An experiment in eating

[nancylebov]

Lately, I've been trying out the revolutionary idea of only eating the foods that make me feel good, and not eating the foods that make me feel bad, at least so far as is reasonably convenient.

Feeling good is measured mostly by how I feel a few hours after I've eaten, but what I eat can affect me for up to a few days.

The "do eat" list is fish, meat, eggs, fruit, veggies, seafood (except crayfish and squid), nuts, seeds, sweet potato, squash, probably mushrooms, probably tofu, beans, olive oil (haven't experimented with other oils), and salt, herbs, and spices. The "don't eat" list is sugar, honey, dairy, and grains (including corn). And jicama. Lentils are marginal. Quinoa is probably ok, but I haven't tested it enough to be sure. I haven't done a careful check on wild rice, either.

Sugar knocks me out. A very moderate binge (a box of Entemann's chocolate covered donuts--that's 8 fairly large donuts) eaten in the course of two or three days means I won't get anything much done for two or three days afterwards. What's worse, it looks like an emotional problem--I keep thinking "I don't care", which is not what you'd call a standard symptom of being poisoned. I have tested this out enough times to be quite sure of it.

If I complain about not getting anything done, I would be pathetically grateful if you'd ask me what I've been eating lately.

Cow's milk (yes, even reasonably hard cheeses) upsets my stomach if I eat much of it. Goat's milk cheese is easier on my stomach, but both sorts of cheese seem to lower my mood. There's more to milk than lactose, and some people have trouble with the non-lactose components.

Grains also seem to do some mood/energy lowering for me, and wheat is apt to make me obsess about things that get on my nerves.

I've been poking around this for some time, but I had no idea how much better I'd feel if I gave up sugar and grain and dairy at the same time.

Quality matters. Fortunately, I can get very good grass fed beef at the farmer's market for about $7/pound for roasts, and frozen fish at Trader Joe's for $5 to $7/pound. I can eat just about any amount of the $3+/dozen free range/organic eggs, but a couple of days in a row of $1/dozen eggs make me feel a little off.

I haven't tried high omega-3 eggs--I've heard that they don't have much added omega-3, and I'm supplementing with fish oil anyway.

Veggies are important. I've tried making meals of one of those Indian meal packets plus eggs, and I feel a lot better if some veggies are added to the stirfry.

I loosen up a lot on the requirements if I'm eating out, but I'm eating out a lot less. Even a cheap meal out costs at least $7, and I can eat much better for less at home. Also, since the foods that are good for me are very low glycemic, I don't feel hungry as often, and when I do feel hungry, it doesn't feel as bad.

I've lost a little weight, but am trying to keep a firm grip on the idea that losing weight doesn't prove anything about whether I'm doing something right.

The goal is to have more good hours.

When I first started with this, I wondered why more people aren't doing this simple experiment, but then I realized that it takes pretty steady self-monitoring (though a diary could substitute if you don't do it as habitually as I do) and eating a wide enough variety of foods to have some idea of their effects.

And then you get an answer, and it's good news in a way and a pain in the ass in others. Notice that most culturally elaborated fun foods are off my list. I guess I could devil some eggs. Seriously, if any of you have ideas about interesting things to do with the foods on my "do eat" list, let me know. There's nothing wrong with living on stirfries and three sisters soup, but I could use a little more variety. (Three sisters soup includes corn, but it seems to be little enough to not matter.)

Comments

[twistedchick]

How are tomatoes/tomato sauce? If you're eating grass-fed beef and you want to do something festive, you could do what my aunt did -- get a bottom-round steak, pound it a little to even out the thickness and tenderize (slightly), make a stuffing of mushrooms and whatever else you want (she used a variation on her meatball recipe with more grain, but you could use squash and mushrooms and a little powdered oatmeal or cornmeal to hold it together), wrap the steak around the stuffing and tie it and cook it in seasoned tomato sauce (as in, half submerged in the sauce and rolled over occasionally so it all is exposed to sauce.) It slow-cooks nicely, the sauce tenderizes the meat, and it can be eaten sliced like a jelly roll, with the sauce over whatever other veggies you've got, if you like. Keeps nicely in the fridge for a few days.

Re corn, it matters what kind of corn you're considering. Older varieties seem not to have so much natural sugar in them, as in the basis of corn syrup. Corn meal should be less of a problem than corn flakes, for example. Southern corn (which tends to be white kernel) seems to have more than the yellow flint corn I grew up with. Canned often has sugar added.

You don't mention green veggies. How about green beans, broccoli, salad greens, etc?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes are fine. The only rule is to smell before buying if I want a fresh tomato that tastes like anything.

And buy your heirloom tomatoes *now*. I assume that we're not too many years from tomatoes that are bred to look like heirlooms but have no flavor.

That recipe sounds lovely. Thank you.

I did mention veggies--fifth item on the "do eat" list. All green veggies are fine. Likewise red, orange, yellow, and purple.

[twistedchick]

You didn't specify about the veggies, and I do know people who find broccoli and many greens inedible, for whatever reason.

The recipe is a variation on a traditional Italian bracciole (my spelling may be variant.) It can also, always, have onions and garlic; it should have a bay leaf in the sauce, also basil, oregano or marjoram and if you wish a pinch (no more) of cinnamon. I use prepared cooked tomato sauce because I cannot eat uncooked tomato.

[redbird]

Somewhat interesting: sweet potatoes, apples, cinnamon, and some sort of fat, baked. Butter is traditional, I know dairy-free margarine works, olive oil would change it but possibly in good ways.

