have the monetary resources to even WORRY about tweaking my damn diet to every damn competing health condition LOL.
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I have been following similar approach for more than 7 years when I do the cooking. This practice is similar to what some do for clothes - wear similar clothes everyday.
https://hackernoon.com/the-reason-why-mark-zuckerberg-wears-the-same-shirt-everyday-68e4f907f661
I do cook in batches and store in a few plastic containers in the fridge and use a couple of containers every week. I have a few recipes that I repeat.
Other items like milk, yogurt, and bread I shop every two weeks.
Important thing to remember is it takes a few months or years to make it a routine practice in your daily life. It may not be for people who do not like eating a few days old food.
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After many years of providing meals for my family, I was pretty tired of trying to appeal to everyone else and having "enough variety", whatever that vague criteria was in my mind.
I'm down to one other mouth to feed nowadays, and that person doesn't care much about variety. So I made a conscious shift to just cook fewer things--I made a short list of about 15 dinners I know we both like and boom! a lot of annoyance was gone.
I am enjoying cooking much more now that I know positive results are guaranteed.
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Breakfast and lunch have little variation over the last years. Breakfast has been quick oats with a squirt of honey since 2001. I have evolved lunch a bit searching for more and more efficiency. All finger food now, takes about five minutes to eat.
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Yeah, I eat the same thing every day. I first started doing it to lose weight, because trying to reckon the calories in new stuff all the time was maddening (and hopelessly inaccurate.) But it made life so much easier in other ways as well that I think it's just going to be what I do, now.
People ask me if I get tired of it and I don't know what to say. It's food. How can you get tired of food?
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I'm 'steel-cut oats for breakfast' probably 6 days a week. For lunch, I'm a giant salad meal.....lettuce, cabbage, onions, a few frozen peas, a sprinkle of shredded cheese, with a little tuna or chicken on top and then a handful of seeds/nuts for dessert. DH skips breakfast and usually just snacks for lunch The evening meal for the 2 of us is usually some basic standard food....pizza, spaghetti, roast & potatoes, pulled pork, scramble eggs, bowl of cold cereal, etc. DH doesn't like fancy or spicy foods, so simple is simple to do.
I have never gotten tired of the oatmeal or salad portion of my day. Others may find it boring, but I really love both meals and it works for me.
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Although it's easier and less thought-demanding to eat repetitive meals, you may not be getting enough of a variety of nutrients to do this long-term. If that's your plan, you might want to run it by a dietician. And that isn't free.
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I started out as a picky kid with hypersensitive taste buds and extreme texture issues with food. My parents were not one to allow "same food every night" when they had five kids to feed, plus daycare kids in the house all the time.
At some point in my late 20s and early 30s, my appreciation for food exploded. I'm much less picky (still don't like seafood, but I'll at least try it as often as I can to see if that has changed. I'll finally eat cantaloupe if it is frozen and put in a smoothie, but tried a bite of a fresh melon this summer, and it is the one food I have to spit out still, I just cannot force myself to swallow it.)
Anyway, after hating so many foods, and then finally having all these flavors open up to me, I can't imagine eating the same things all the time. Between my son and I, we are always trying new recipes (although I mostly stick to simple, he has no issues attacking a four page, five hour recipe). He made eggs benedict for the first time yesterday, and a pasta machine (hand roller) I bought just arrived tonight. I can't wait to try my first fettucine noodles tomorrow.
Most of my life is fairly simple and routine, so I use meals and vacations to break out of that. The meals are cheaper and more practical for weekly purposes.
I can see how it is appealing for others though. There are days where I don't feel like cooking and I'd be fine eating every meal in some kind of fruit or chocolate smoothie form, as long as I didn't have to make it.
But, for me, I wear the same clothes every day for work (FR rated required, although I do have a few blue shirts and a few grey shirts. Two have buttons and a pocket. I just grab one from the pile though.) I have "old lady hobbies". I live in a small, quiet town. I spend 70%+ of my work shifts all by myself (only two other people in a building over half a mile long on nights and most weekends). There just isn't a ton of daily excitement and stimulation. I'll take variety where I can get it.
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Yes, I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. I have serious food allergies, and it just simplifies things. Breakfast is eggs, potatoes, and toast. Lunch is a sweet potato, spinach, an avocado, and a tomato. I don't really get tired of it, but I don't really enjoy it either. It's just fuel that I swallow.
Dinner varies a bit, but it's basically the same four or five things in rotation: stir fry with rice, a hamburger, fish and vegetables, pasta, soup.
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Particularly if you are just cooking for one then limiting variation makes a lot of sense because you are not trying to buy expensive single portions or ending up with waste (or some very peculiar meals when you eat things up to avoid waste). So yes, I'm also eating the same basic stuff most of the time, with a bit of variation on top. Lots of salad in summer, lots of roast vegetables in winter - make a big pan in the oven and then portion it out, adding a bit of variety through the vegetables and seasonings used.
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I eat pretty much the same foods daily due to allergies/intolerances. Chicken and fish are my staples but I mix up the sides and spices so it doesn't seem as boring. I also take a multivitamin daily.
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I like to have a few basics. Some typical recipes that work well. The reason I wouldn't buy/eat the same thing is that grocery stores rotate their sales quite a bit. So I like to buy/eat what is on sale. Often BOGO so savings are huge. If you have a basic understanding of cooking, then it's easy to modify for different items. For example, black beans, rice, roasted veggies with fish, or chicken, or beef, or tofu, or more veggies... And then you can season the different proteins different ways.
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Yep, I buy mostly the same couple dozen items week after week. Some of the staples:
Eggs
Bacon (uncured)
Greek Yogurt (full fat)
Berries (blueberries + strawberries)
Smoked mussels
Baby Spinach
Some type of cheese (brie, cheddar, etc)
Broccoli rabe (my favorite vegetable by a mile)
Wasabi Rice crackers (perfect snack)
Chicken (either drums and thighs or whole chicken)
Seltzer water (flavored)
Canned tuna (pole and line caught yellowfin)
Dolmas (canned, from Trader Joe's)
Whole Milk
Mixed Nuts
Kimchee
In addition, another fruit or two depending on relative prices, and another veggie or two (usually broccoli, kale, shishito peppers or cauliflower)
In addition, I keep staples in the cabinet/fridge that I replenish from time to time, including:
Rice
Olive Oil
Various curry pastes (green, yellow, red)
Canned tomatoes
Coconut milk
Espresso ground coffee beans
Onions
Capers
Those are the standards. I'll augment with other stuff if I've got a specific dish in mind I want to make.
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Yep, I buy mostly the same couple dozen items week after week. Some of the staples:
Eggs
Bacon (uncured)
Greek Yogurt (full fat)
Berries (blueberries + strawberries)
Smoked mussels
Baby Spinach
Some type of cheese (brie, cheddar, etc)
Broccoli rabe (my favorite vegetable by a mile)
Wasabi Rice crackers (perfect snack)
Chicken (either drums and thighs or whole chicken)
Seltzer water (flavored)
Canned tuna (pole and line caught yellowfin)
Dolmas (canned, from Trader Joe's)
Whole Milk
Mixed Nuts
Kimchee
In addition, another fruit or two depending on relative prices, and another veggie or two (usually broccoli, kale, shishito peppers or cauliflower)
In addition, I keep staples in the cabinet/fridge that I replenish from time to time, including:
Rice
Olive Oil
Various curry pastes (green, yellow, red)
Canned tomatoes
Coconut milk
Espresso ground coffee beans
Onions
Capers
Those are the standards. I'll augment with other stuff if I've got a specific dish in mind I want to make.
