It’s pretty late in the day for me to be starting a post, but it was a busy day. Part of that busyness was preparing for the week to come. I cook on the weekend, mostly dinners for the rest of the week. I also have a menu of things I can cook quickly, to fill in any gaps. Today, I made a vegetable curry. It takes a lot of time to prep and cook it well, but it is a family favorite. Look at all the prep work! And there’s more: you can’t see the potatoes because they are hidden under the onions, and I didn’t bring the garlic cloves over, either. The ginger was all finely grated, and the spices dry-toasted in a skillet. These ingredients are just for the flavor building – more goes into the final dish: peas, and cream.
And then the resulting dish takes a fair amount of technique to build flavor – vegetable-only dishes need that extra work.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – Pancakes (200); pizza (300);
- 500 calories
Lunch – 2x Kirkland bratwurst (280); half whole wheat wrap (55);
- 615 calories
Dinner – 5oz white rice (160); 12oz vegetable curry (330);
- 490 calories
Snacking – kale and beans (50); pretzels (200)
- 250 calories
Total for the day: 1855 calories (limit 1850)
Preparing and planning for control
My lifestyle is an attempt to control my food intake and my body’s weight. The bargain I have made with myself, and have been able to keep, is that the food has to be worthwhile. If I am going to be saving my calories for mealtimes, then I have to do the work to make sure the meal is worth the wait and worth looking forward to. It’s much better than trying to force myself to eat less or to avoid certain foods, which feels like deprivation to me. And nobody reacts that well to force over the medium and long term. This way, it feels like I am taking care of myself, by doing a lot of work to make sure I will be happy with the food.
It is late. I’m going to bed, but I am going to bed well satisfied with my plan for the week and the cooking I did today.
-The Doctor