Roast any sort of meat with fruit alongside: chicken with apricots or prunes (dried works fine) has a lot history.

If tofu is okay, soy in general might be good, and that simplifies the oil question.

I note there's no mention on your list of caffeinated anything; have you tested those yet? (Black coffee or tea is probably simplest, given the no-sugar no-dairy thing.)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Caffeine seems like a credit card sort of thing. Adds energy in the short run, but I pay extra for it. On the other hand, it might partly be that coffee is too bitter for my tastes. If I add enough milk and sugar to make it tolerable, I get an upset stomach.

Also, tea is weird for me. I enjoy some teas, but I just don't feel an impetus to make them for myself.

Just using olive oil doesn't seem like a problem to me. I could get back into using nut oils for flavor.

That baked apple/sweet potato thing sounds nice.

[redbird]

Parboil the sweet potatoes first. Slice them and apples. Alternate layers (two or three layers of each) with fat on top of every layer or every other. Cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top. I think it's 45 minutes at 350F (180C). This is out of the Fanny Farmer cookbook, and I'm typing from memory, so if it disagrees with me, follow it.

[gildedacorn.livejournal.com]

What I do: First, preheat the oven to 450.

Take a chicken, rub lemon juice all over it, and sprinke it with salt, pepper, and rosemary.

Take some dried apricots and raisins. Chop the apricots. You should end up with about a cup and a half. Add cinnamon to taste. Stuff the chicken with this.

Put the chicken in the oven and immediately turn it down to 350. Roast for 20 minutes per pound.

(When Arviragus does this, he rubs the chicken with cinnamon as well and leaves out the pepper and rosemary.)

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

Sashimi appears to still be on your list. Have you taken a look at "Eat right for your type" and its sister books?

It's based on blood type but because some of the configurations can get funky it has a lot of recipes.

Also, have you tried SPROUTED grain bread? apparently grinding the grain after it's sporuted makes a major difference.

and have you looked into Celiac disease & ruled it out?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I haven't looked at the those books. They sound like they're worth a hack, even if my blood type is O and I don't seem to have an 0 personality.

Just glancing at the site reminds me that seaweed is probably a good choice for me.

I haven't tried sprouted grain bread, nor sprouted grain. Sprouted grain would make the grain into something more like veggies.

My impression is that Celiac disease leads to much worse digestive problems than I've ever had.

[lexica510.livejournal.com]

I've been following the Blood Type Diet on and off for years now, and my experience of it is that when I eat according to the BTD guidelines, I feel healthier and more energetic; when I eat foods listed as "avoids", I feel unhealthy, sluggish, and out of sorts. A lot of the foods on the Avoid list are ones that I had already figured out I don't thrive on (dairy, red meat, and all the nightshade vegetables).

My husband's experience is the same. He's a type O and I'm a type A, fwiw.

[followed your link over from Making Light, btw. Hi!]

michael vassar

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's working. You seem higher energy recently, and maybe slightly smarter too. The music metaphor from our last conversation was fantastic, and you had a number of other really excellent points.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

By sweet potato do yo mean yam or batata (true sweet potato)? I presume the former.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Yam. I don't know where I can find true sweet potatoes. Culinarily, are they much different from yams?

[haircaspian.livejournal.com]

Tomato soup, pumpkin soup, curry with potato/pumpkin/sweet potato mixed in instead of serving with rice.

I wish I Could Scare Up Some Helpful Advice.

[anniemal.livejournal.com]

My cooking is pretty far-ranging, but I only know that lots of protein makes me extra happy. Source doesn't matter. Just whole protein, and plenty. A pond of cottage cheese, a can of tunafish, and--thou? Anyway, I also am okay on whole grains in moderation. I eat vegetables, but not unvarnished. It's an "I make myself". If only I didn't crave everything bad for me, I'd feel great.

If you want, I'll take your "good foods" and poke at more recipes that use only them. It sounds like everyone else has chipped in a good start off the top. If you need more, let me know. It will be a project, and take some time, but it will exhaust my inventiveness and research abilities.

Tomorrow, I'm offering my mate chicken sausage w/apples, and fried yams with a dash of cinnamon. Greens? hmm.

Re: I wish I Could Scare Up Some Helpful Advice.

[anniemal.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've been marinating tofu in the leftover garlic sauce from Monday. Yummm. I have a recipe for restaurant-style garlic sauce that I invented and was satisfied with. Requires double boiler, but goes on everything.

[(Anonymous)]

I just saw at Barnes & Noble The 150 Best/Healthiest/something Foods; seems almost like you're already on a similar tack,and might give it a look. (If that's not what you're doing now.)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'll take a look, but I bet those food were chosen according to a bunch of theories and/or large statistical samples.

Let me underline this: I am basing my choices on how those foods make me feel.

It isn't surprising if there's some overlap with other people's lists, and even with nutritional theory.

However, anyone else who takes a crack at this will probably end up with different lists. I suspect that eating much sugar is bad for a lot of people, but how much they can handle with no ill effects will vary. Rather more people don't have problems from dairy.

On the other side, some people have allergies and sensitivities that I don't. Fish is an excellent food for me, and deadly for a few people.

Afaik, it doesn't matter what time of day I eat what, but I gather that timing matters to some people.

[gildedacorn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and what about potatoes?

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Right--I should have mentioned them. They seem to be roughly in the same category as refined grain for me.

[(Anonymous)]

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, by Jonny Bowden. I couldn't exactly swear as to quality of its advice, but I do note here and elsewhere something of backlash against (nonfermented) soy.