This is a good way to put it. Just looking at the staples I could make an obscene amount of different dishes.
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Hey, whatever works for you.
If you view eating as a chore, like filling the gas tank of your car, simplification probably makes sense.
I prefer to take that "chore" and turn it into a simple (or sometimes complicated) pleasure that I can enjoy every day. I like eating, and I often enjoy cooking. I don't particularly hate grocery shopping, and I often enjoy buying at interesting places like farm stands. Eating the same things might simplify my life, but it would also take away from the simple pleasure of eating a variety of foods and eating with the seasons. I like eating fresh local asparagus in Spring, peaches in Summer, and apples in the Fall. I like trying new things and unfamiliar varieties of old things. Giving those up for the sake of simplification wouldn't be a good tradeoff for me.
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I can do with meal monotony better than most. I can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day for a year at a time. I do like my dinners to have a bit more variety, though. I also have a big garden and orchard and laying hens, so to some extent my diet varies just based on what's in season. I can eat the same dinner for a week straight without complaint, but that's about as much as I can take without wanting a change.
My wife on the other hand...she gets cravings and also loves to bake. So she'll go to the store for a specific ingredient to make a specific dish that she wants, or she'll bake cookies and brownies on a whim. Doesn't really bother me. She's a good cook, but she definitely spends more money on food than I would spend. Gotta pick your battles, and her love of food isn't one that I'm willing to fight.
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She's a good cook, but she definitely spends more money on food than I would spend. Gotta pick your battles, and her love of food isn't one that I'm willing to fight.
Smart!
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Meals during the week for me are pretty consistent. I don't eat before work, and then at work I keep a stash of frozen broccoli florets, bone-in chicken thighs, peanut butter, oatmeal, and whole milk. Plus an array of spices. That covers the bases. My GF cooks dinner every night during the week, so I get my variety there and on the weekends (when I do most of the cooking).
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I do this when I'm on a good streak. ~70% of my daily diet is locked in. It's cheap, healthy, and makes me feel great.
Right now I'm on a bad streak. :(
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No, I love food and I love variety. I'm a decent cook, have memorized my grocery store aisles, and create a list every week so the effort expended is minimized.
I can eat leftovers the next day but by day 3 I'm bored and my tastebuds are screaming for change.
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There a certain type of person that this really appeals to.
My wife can't stand having the same meal more than twice in a week. She went on a business trip to China for three weeks at one point. I cooked a giant turkey/mashed potatoes meal the first week she was gone, portioned everything out into containers in the freezer and then ate that for lunch and dinner every day (along with a spinach, walnut, and mandarin orange salad). It was great! The amount of time saved each day was incredible.
:P
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Although it's easier and less thought-demanding to eat repetitive meals, you may not be getting enough of a variety of nutrients to do this long-term. If that's your plan, you might want to run it by a dietician. And that isn't free.
Oh, it's easy to just reckon up the RDAs set by the FDA and avoid the obvious pitfalls. If you avoid processed crap and eat fruit & vegetables & meat & eggs it's pretty near impossible to miss your nutrients. Vegetarians will want to make sure they're getting b12 & enough protein, but they'll already know that.
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Quick answer for me is, hell no! With a couple of dishes aside, I don't enjoy eating leftovers at all, much less intentionally planning to eat the same meal multiple days in a row. I believe that eating should be a joy, not simply fuel.
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We do something like this also. We have a toddler and both work FT and being willing to eat the same basic dishes fairly often takes a lot of the stress and effort out of meal planning.
For me, this usually means:
Breakfast: eggs w/ vegetables, oatmeal
Lunch: seitan, legumes, roast veggies if I'm going into the office, a big salad if I'm at home
Dinner: some kind of vegetable/lentil soup or curry (we will make a big pot of something each weekend, eat some during the coming week and freeze some for future weeks).
The exact ingredients vary from week to week. I do a once a week trip to a local grocery and stock up on whatever fruits and vegetables are cheapest. The grocery store I go to for produce doesn't put out a flyer with bargains or loss leaders, but I find with our method of cooking this makes for fairly easy and quick shopping. I just go in and know I need to fill about half a grocery cart with veg and fruit, so I do that with a focus on getting things that are under $1/lb. At this point I'm experienced/confident enough as a cook that I know I'll be able to use whatever I buy fairly easily. I used to spend a lot more time meal planning and trying to add new recipes into rotation and while I enjoy cooking, it was also a big time and mental energy sink to keep on top of that. Now we basically eat the same way M-F and on the weekends we will experiment a bit more.
In addition to the grocery run, I find I usually do a trip to one other grocery store every 1-2 weeks, though the exact store varies. Most often it is Trader Joe's (for things like eggs, frozen brussels sprouts, coconut milk, booze), or the 99 cent store (has a surprisingly good produce section so a good backup if our usual place is having an off week), occasionally Sprouts (meat and a few bulk items) or the local Indian grocery (best price on dried beans and lentils, spices). Maybe 1-2x/year I wind up somewhere like Whole Foods or a mainstream grocery like Safeway. It's very rare that I would have to go to 3 or more stores in a single week, maybe if we're hosting people for dinner or something like that.
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Quick answer for me is, hell no! With a couple of dishes aside, I don't enjoy eating leftovers at all, much less intentionally planning to eat the same meal multiple days in a row. I believe that eating should be a joy, not simply fuel.
This is the good reason to eat lots of different stuff. Neglect no opportunities for joy!
I find my same ol' food delightful, but I never claimed to be anything but a queer duck :-)
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Quick answer for me is, hell no! With a couple of dishes aside, I don't enjoy eating leftovers at all, much less intentionally planning to eat the same meal multiple days in a row. I believe that eating should be a joy, not simply fuel.
I love leftovers. I make stuff that I really enjoy, and eating it 3-4 days in a row isn't tedious to me at all. I enjoy every leftover meal as much as the first. And I make a huge variety of dishes with the staples I buy. I can assure you I love to eat as much as the next guy, and every meal I eat is a joy. When you've locked onto the things you really like, the need to vary it widely just isn't there. But of course I go beyond these pretty regularly, whether it's eating out or cooking my own. But the basics satisfy me the majority of the time.
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After many years of providing meals for my family, I was pretty tired of trying to appeal to everyone else and having "enough variety", whatever that vague criteria was in my mind.
I'm down to one other mouth to feed nowadays, and that person doesn't care much about variety. So I made a conscious shift to just cook fewer things--I made a short list of about 15 dinners I know we both like and boom! a lot of annoyance was gone.
I am enjoying cooking much more now that I know positive results are guaranteed.
Boy I can relate. I started a new rule last night! My husband first thought it was because he texted me asking for advice for dinner while I was in my big meeting. But I told him that no, I'd decided earlier during the day on a walk.
So. I pretty much eat the same thing for lunch every day. Salad.
My experience is probably different than many/most. I eat a lot of produce AND I get it delivered by 2 services. We have one service that shops at the farmer's market and delivers a box every Saturday. We can swap things out within reason (there are usually 11 items and 6-8 "swaps"). There's a Weds box by a different company that delivers to our elementary school. Thus, most of my meals have to be planned around produce. And I get a lot of salad greens, so I've basically been eating salad every day for lunch for 4-5 years.
Breakfast rotates. Eggs. Oatmeal. Yogurt.
For dinner, I would pick 2 big meals to make on Sat/Sun, and then we'd eat them Mon/Tues, then have to wing it mid-week.
