I apologize for my nonexistant posting this week. I got sick again a week ago today. Which was mostly weakness, painful coughing and a lot of congestion. I hate talking about being sick, it's a lot like talking about the weather...boring to me. So all told, I went to the doctor nurse practitioner, I had an ear infection.
I've been taking vitamins and drinking water on a pretty regular rotation and eating really well. I have so much energy today because of it. I'm still coughing, but I'm just ready to get back to normal.
What do you like to eat?
I've been thinking a little this week about food that I like. Food that I actually like. As I was craving garlic, olive oil, salmon, salads and qunioa pretty much everyday this week. When I'm sick I like comfort food and those foods comforted me, but traditionally I think of comfort food as mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.
Often times I will eat something that I think I like, usually of the high carb, high fat, high sugar variety only to find that I only think I like it. I mentally think I like eating crap food, but when I actually think about it while doing it I find myself thinking "this really isn't that good, why am i eating it?" which is pretty common for me when it comes to most fast food or convenience foods. I know I'm not alone, I've heard people say "I ate __________ and I really did not like it at all, I felt like crap afterwards" and so I've been asking myself what do I really like to eat?
When I listen to my body, my body likes salads with protein. I love salads. I don't like them because they are healthful, or because they are "diet food" I love them because they taste good and I feel good when I eat them.
I love oily salmon with lots of garlic and olive oil and quinoa (very high in protein and fiber) pretty much the same as the salmon: with lots of garlic and a dash of sea salt. I've found that I crave this food a lot on dark salad greens mixed together with yogurt dressing or oil-based dressing.
Eating this way is not only filling, but satisfying. I never feel physically sick after eating it. I'm finding that I'm gravitating towards food that make me feel good and I crave that feeling over comfort. This is a place that I have not easily arrived to, trust me, this has been a struggle.
So I'm just curious about the rest of you... comfort, stress, advertising aside, what does your body crave?
My body likes lots of cereal. I’ve been eating that for dinner every night this week. It’s like dinner and dessert combined and is usually fewer points than anything else I might eat for dinner. I also love chicken parmigiana…mmmmmm.
Feel better!
Spinach! I cannot get enough spinach sauteed with garlic and a little olive oil. If I’m really “on it” i’ll add halved cherry tomatos and feta cheese. YUM!
It’s so true- I’m trying to get better at actually LISTENING to my body, and focusing on how I feel after eating certain things. I may think I want that extra bowl of cereal, but in reality? It will make me shaky and I’ll just feel… off. But then tomorrow comes, and I’m reaching for that cereal box again!
And now I want salmon. Drat.
Oatmeal. I’m an oatmeal nut. Sometimes I mix in a little brown sugar and walnuts. Sometimes I dump in a container of blackberry yoplait. Tasty tasty stuff.
I honestly love homemade mac and cheese.
I also love pop. LOVE pop.
And Cheez-Its.
And cheese.
And all Chicago foods.
And good pie.
I’d say those are the main ‘unhealthy’ things that I love.
But I too love salads.
And salmon.
And strawberries.
And chicken.
Things that I think I love, but in reality, they’re just ok:
Bread
Chips
Muffins
Regular pie
Green peppers (haha…a healthy food snuck on the list!)
Extra salad dressing
Thanks for making me think about this!
This is an interesting question. Because as I was reading along I was nodding at the part about eating crap and then feeling like crap afterwards. I did that a lot and knew I would feel that way.
I don’t know if I am craving healthy food yet or just mentally adjusted to it. But I am eating a huge amount of green bean fries!
My “go to” food that I always love and makes me feel good is albacore tuna. With dill pickles. And tomato. Yum! I love fresh tuna, too, but usually just have the tinned stuff.
Yogurt has also recently turned into one of my favourite things, it replaces candy for me and gives me my sweet fix!
I have been struggeling with my weight since i can remember and within the last 2 years i decided to do something about it. I started eating healthy and i realized that i dont love sour cream and cheese as much as i thought i did. I love chocolate; however, i can see a tray on a co-workers desk and walk by it, instead of hoovering until the point they offer. i find that i love vegtables, especially with spray butter, i love salmon, prepared with garlic and other random spices, turkey burgers are delicious, and i love pork and beans. i have found that i enjoy healthy food more than i ever enjoyed a greasy cheese steak or a fried food. i find now that i eat to nourish my body instead of finding something to satisfy my hunger. i think what you are doing is great, keep up the great work!!
