Stuck at Eight

A few weeks ago, there was a story about an obese eight-year old in England whose mother almost lost custody of him because of his extreme weight. Okay, well, besides bringing up issues of the government as a parent (quite literally in this case), bullying, and food guidelines, the discussions on talk radio about this reminded me of another, perhaps less important, but still salient, point. We generally learn all of our eating habits by the time we are this boy's age.

One evening, I was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as part of my dinner (which also included a small salad and a stick of string cheese). My roommate commented that if only his wife would let him, he too would eat like he was a little kid. And then I had to acknowledge to myself that I was stuck at eight years old.

Because of Biker Boy's gluten-freeness, we rarely eat out. And since I can barely boil water for pasta and don't have the patience for preparing meals involving more than 20 minutes of prep time, I rarely eat well. Biker Boy has a saying that some people live to eat and some people eat to live. I fall into the second category. I always eat breakfast (did you know some people don't?), but after that, things get fuzzy. Lunch? Almost never. And dinner. Dinner can be just the PB & J. This has a lot to do with why I always eat breakfast. I'm starving when I wake up. Starving. I also cut off eating at 8:00 at night no matter what.

Then I was balancing my checkbook and realized I spend way too much on food. For someone who doesn't cook and doesn't eat out, I sure do stop at the grocery store and fast food places a lot (most of the time I order salads and baked potatoes at fast food places, but I can make those at home). So I decided that this week I was going to try a food plan. Did you get that? A food plan.

I spent two hours on Sunday coming up with ideas for three meals a day and a snack each day. There were some limitations on these things, however. Prep had to be limited to 20 minutes. No recipe could involve any ingredient I feel is disgusting (like oregano). Also, I subscribe to the three food groups a meal society, so each meal must contain at least three food groups. Also, I'm not on a diet, but if my calorie intake per day is over about 1500, there is a bit of concern. I am a picky eater, to be sure, so that's why this took two hours. Then it took me another half an hour to make a grocery list and a full hour at the grocery store. Man, this housewife stuff takes forever.

But, surprisingly, with the meal plan, I am actually excited to eat. I still am not the kind of person who starts talking about the next meal while I am still eating one meal, but I look forward to the eating. Not the making (oh, no), but the eating.

So, since I know everyone else is eager to hear what I consider decent meals, here you go. Here is what I have actually had to eat so far this week. If the experiment continues on in a good manner, you may hear about it more. Especially when I try to convert some of these things into gluten-free options.

Monday:
Breakfast - 1 cup Frosted Mini Wheat with Silk enhanced soy milk, banana, cup of orange juice
Lunch - salad with romaine and Boston lettuce, crumbled feta cheese, craisins, cashews, and some white balsamic salad dressing
Dinner - turkey burger (ground turkey, one egg, some bread crumbs [I'll admit I didn't have bread crumbs and had to use some of my roommate's], black pepper, dry garlic, onion flakes), on whole wheat bread (what? a roll - surely you jest), green beans

Tuesday:
Breakfast - I was at Biker Boy's, so we had a gluten-free hot cereal (FYI - Bob's Mighty Tasty Gluten Free Hot Cereal) complete with a tad bit of brown sugar, walnuts, craisins, and 1% milk
Lunch - Okay, I admit it. I skipped lunch. There was no time.
Dinner - Panera. In my defense, I knew I'd be downtown on Tuesday night and this was on the actual food plan and budgeted in the food budget. I get the Pick Two and always get the broccoli cheddar soup with a salad.

Wednesday(planned):
Breakfast - A mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest, and a couple of teaspoons of granulated sugar spread on an English muffin, banana, strawberries
Lunch - Leftover turkey burger, small salad
Dinner - Strange recipe I have for lasagna for one. I'll let you know how it turns out.

For those of you who don't care about my eating habits, sorry! I'll write a more interesting post next time around!! About biking! Thanks for coming spring! Or my summons for jury duty!! Can't wait.