New plan, the kids have to help (they are 12 and 6) and pick a night because I'm tired of thinking about it.
Saturday: 12 yo picks and has to help cook.
Sunday: 6 yo, same deal
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: (only day I get home first): Me
Weds: favorite chicken (aka, chicken tenders for kids, veggie burgers or leftovers for parents)
Thurs: husband
Friday: frozen pizza
On Friday night, we will look at what we are getting in the 2 veggie boxes and everyone has to decide not only the main dish, but also choose a veg and recipe.
To be honest, I pretty much always eat veggies raw, or roasted, or microwaved, or stir-fried. Doesn't matter the veg, it's not hard to prep.
(For example, this week we are getting the following veg:
Sat: broccoli, beets, leeks, carrot, lettuce, radish, kale, baby greens, dill, apples, mandarin
Weds: cauliflower, spinach, leeks, potatoes, onion, avocado
And we still have carrots and sweet potatoes and onions from this week's box.
In the past, I've done things like:
Sat, meal 1. Sun meal 2. Monday Meal 1 leftovers. Tues Meal 2 leftovers. Weds crockpot, Thurs crockpot leftovers, Friday wing it.
Or Monday: chicken, Tues tacos, Weds stir fry, Thurs pasta, Friday pizza.
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I read somewhere that on average a person only has 8-9 different recipes on their cooking rotation. Seems about right.
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We and my partner eat the same things for breakfast every day - cereal for me, toast for him. For the rest of our meals, it's not exactly the same things, but there's definitely a lot of similarities - for example, I make a lot of different types of stir fry, based on whatever vegetables and protein I get at the grocery store that week. There's also a type of soup I really like, and I make that almost every weekend.
I find the biggest thing that simplifies our food system is just having a locked-in routine and weekend bulk meal prep system. Saturday morning I go to the nearby Chinese market and get a basket full of stuff that looks interesting, in roughly the volume of food I know we need for a week. I don't use a list or anything, because what they have changes every week. Then I cook and bake on Saturday and sometimes a bit on Sunday, usually about six different dishes plus bread and muffins, and portion/organize everything for the week in the fridge. So meals are really easy during the week, because we can just grab things as needed.
This system works well if you generally keep a mostly empty fridge, because a week of portioned food takes up a lot of space, and it's nice to organize things in stacks by what they are to make it easier to find what you're looking for quickly. My ideal is to have the fridge basically empty below the top shelf (where I store all the prepared food) by Sunday night, except for soy milk, a few condiments, and our compost bin.
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There a certain type of person that this really appeals to.
My wife can't stand having the same meal more than twice in a week. She went on a business trip to China for three weeks at one point. I cooked a giant turkey/mashed potatoes meal the first week she was gone, portioned everything out into containers in the freezer and then ate that for lunch and dinner every day (along with a spinach, walnut, and mandarin orange salad). It was great! The amount of time saved each day was incredible.
:P
When my wife is gone for a week, I do the exact same thing. Usually a big pot of chili or red beans and rice for me. I supplement with fruit and maybe a fried egg here and there, but otherwise I just eat off of a single dish for the whole week. It's fantastic.
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I think this is a good idea to some extent - I eat porridge every day for breakfast and the same type of sandwich every day for lunch - but you need to make sure to vary your food enough to cover all the different micronutrients, which are present to different amounts in different types of vegetables and things. If you have a few simple recipes you rotate between, it's probably a lot easier to cook than if you were trying new things all the time, though. :)
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There a certain type of person that this really appeals to.
My wife can't stand having the same meal more than twice in a week. She went on a business trip to China for three weeks at one point. I cooked a giant turkey/mashed potatoes meal the first week she was gone, portioned everything out into containers in the freezer and then ate that for lunch and dinner every day (along with a spinach, walnut, and mandarin orange salad). It was great! The amount of time saved each day was incredible.
:P
When my wife is gone for a week, I do the exact same thing. Usually a big pot of chili or red beans and rice for me. I supplement with fruit and maybe a fried egg here and there, but otherwise I just eat off of a single dish for the whole week. It's fantastic.
I could totally eat the same stuff over and over if I was single. My boyfriend is finicky about food so that's not a thing we do, and it's probably a good thing health-wise that we have good variety, but I don't really care much about food as long as I like something.
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I love leftovers. I make stuff that I really enjoy, and eating it 3-4 days in a row isn't tedious to me at all. I enjoy every leftover meal as much as the first. And I make a huge variety of dishes with the staples I buy.
Same. I usually make a big pot of beans (in the pressure cooker with vegetables and spices) each week. Husband will only eat them for one dinner and maybe one lunch, so I end up having beans and rice for several lunches in a row. I'm totally fine with this. Our dinners tend to vary a lot more, although they usually include an animal protein (meat, poultry, eggs, fish, dairy), starch (rice, potato, corn tortilla, pasta), and at least couple types of vegetables.
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I couldn't do this, I love different foods of different countries and regions way too much -- its one of the real joys of life imo. For me, it would be like listening to the same music over and over. Fortunately, my wife is quite the chef. Now other things in life (like clothing), I could definitely see streamlining to a "same thing every day" habit.
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Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
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I vary my dinners more, but for lunch I always have a baked potato or two with cheese. I just keep a stash of potatoes and cheese in the fridge at work, and it's really nice not to have to think about what to eat, on top of all of the other things I'm trying to think about and decide as part of my job. Most people who know about this practice think it's very weird, but it makes my life simpler and less stressful.
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Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
I've been meaning to look into the angled pillows. The weird thing is that I don't seem to have as many problems at night when I'm lying down. The only symptom I have is flares of chronic dry cough and hoarseness, and that always occurs when I'm sitting, and my stomach is pushed up against my ribs and diaphram. I don't really get it when standing or lying. But even the cough hadn't been acting up for the last year or so UNTIL they did the scoping procedure on my esogphagus and upper intestine. That was a month ago and I've been coughing and hoarse ever since, even with starting to modify diet and beng on a proton pump inhibitor. Super annoying. I'm incredibly fortunate that I don't have a job that requires talking.
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When I was single and worked long hours, I used to eat the same salad pretty much every night for dinner if I was home (salad nicoise ie lettuce, booked string beans, boiled eggs, tomatoes, tuna, olives, anchovies and maybe some boiled potatoes. It was easy as I always had the ingredients at hand.
Cooking is a hobby of mine though and I now crave variety. My husband tends to cook the same 3 dinners all the time so when it's my turn to cook, I cook all kinds of things. My younger kid is picky and tends not to eat new foods but older kid has discovered some new favorite foods this way.
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Oh man, I do this and I think it's great! Eliminating decision fatigue in my food choices is making a HUGE difference in my weight loss goals. I'm single and cooking sucks.
Breakfast: oat porridge or cereal
Lunch: 3 slices of bread with cheese or meat
Dinner: 200g veg, 4 potatoes or a cup of pasta, 100g meat/meat replacement. No sauces or other shenanigans.
Snacks throughout the day: an apple + a banana + 2 crackers with hummus
Shopping is so easy. I have my standard list:
Porridge or cereal
Milk or yoghurt
Loaf of bread
Cheese
Meat
7x veg
Pasta/rice/potatoes
7x meat
7x apples
7x bananas
Hummus
Crackers
Before shopping, check the fridge/pantry and subtract what you already have. After shopping, put things away, keeping like items on the same shelf, with the shortest expiration date on the front left. So if your meat is expiring that week, use that up first. Sounds obvious, but when I threw stuff into the fridge higgledy-piggledy, I had so much food waste and I ordered food more easily because of that unexpected roadblock. Yes, it's ridiculous, but decision fatigue is real.