Interesting question! I think so many of us have lost touch with what we actually LIKE to eat, like you said, because of diets and eating what we think we *should* like.
The truth is, I really do love salmon, salads, shrimp, and brown rice. But yeah, I also really love macaroni and cheese, french bread dipped in olive oil, Girl Scout cookies, and red wine. Hey, isn’t that also called balance?
The more you incorporate healthy foods into your lifestyle, the more you will crave healthy. It may seem like a miracle to suddenly crave vegetables, but if you’re listening to your body, it’s telling you what it needs. It’s very empowering to know you’re giving your body what it wants and needs! Feel better!
I’ve been reading your blog for many months now, and I finally decided I should delurk and let you know I look forward to your posts! Hope you get to feeling better soon.
I’m like you; I crave good salads and vegetables (more than fruit, even), more of the salty, garlicy, herby foods than sweets (though I do like sweets, too, but if I had to choose one or the other to eat for the rest of my life and nothing else, I’d choose the other).
Sorry you are a bit under the weather this week! I had an experience much like you are talking about — last week I thought I wanted pizza, but when I ate it, I didn’t feel good at all! I’d much rather have something delicious and healthy than feel sluggish and sick for sure. But I still battle those “bad” cravings, especially now being pregnant!
Luckily right now I can’t get enough fruit, which isn’t such a bad thing to want all the time!
Hope you feel better!
Sorry to hear about your ear infection, but me I love anything garlicy yum! Good to see you didn’t let your diet slip because you were sick.
Sadly, sometimes my body truly craves homemade Chez Mix, Cheez-Its and often dark, dark chocolate. And I don’t feel badly (physically and usually emotionally) after indulging.
More often, my body craves hot green tea and balanced, healthy meals packed with flavor and texture–oats with walnuts and milk, apple with peanut or almond butter, diced grilled chicken and avocado on top of a crunchy, fresh salad. Eating healthy is more indulgent than most people give it credit for. What’s more tasty than fish with capers and lemon or a homemade honey mustard balsamic dressing on crisp chunks of romaine and peppery field greens?
So sorry to hear about another week foiled by germs. While you were ear infecting, I was earring obsessing! The two pairs I ordered arrived yesterday. (Great packaging, btw, and I loved the note!) I spent 20 minutes today deciding which of the two new pairs to wear. The organism earrings won, but I’m having a hard time NOT purchasing the Olympia and With Love Lulu pairs.
Last night I was craving salad with olive oil so I jumped on it! I don’t often crave healthy foods. One of my more interesting cravings is garlic bread with peanut butter or peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. If I even get pregnant, I’m sure I’ll be coming up with some very interesting food combinations.
I still have to try quinoa. I keep hearing lots of good things about it!
I’m writing this after just eating some baked salmon with red onions& mushroom & brown rice. All I can say is I concur.
I find that I crave salads too! With chopped veggies & occassionally with some feta. The thought of balsamic vinagrette drives me insane…in a good way!
My husband and I have this one indulgent dessert a month thing-we’re doing. Yet I haven’t thought of what I want to indulge in yet b/c I’m just not craving it.
When I went to my nutrionist I wrote down the foods I like (fish, brown rice, salads, a whole grain roll) and I was wondering if she thought I was putting it on-but my niece was like “Yup, that’s what you like.”
Veggies. Lots of greens. Perfectly cooked, though. I just feel incredible great after a meal with lots of veggies.
Hope you’re feeling better!
i have been having the same kind of sick week – feeling a little better now – my weakness is ice cream – when i just Have to have it, I go fat free.
for the past four months, since having my baby, i have craved two things: chocolate and roasted greens. I eat other things because I’m breastfeeding and want little mister to have a greater variety of nutrients but if it were just me? Fudge and brussels sprouts at least 5 times a week.