Another tip I'm trying out now:
Set out your food the night before, except fridge stuff. For me that's:
- Put a bowl, spoon, mug and the pack of cereal on the counter. Threshold for making breakfast is super low after that.
- Pull out bread from the freezer (I divide a loaf of bread into reusable freezer bags with 3 slices each, so it doesn't go bad)
- Pull out anything that might need thawing for dinner
- Put the next day's snacks together on the counter.
During the winter, my go to breakfast is porridge (it's amazing, I love it so much). In the morning, the mug is already there, fill it with milk and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. In that time, I pour my oats into the bowl, I throw some cheese/meat on my bread (the freezer bag is also my lunch box, lol). I grab my bag and toss in my lunch and snacks. I keep hummus and crackers at the office, but I'll toss those in as well when I'm running low (pretty much every Monday). Refill my water bottle and toss that in too. Then my milk is done and I have porridge! It's become such a well-running routine, my decision making process is completely shut down. It's great.
Dinner is still annoying to cook, but at least I don't have to actively decide what to eat right then and there. I just have to make it.
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Oh man, I do this and I think it's great! Eliminating decision fatigue in my food choices is making a HUGE difference in my weight loss goals. I'm single and cooking sucks.
Breakfast: oat porridge or cereal
Lunch: 3 slices of bread with cheese or meat
Dinner: 200g veg, 4 potatoes or a cup of pasta, 100g meat/meat replacement. No sauces or other shenanigans.
Snacks throughout the day: an apple + a banana + 2 crackers with hummus
Shopping is so easy. I have my standard list:
Porridge or cereal
Milk or yoghurt
Loaf of bread
Cheese
Meat
7x veg
Pasta/rice/potatoes
7x meat
7x apples
7x bananas
Hummus
Crackers
Before shopping, check the fridge/pantry and subtract what you already have. After shopping, put things away, keeping like items on the same shelf, with the shortest expiration date on the front left. So if your meat is expiring that week, use that up first. Sounds obvious, but when I threw stuff into the fridge higgledy-piggledy, I had so much food waste and I ordered food more easily because of that unexpected roadblock. Yes, it's ridiculous, but decision fatigue is real.
Another tip I'm trying out now:
Set out your food the night before, except fridge stuff. For me that's:
- Put a bowl, spoon, mug and the pack of cereal on the counter. Threshold for making breakfast is super low after that.
- Pull out bread from the freezer (I divide a loaf of bread into reusable freezer bags with 3 slices each, so it doesn't go bad)
- Pull out anything that might need thawing for dinner
- Put the next day's snacks together on the counter.
During the winter, my go to breakfast is porridge (it's amazing, I love it so much). In the morning, the mug is already there, fill it with milk and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. In that time, I pour my oats into the bowl, I throw some cheese/meat on my bread (the freezer bag is also my lunch box, lol). I grab my bag and toss in my lunch and snacks. I keep hummus and crackers at the office, but I'll toss those in as well when I'm running low (pretty much every Monday). Refill my water bottle and toss that in too. Then my milk is done and I have porridge! It's become such a well-running routine, my decision making process is completely shut down. It's great.
Dinner is still annoying to cook, but at least I don't have to actively decide what to eat right then and there. I just have to make it.
+1,000
Yeah. I lost seventy pounds last year (coming on two years ago, I guess), and minimizing decision fatigue was maybe the biggest part of succeeding at it. Totally simple: just do the job. All your materials on on your workbench, all the quantities are known: you just go ahead and do it. Easier to stay on the road than to swerve off it. And when you're running a steady calorie deficit you don't need novelty to stay interested in your food. It's interesting, all by itself :-)
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I eat pretty much the same things everyday also. I get a little variety on the weekends, but my meals are the same Monday through Friday. I don’t keep a budget for food, but eating the same stuff through the week helps me keep my grocery spending predictable so I usually never have any surprises there. I do buy things in bulk or on sale when I know it will last.
I can also confirm that this helps with weight control. Since I usually just buy enough to get through the week, I make sure to portion it out to last. I also never feel like I have to eat more of something before it goes bad.
It also helps with preventing food waste. I think the last thing I threw out was a loaf of bread that started getting moldy before I could get through all of it.
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There are a few ways to do this.
1: Eat close to the same thing literally every day with small variations. This could be having a piece of meat with the same vegetables on the side, but seasoned or prepared differently.
2: Eat the same thing every day, but change it up each week.
3: Have a range of meals that you cycle through
4: Have huge variety, but only make 2-3 batch meals each week and eat only those batch meals all week, but each week is different
It will all depend on if the kind of food you like can be reheated or not. If you are a casseroles and curries kind of person, you can batch cook. If you are a fish and fresh veggies type, then simple repetition may be easier.
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+1,000
Yeah. I lost seventy pounds last year (coming on two years ago, I guess), and minimizing decision fatigue was maybe the biggest part of succeeding at it. Totally simple: just do the job. All your materials on on your workbench, all the quantities are known: you just go ahead and do it. Easier to stay on the road than to swerve off it. And when you're running a steady calorie deficit you don't need novelty to stay interested in your food. It's interesting, all by itself :-)
When I was fat I tended to overeat because I saw each meal as if it was my last. Yes, burritos are good, but if you only eat HALF then you can eat it again TOMORROW. My old boss asked me how I eat salad for lunch every day. I just looked at him and he said "I guess I eat the same thing every day too!" For him, rice, meat, veg.
I started having a problem with wheat a couple of years ago and stopped eating it 1.5 years ago. It kind of sucks - free lunch at work is always sandwiches or pizza, and eating out is a pain. But it's not, in another way. When I eat out now, there are generally very few things on the menu that I can choose. (The other thing that I can't eat is bagged salad mix. So. No wheat, no salad.) I can usually eliminate 90% of the menu in about 5 minutes, which makes decision making easy. Especially at hotel breakfast. Eggs, oatmeal, fruit, coffee. Done!
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Not really every day, except breakfast.
Pre-kids we had a finite list of maybe a couple of dozen evening meals, and had the ingredients written out on flashcards. Shopping list made by just picking out a weeks worth of meals and checking against what was in the cupboard.
With young kids, to be honest having to decide what to eat is a level of mental effort too far, so we have a weekly plan. It evolves slowly - maybe we'll swap a meal every couple of months - but minimal decision making.
We have a master list of everything we'd need to buy to make it, then just cross off what we already have or the meals we don't have to cook that week because we made and froze double/triple recently.
Just buying some stuff and then trying to decide what to do with it? Not in our house.
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I basically do this, and shared about it in the Share Your Badassity section.
I batch cook work lunches, I have 7 different soups and stews to take to work so I get variety without having to think about variety, KWIM?
I eat the same breakfast M-F and usually on Saturday too.
I eat the same snack formula every day - fruit and veggies mid morning and a protein snack mid afternoon. The items may change, but the formula is the same.
I drink a thermos of tea every day.
I have not consciously standardized diners, but if I think about it, they actually are basically standard too.
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I simplify meal planning by not eating breakfast, having very simple lunches, either salads or adult lunchables. That just leaves dinner. I plan 3 meals, eat the leftovers for other meals. Easy.
-
Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
I've been meaning to look into the angled pillows. The weird thing is that I don't seem to have as many problems at night when I'm lying down. The only symptom I have is flares of chronic dry cough and hoarseness, and that always occurs when I'm sitting, and my stomach is pushed up against my ribs and diaphram. I don't really get it when standing or lying. But even the cough hadn't been acting up for the last year or so UNTIL they did the scoping procedure on my esogphagus and upper intestine. That was a month ago and I've been coughing and hoarse ever since, even with starting to modify diet and beng on a proton pump inhibitor. Super annoying. I'm incredibly fortunate that I don't have a job that requires talking.
If you plan to take PPIs for more than a few months, it's wise to supplement with calcium and vitamin D, because of the risk of osteoporosis (ask me how I know!). Also, I have been taking something called DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice root -a chewable pill with the salt stripped out of the licorice) 400 mg about 10 minutes before each meal, for many years, and I think this has helped protect my esophagus, as it increases mucous production in the lining of the digestive tract. I use Natural Factors brand, which really doesn't taste like licorice at all if you have an aversion to this flavour. Try it for a month and see what happens. Also, make sure you're not wearing anything restricting around your waist, like tight pants, and sitting on a bar height stool with a foot rest instead of a regular chair will put less pressure on your midsection.
-
Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
I've been meaning to look into the angled pillows. The weird thing is that I don't seem to have as many problems at night when I'm lying down. The only symptom I have is flares of chronic dry cough and hoarseness, and that always occurs when I'm sitting, and my stomach is pushed up against my ribs and diaphram. I don't really get it when standing or lying. But even the cough hadn't been acting up for the last year or so UNTIL they did the scoping procedure on my esogphagus and upper intestine. That was a month ago and I've been coughing and hoarse ever since, even with starting to modify diet and beng on a proton pump inhibitor. Super annoying. I'm incredibly fortunate that I don't have a job that requires talking.
If you plan to take PPIs for more than a few months, it's wise to supplement with calcium and vitamin D, because of the risk of osteoporosis (ask me how I know!). Also, I have been taking something called DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice root -a chewable pill with the salt stripped out of the licorice) 400 mg about 10 minutes before each meal, for many years, and I think this has helped protect my esophagus, as it increases mucous production in the lining of the digestive tract. I use Natural Factors brand, which really doesn't taste like licorice at all if you have an aversion to this flavour. Try it for a month and see what happens. Also, make sure you're not wearing anything restricting around your waist, like tight pants, and sitting on a bar height stool with a foot rest instead of a regular chair will put less pressure on your midsection.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm really glad you posted. I just started PPIs, with the general instruction that I should be on them for life. Which is scary b/c of what you said. I'm already tiny and fine-boned, and I can't supplement otc calcium (or too much vit D) b/c it increases risk of kidney stones, which already run in my family. PLUS, PPIs are apparently linked to depleted magnesium, which I already have to supplement b/c I have super-slow digestion (original reason I even went to the gastro in the first place; the upper GI scoping was just sort of 'well, we've already got you under, so let's do that too'). I supplement with mag b/c of chronic myofascial/muscle pain and migraines, and the mag really helps with those. So I sure don't want it depleted! And the more I research, the more questionable the PPI approach seems anyway, since no studies have actually correlated long-term use of PPIs with reducing the risk of Barrett's esophagus progressing to cancer. Also, PPIs have been correlated with dementia, AND they relax the esophogeal valve. And I suspect a dysfunctional valve is the underlying cause of my whole problem. PPIs just feel like a band aid that will cause more problems in the long run.
But sitting does seem to be the major trigger for me, not lying down, so I will definitely look into your suggestion of a stool type chair. I've also been thinking a standing desk might be a good idea. But generally, this has been 2 months of extreme frustration. I'm inclined to go off the PPIs and just treat symptoms with ranatadine, but I've been on PPIs 4 weeks already and I understand that I will have to do a step-down protocol to get off them without causing even worse rebound reflux. Or I could stay on them another 2 months until my quarterly follow up.
I'm going to try the licorice b/c currently it's like I'm living in 'backwards' world...for 20 years my diet has been absolutely packed with every supposedly triggering substance, and everyone always told me how healthy I was eating LOL. Modifying my eating pattern to that extreme is challenging enough and it's been tough, yet every modification I've made so far (cutting down on coffee, chocolate, wine, eggs; cutting WAY down on fats, tomatoes, onions, citrus, garlic, spices, vinegar, etc) and adding the medication seems to be making things much worse!
Sorry for the vent.
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I use a meal planning app (emeals) - get 7 meal recipes sent to me each week. Pick the ones that I am going to make, which automatically populates a shopping list. Keeps me on track w/ only buying groceries that are going to be used. A big time saver for me for shopping and for the mental energy to figure out what to cook. I don't deviate from it too much - except to make occasional favorites or if the day goes completely off the rails and I need to order a pizza.
For breakfast and lunch there is a small range of things - cereal, pancakes, oatmeal, eggs. Lunch is leftovers for me and a sandwich for the kids.
I do think that I would get bored eating the exact same 2 or 3 meals every day.
Similarly I went to a "uniform" system for my work clothes about 3-4 years ago. Cut way down on clothing expenses, saves a lot of mental energy, means I rarely have to shop for anything. Love it. I definitely don't care about variety in my wardrobe at all!
-
Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
I've been meaning to look into the angled pillows. The weird thing is that I don't seem to have as many problems at night when I'm lying down. The only symptom I have is flares of chronic dry cough and hoarseness, and that always occurs when I'm sitting, and my stomach is pushed up against my ribs and diaphram. I don't really get it when standing or lying. But even the cough hadn't been acting up for the last year or so UNTIL they did the scoping procedure on my esogphagus and upper intestine. That was a month ago and I've been coughing and hoarse ever since, even with starting to modify diet and beng on a proton pump inhibitor. Super annoying. I'm incredibly fortunate that I don't have a job that requires talking.
If you plan to take PPIs for more than a few months, it's wise to supplement with calcium and vitamin D, because of the risk of osteoporosis (ask me how I know!). Also, I have been taking something called DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice root -a chewable pill with the salt stripped out of the licorice) 400 mg about 10 minutes before each meal, for many years, and I think this has helped protect my esophagus, as it increases mucous production in the lining of the digestive tract. I use Natural Factors brand, which really doesn't taste like licorice at all if you have an aversion to this flavour. Try it for a month and see what happens. Also, make sure you're not wearing anything restricting around your waist, like tight pants, and sitting on a bar height stool with a foot rest instead of a regular chair will put less pressure on your midsection.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm really glad you posted. I just started PPIs, with the general instruction that I should be on them for life. Which is scary b/c of what you said. I'm already tiny and fine-boned, and I can't supplement otc calcium (or too much vit D) b/c it increases risk of kidney stones, which already run in my family. PLUS, PPIs are apparently linked to depleted magnesium, which I already have to supplement b/c I have super-slow digestion (original reason I even went to the gastro in the first place; the upper GI scoping was just sort of 'well, we've already got you under, so let's do that too'). I supplement with mag b/c of chronic myofascial/muscle pain and migraines, and the mag really helps with those. So I sure don't want it depleted! And the more I research, the more questionable the PPI approach seems anyway, since no studies have actually correlated long-term use of PPIs with reducing the risk of Barrett's esophagus progressing to cancer. Also, PPIs have been correlated with dementia, AND they relax the esophogeal valve. And I suspect a dysfunctional valve is the underlying cause of my whole problem. PPIs just feel like a band aid that will cause more problems in the long run.
But sitting does seem to be the major trigger for me, not lying down, so I will definitely look into your suggestion of a stool type chair. I've also been thinking a standing desk might be a good idea. But generally, this has been 2 months of extreme frustration. I'm inclined to go off the PPIs and just treat symptoms with ranatadine, but I've been on PPIs 4 weeks already and I understand that I will have to do a step-down protocol to get off them without causing even worse rebound reflux. Or I could stay on them another 2 months until my quarterly follow up.
I'm going to try the licorice b/c currently it's like I'm living in 'backwards' world...for 20 years my diet has been absolutely packed with every supposedly triggering substance, and everyone always told me how healthy I was eating LOL. Modifying my eating pattern to that extreme is challenging enough and it's been tough, yet every modification I've made so far (cutting down on coffee, chocolate, wine, eggs; cutting WAY down on fats, tomatoes, onions, citrus, garlic, spices, vinegar, etc) and adding the medication seems to be making things much worse!
Sorry for the vent.
I get your frustration, believe me. No apologies required.
Even though you may not actively have symptoms while laying down, it's a good bet that that's when most of the damage is actually occurring, especially if you have a week Lower Esophageal Sphincter, which is my problem also. Once the erosion is present, then any abdominal force that moves food upwards causes symptoms. So, I would still do what you can to mitigate risk at night.
Also note that carbs relax the LES and protein tightens it.
Just to further confuse you, I have read that too little stomach acid can actually cause heartburn symptoms, and your mention of having slow digestion might be a symptom of this. If that is the case, then drinking apple cider vinegar with each meal is supposed to help. There is actually a medical test that can be done to measure stomach acid (don't know what it's called), but it is invasive (a scope) and may also cause temporary worsening of symptoms.
When I went off PPIs, I just took an increasing number of days off between doses and I really didn't notice any worsening of heartburn. I used to take Ranitidine at one point also and found that it made me very tired about a hour after my dose, so I eventually went off this too. Right now, I only take the DGL and alternate Gaviscon and Gastro-Gel at night. However, Gaviscon is also linked to osteoporosis and the Gastro-Gel has quite a bit of calcium in it, so likely not a good option for you.
There's just to perfect solution except trying to attack as many of the contributors as possible. At some point, you just have to live with it.
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I do the same sort of thing.
Breakfast is oats, blueberries, LSA. Sometimes hot, sometimes raw oats, sometimes I add sugar, but that's breakfast.
Lunch is a couple cups cabbage based salad, good dollop of hummus, some sort of protein which is usually a boiled egg, sometimes slice of simple homemade quiche.
Snacks are cheese and crackers, almonds, fruit, sometimes a bowl of sweetcorn with butter (gives me the same instant savoury hit as noodles would but it has some nutritional value).
Dinner is one of a few staples I have batch cooked and have in the freezer - bolognese sauce, chili beef/beans, tasty vege quinoa, cauliflower soup and chicken pot pie filling. Lots of different things you can do with those basics.
-
Then a few weeks ago, I got more bad news. Turns out that despite having none of the obvious risk factors OR symptoms, I have esophogeal damage from long-term 'silent' acid reflux, despite only having gotten heartburn maybe half a dozen times in my entire life. And it turns out that practically every meal in our regular rotation (despite being a model of typical recommended 'healthy' eating) potentially worsens this condition.
I have the opposite problem - years of pain from reflux but no esophogeal damage. It helps to elevate the head of your bed about 4 inches and to sleep on your left side. There's something called MedCline Reflux Pillow which will do this too. I haven't tried it, as I just use wedges, but I don't really recommend this because it doesn't keep your spine in alignment and now I have neck issues. Of course, there's always medications too.
I've been meaning to look into the angled pillows. The weird thing is that I don't seem to have as many problems at night when I'm lying down. The only symptom I have is flares of chronic dry cough and hoarseness, and that always occurs when I'm sitting, and my stomach is pushed up against my ribs and diaphram. I don't really get it when standing or lying. But even the cough hadn't been acting up for the last year or so UNTIL they did the scoping procedure on my esogphagus and upper intestine. That was a month ago and I've been coughing and hoarse ever since, even with starting to modify diet and beng on a proton pump inhibitor. Super annoying. I'm incredibly fortunate that I don't have a job that requires talking.
If you plan to take PPIs for more than a few months, it's wise to supplement with calcium and vitamin D, because of the risk of osteoporosis (ask me how I know!). Also, I have been taking something called DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice root -a chewable pill with the salt stripped out of the licorice) 400 mg about 10 minutes before each meal, for many years, and I think this has helped protect my esophagus, as it increases mucous production in the lining of the digestive tract. I use Natural Factors brand, which really doesn't taste like licorice at all if you have an aversion to this flavour. Try it for a month and see what happens. Also, make sure you're not wearing anything restricting around your waist, like tight pants, and sitting on a bar height stool with a foot rest instead of a regular chair will put less pressure on your midsection.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm really glad you posted. I just started PPIs, with the general instruction that I should be on them for life. Which is scary b/c of what you said. I'm already tiny and fine-boned, and I can't supplement otc calcium (or too much vit D) b/c it increases risk of kidney stones, which already run in my family. PLUS, PPIs are apparently linked to depleted magnesium, which I already have to supplement b/c I have super-slow digestion (original reason I even went to the gastro in the first place; the upper GI scoping was just sort of 'well, we've already got you under, so let's do that too'). I supplement with mag b/c of chronic myofascial/muscle pain and migraines, and the mag really helps with those. So I sure don't want it depleted! And the more I research, the more questionable the PPI approach seems anyway, since no studies have actually correlated long-term use of PPIs with reducing the risk of Barrett's esophagus progressing to cancer. Also, PPIs have been correlated with dementia, AND they relax the esophogeal valve. And I suspect a dysfunctional valve is the underlying cause of my whole problem. PPIs just feel like a band aid that will cause more problems in the long run.
But sitting does seem to be the major trigger for me, not lying down, so I will definitely look into your suggestion of a stool type chair. I've also been thinking a standing desk might be a good idea. But generally, this has been 2 months of extreme frustration. I'm inclined to go off the PPIs and just treat symptoms with ranatadine, but I've been on PPIs 4 weeks already and I understand that I will have to do a step-down protocol to get off them without causing even worse rebound reflux. Or I could stay on them another 2 months until my quarterly follow up.
I'm going to try the licorice b/c currently it's like I'm living in 'backwards' world...for 20 years my diet has been absolutely packed with every supposedly triggering substance, and everyone always told me how healthy I was eating LOL. Modifying my eating pattern to that extreme is challenging enough and it's been tough, yet every modification I've made so far (cutting down on coffee, chocolate, wine, eggs; cutting WAY down on fats, tomatoes, onions, citrus, garlic, spices, vinegar, etc) and adding the medication seems to be making things much worse!
Sorry for the vent.
My 30 yr old daughter has terrible reflux and doesn't take PPIs. She is very regimented with avoiding trigger foods and is vegan. She eats her main meal at lunch time and has a light dinner -- usually half a bag salad mix at 5:30pm. She goes to bed early, between 8pm and 9pm, to avoid snacking, but if she gets hungry will eat a few saltines.
My DH also has reflux even with PPIs. We eat mostly vegan, and I really struggle to avoid tomatoes and onions. I also have reflux, but it is completely eliminated with PPI's (1 every 3 days). I like to make a big pot of something and eat it all week, but DH gets tired after 2-3 meals. I really enjoy threads like this for ideas.
Thanks!
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I think most people have their go-to shopping list. While I tend to buy the same things over and over again, I have a little rule nn which I can’t eat the same thing twice in a day. In terms of nutritional health, variety is on par with nutrient density and serving size. Fruit can be healthy, but not if the only fruit you eat are apples. Greens can be healthy, but not if it’s only kale. I try to eat a fruit or a veggie with every meal or snack, but it has to be a different fruit or different veggie each time.
If I have a banana at breakfast, my next fruit maybe will be a grapefruit. If I have broccoli, later in the day I’ll have asparagus, then a salad. Etc. etc. Same with fats. If I have fresh mozzarella, then later I may have avocado or a hard-boiled egg, or a handful of nuts. Essentially to simplify life, also because I’m not much of a cook, I tend to stick to whole foods. Or better accurate to say I try to stick to whole foods. That way I don’t have to read ingredient lists or anything like that.
Typical breakfast for me would be scrambled egg whites in lots of oil and a bit of sausage for flavor, with a whole grapefruit and a handful of fresh greens (literally take a few handfuls out of the salad tub and shove it into my mouth). Once in a blue moon (typically a hangover cure), I’ll go out for my favorite breakfast: t bone steak, fried egg white, and a sliced fresh tomato with salt and pepper (eat a fruit when I get home). Not necessarily healthy, but whole ingredients....literally 3, and I stay full until supper.
Brunch might be a whole boiled egg with some microwave bacon (I never claimed to be healthy), or fresh mozzarella and seed crackers....with a fruit and a veg not had at breakfast...so maybe steamed broccoli with a little salt and pepper and a banana.
Lunch, salad with avo and homemade olive oil dressing, or chicken. Or if I had greens for breakfast I might just have a small serving of dinner leftovers with a crudité of cucumber and vinegar chips, radish, celery, and carrots. And a star fruit or guava or (I live near many Asian and Spanish markets and like to include “exotic” fruits that may offer a different nutritional profile).
I usually scavenge for dinner. I live within 5 miles of my parent’s, grandmother, and older sister. They are constantly giving me food, and sometimes I have to freeze it. I’m the youngest and spoiled, so sue me. Sometimes I’ll cook a low-carb meal such as sauerkraut, or salmon and asparagus. Or ham steak with roasted sweet potato from the garden....topped with walnuts it tastes just like sweet potato soufflé...yum! And sweet potato with a bite of ripe avo, tastes like it’s drizzled with butters....mmmmm. Steak once in a while.
So you can see in a day I eat mostly whole foods with the exception of minimal servings of cured meats, and a serving of cheese. I keep it low on refined carbs, not really for health reasons, but I Just like how I feel eating whole ingredient meals (it makes me, umm, regular, with the natural fibers and lack of additives) and how it tastes. And there’s very little cooking involved.
I work from home most days so it is tempting to snack all day. Although I’ve never really been much of a snacker. I hate planning meals so sometimes I’ll just gut load on a little bit of this and that in one large eating binge, then eat once more later in the day. I do this particularly if I wake up hungry, and find that I just can’t stop eating after breakfast. So I’ll just go ahead and consume breakfast and lunch, and I’m usually full until close to dinnertime.That way I don’t have to think or worry about what to eat for lunch. Then I just sip on tea between the two meals. I keep the electric kettle plugged in right at my desk, with a caddie of teas, and instant coffee, And my recent obsession a thermos of lemon grass cuttings from my parents garden, that steeps all day. I don’t drink plain water while at home, and mix up my teas and herbals throughout the day as well. Variety!
After writing this down, I realize I eat a lot of cholesterol. I get blood work each year for insurance incentives and my total cholesterol is always under 180, with an hdl between 90-100 (lowest 92, highest 98). High cholesterol/hypertension/ heart disease runs on both sides of my family, so I always try to eat pectin fiber rich foods anytime I eat animal products or by products. Outside of eating a crap-ton of citrus (at least 2 per day: orange, tangerine, and or grapefruit),I don’t do anything special, or exercise really. Food is medicine and variety and combo is beginning to be believed as more important to health than restrictions. The only issue I struggle with is sugar. I’ve never been outside of normal range, but pretty damn close. I like sweet things.
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For many years I was a nurse practitioner for a group of healthy, yet home-bound elders, all of whom were well into their 80s and 90s. One common thread among them was that they ate very little quantity and didn’t crave a lot of variety. Literally all of them had a set menu they rarely veered from. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “ I eat one packet of oatmeal and a cup of coffee for breakfast, or I eat a ham sandwich and an apple every day for lunch.”. They really did eat to live and they must have done something right because they were all pretty healthy and intact cognitively. A few years later I found myself quite overweight and lost 50 pounds by doing literally the same thing. I ate a few eggs and a piece of toast for breakfast, a salad with lots of veggies and beans for lunch and a small chicken thigh and vegetables for dinner. A piece of fruit for snacks. Taking away the choices led to less cravings and was, for me, very healthy way to eat. Sadly I fell into some bad habits and gained 20 pounds back :(
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Fascinating thread, particularly your story of the elderly @Henrysmom1 There's something to be said for routine and leaving your mind free for other aspects of life.
You've inspired me to reevaluate my pantry staples and become more systematic about my 'cooking'. I don't snack but my meals may seem like snacks to some. Don't really cook much since it's just me, more like mix or chop and heat. Salads and smoothies are staples.
For meals:
* DIY muesli for breakfast (oats, nuts or seeds, dried fruit) with local soymilk or imported yogurt
* Lunch at work: greens/veg with cheap frozen Thai dumplings or something vegetarian from the Pakistani or Indian or Indonesian groceries nearby - curries or samosas or frozen paneer - with nan or rice I've made @home
* Dinner - varies. Haven't been consistent or healthy (ie cheese and wholewheat crackers and baby carrots not unusual lately) as I'd like.
Since I have virtually no kitchen, extremely limited storage space, tiny fridge (with no real working freezer at home or work) and am v limited on what I can make at home, I'll be getting more organized to roast veggies in our studio's toaster oven, make rice and pulses weekly, and use these as re-heatable bases for main dishes. Hopefully this will reduce the mental energy required and increase healthiness of meals.
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We are in the middle of a complicated move and are basically nomadic, but once we get settled in a couple months, I'm hoping to implement something like this.
Breakfast probably avo toast with a poached egg. I know that will make me happy for a while. If I get sick of it, then I need to come up with one other thing, so I can switch back and forth every few weeks as needed.
Lunches--on Monday and Friday making salad in a jar (10 total, enough for 5 days for two eaters, spilt across two prep days).
Snacks--my goal is to shop at least twice a week, so we will always have fresh fruit, along with nuts
Dinner--
Mondays--Something from weekend prep
Tuesday--tacos
Wednesday--Stirfry or enchilladas with leftover meats from M/T, or something from weekend prep
Thursday--something from my go-to rotation of about 10 meals, or a weekend prep meal
Friday--pasta with some sort of sauce and some sort of meat
Friday, I will also do some batch cooking for freezer meals, as needed. (Likely every ~3 weeks.)
Weekends will consist of freezer prep meals or cooking, depending on schedule.
I may fine tune this as I put it into motion, but that's where I plan to start.
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Typically we're along the same lines. Pretty much buy near the same ingredients and grocery items every week. Purchasing chicken, vegetables, some toll house cookies here and there (guilty confession) maybe some beef, rice, etc. but we try and switch up the meals. SO if we had teriyaki chicken last week, we would try to do bbq or lemon pepper or something just to try to keep it fresh!
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I simplify meal planning by not eating breakfast, having very simple lunches, either salads or adult lunchables. That just leaves dinner. I plan 3 meals, eat the leftovers for other meals. Easy.
Same here, I do intermittent fasting and only eat 1 or 2 meals per day.
However, I could not eat the same thing every day.
I require variety. I skimp on a lot of other things, but I do not skimp on nutritious and varieties of food. I'll eat what ever is in season, fresh, and healthy. I don't care how much it costs, even if I have to eat out at select restaurants that I know are healthier.
We are what we eat. What we put in our bodies is the most important thing, along with what information we put in our minds. I do not skimp on food costs or variety of food.
When it comes to eating, variety is king and a blessing.
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A variation of this... I buy mostly the same 20-30 items all the time... and they are all very versatile and can be combined in a large number of ways. A lot of them are various frozen vegetables, so I don't have to worry about using anything in a particular time frame. Meats get frozen too, until the day before they are cooked. I don't buy many things that expire quickly -- or if I do, I know to use them first.
I do this now too. It's amazing how many different dishes you can make with a base of garbanzos and tomatoes by just changing up the seasoning (Moroccan, Indian, Middle Eastern, Spanish, etc). Lentils too! Of course I like spicy foods, some people can't handle the heat.
Also you can make so many different kinds of bread and pastry just by keeping flour, oil, and leavening in the house. If you are willing to learn baking that is.
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This article made me think of you guys
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/03/eating-the-same-thing-lunch-meal/584347/
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I’m newly single the last couple years after 26 years of cooking for a family. I absolutely love shopping and cooking just for myself. It’s amazing to have a box of fruity pebbles last a whole month or more. I love it.
Anyway it can be hard to cook for one and I don’t like to throw away food. After three days of eating the same meal, even if the other one is different, well it bugs me. Makes me feel poor. That’s stupid I know. Last week I threw away a big pot of noodles and beef, it was delicious but after eating it four times I count stand the sight of it. I even made it half the size I normally would but it was still too much.
I also try to eat only what I crave and not each too much. I find it hard to eat something if I don’t love it. I lost 40 pounds years ago and this is how I keep it off. If I want a donut I’ll eat it but won’t eat dinner on top of it. So far so good.
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I’m newly single the last couple years after 26 years of cooking for a family. I absolutely love shopping and cooking just for myself. It’s amazing to have a box of fruity pebbles last a whole month or more. I love it.
Anyway it can be hard to cook for one and I don’t like to throw away food. After three days of eating the same meal, even if the other one is different, well it bugs me. Makes me feel poor. That’s stupid I know. Last week I threw away a big pot of noodles and beef, it was delicious but after eating it four times I count stand the sight of it. I even made it half the size I normally would but it was still too much.
I also try to eat only what I crave and not each too much. I find it hard to eat something if I don’t love it. I lost 40 pounds years ago and this is how I keep it off. If I want a donut I’ll eat it but won’t eat dinner on top of it. So far so good.
When you make a meal that's too big, portion it into containers and freeze them. No waste, and after a few weeks of doing this you have a rotating selection of individual sized meals that can be taken out of the freezer in the morning for supper in the evening. Then you get some variety, but still only have to cook once or twice a week.
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I eat the same things very often but not everyday.
Monday - Friday: I eat the exact same breakfast and fruit and pre-gym snack (on gym days). Lunch is basically leftovers from dinner the night before. Dinner could be anything.
Saturday & Sunday: This is completely different depending on plans for the day and planned exercise level. I also have way more time to cook or be creative so I like to leave these days open.
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I’m newly single the last couple years after 26 years of cooking for a family. I absolutely love shopping and cooking just for myself. It’s amazing to have a box of fruity pebbles last a whole month or more. I love it.
Anyway it can be hard to cook for one and I don’t like to throw away food. After three days of eating the same meal, even if the other one is different, well it bugs me. Makes me feel poor. That’s stupid I know. Last week I threw away a big pot of noodles and beef, it was delicious but after eating it four times I count stand the sight of it. I even made it half the size I normally would but it was still too much.
I also try to eat only what I crave and not each too much. I find it hard to eat something if I don’t love it. I lost 40 pounds years ago and this is how I keep it off. If I want a donut I’ll eat it but won’t eat dinner on top of it. So far so good.
When you make a meal that's too big, portion it into containers and freeze them. No waste, and after a few weeks of doing this you have a rotating selection of individual sized meals that can be taken out of the freezer in the morning for supper in the evening. Then you get some variety, but still only have to cook once or twice a week.
The problem is I wait to long to do this. I make the meal thinking it’s so yummy I’ll have no problem finishing it all, 4 days later I’m bored and I think it’s too old to freeze. I need to do freeze it day one. I clearly developed a pattern and tossing food is just dumb.
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I’m newly single the last couple years after 26 years of cooking for a family. I absolutely love shopping and cooking just for myself. It’s amazing to have a box of fruity pebbles last a whole month or more. I love it.
Anyway it can be hard to cook for one and I don’t like to throw away food. After three days of eating the same meal, even if the other one is different, well it bugs me. Makes me feel poor. That’s stupid I know. Last week I threw away a big pot of noodles and beef, it was delicious but after eating it four times I count stand the sight of it. I even made it half the size I normally would but it was still too much.
I also try to eat only what I crave and not each too much. I find it hard to eat something if I don’t love it. I lost 40 pounds years ago and this is how I keep it off. If I want a donut I’ll eat it but won’t eat dinner on top of it. So far so good.
When you make a meal that's too big, portion it into containers and freeze them. No waste, and after a few weeks of doing this you have a rotating selection of individual sized meals that can be taken out of the freezer in the morning for supper in the evening. Then you get some variety, but still only have to cook once or twice a week.
The problem is I wait to long to do this. I make the meal thinking it’s so yummy I’ll have no problem finishing it all, 4 days later I’m bored and I think it’s too old to freeze. I need to do freeze it day one. I clearly developed a pattern and tossing food is just dumb.
What I like to do is leave enough of the leftovers in the fridge to have one serving for the next day (or two if it's very yummy), and then put the rest in the freezer. This way I can satisfy my desire to enjoy it again the next day if I want to, while ensuring I have plenty to enjoy it a week or two from now.
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I’m newly single the last couple years after 26 years of cooking for a family. I absolutely love shopping and cooking just for myself. It’s amazing to have a box of fruity pebbles last a whole month or more. I love it.
Anyway it can be hard to cook for one and I don’t like to throw away food. After three days of eating the same meal, even if the other one is different, well it bugs me. Makes me feel poor. That’s stupid I know. Last week I threw away a big pot of noodles and beef, it was delicious but after eating it four times I count stand the sight of it. I even made it half the size I normally would but it was still too much.
I also try to eat only what I crave and not each too much. I find it hard to eat something if I don’t love it. I lost 40 pounds years ago and this is how I keep it off. If I want a donut I’ll eat it but won’t eat dinner on top of it. So far so good.
When you make a meal that's too big, portion it into containers and freeze them. No waste, and after a few weeks of doing this you have a rotating selection of individual sized meals that can be taken out of the freezer in the morning for supper in the evening. Then you get some variety, but still only have to cook once or twice a week.
The problem is I wait to long to do this. I make the meal thinking it’s so yummy I’ll have no problem finishing it all, 4 days later I’m bored and I think it’s too old to freeze. I need to do freeze it day one. I clearly developed a pattern and tossing food is just dumb.
Day 3/4 is when I freeze things in individual containers. Then I know I just have to eat the day I defrost.