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So true! So often the stuff I *think* I want ends up making me sick, leaves me feeling lethargic, or just doesn’t really satisfy.
My newest love is homemade tortilla chips (baked, not fried) with hummus dip. SO YUM. For meals I often crave steel cut oatmeal for breakfast with unsweetened applesauce, diced apples and cinnamon. For lunch I love a salad with shredded chicken on it. Fave dinners include fish and ground turkey meals…and our homemade BBQ chicken pizza on whole grain crust. Delish!
Hope you’re feeling better! I’m a new follower, but already a big fan.
My favorite crave food is roasted vegetables (beets,carrots,potatoes – white & sweet,and anything else in season), drizzled with olive oil, rosemary, fresh ground pepper & sea salt. Can’t wait for farmer’s market season! Chocolate, oatmeal with blueberries, walnuts and maple syrup. And I love salad, but it doesn’t love me
Pasta. Always – all the time – Pasta. It is my crack…..
Spinach and garlic lots of it too! I crave lots of fruits too banana’s and oranges. Before I would want bread and potato’s still working on those craving but have come a long way! I hope u feel better soon, I love reading your blog, it motivates me. Keep it up!
Sorry to hear that you are sick and I hope you feel better soon!
I also love love love salmon but if I am going to admit my comfort food it would for sure be macaroni and cheese but the homemade kind not the boxed kind. LOL! You could also add in a juicy burger topped with mayo as well as bowtie pasta drizzled with olive oil and lots of parmesan cheese. I can also eat lots and lots of bread! Okay I am a carb maniac!
Lately I have really been enjoying my healthy meals though and even when I went to Macaroni Grill it was not even close to as good as I remembered it being. The healthy food is definitely growing on me!
It took me awhile, but Atkins has taught me how much I love fruit (strawberries!) and even veggies. I actually taste my food now. I chew and savor every bite. Eating is an experience – not just another thing I do every day. It’s pretty special.
Did you know you can treat ear infections with lymph drainage massage? That’s just one of the the surprising tidbits I learned during ‘love your lymph’ month in February. I hope your feeling better soon.
POTATOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you feel better soon.
Unfortunately, I am NOT one of those people who feels sick after eating something heavy/greasy/or incredibly unhealthy. I just love to eat. But things I love most? Veggie pizza, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, guacamole and ice cream.
I realized that I dislike cream and sugar in my coffee. I used to put a ton in there and never could finish a cup of it. I started putting less and I enjoyed my coffee more. I now drink it black and savor every sip. I love being able to taste my actual coffee rather than trying to sift through the flavors of thick cream and sugar.
I crave Rite Aid chocolate chip cookie dough icecream and chocolate icing. Thats what my body craves.
But after that, my body craves a big salad, fruit for breakfast, a lentil burger with lots of veges on the side, a bowl of oatmeal.
hope you will be back soon! love reading your blog, so much!
I love raw broccoli with any kind of dip. It’s my go-to snacky food. While hubby sits on the couch with a bag of chips, I can eat a bowl of broccoli and not feel the least bit guilty. Only downside is the gas!! LOL!
Cravings are funny. After a while, you learn a lot about what is happening to yourself by listening to them.
For example, when I feel a bit drowsy and crave my favourite C-vitamin mix done with raw garlic, parsley and olive oil, I know I am fighting a cold.
On the other side of the equation, even now after having lost over 30 lbs, I can’t have any “plastic with calories” food in my house because i finish it (unless I bought for my kids, then i don’t touch them).
If you like salmon, try this-
1 pound salmon
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 TBSP finely chopped fresh ginger
3 TBSP low sodium soy souce
1 TBSP dry cooking sherry
half of a sweet onion cut into rings and half
Criss cross 2 large pieces of foil in a baking dish and sprinkle with olive oil. Lay the salmon on top, sprinkle with salt if desired. Combine garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sherry in a bowl and mix. spread mixture over salmon. Place onions around fish. Close up the foil around the salmon tighly forming a pouch. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. (Less if you like it rare-medium rare and even less time if there is no skin on the salmon)
I love, love, love, ice cream. I do notice that I get a sugar crash afterwards and I want to nap, but ice cream is soooooooo yummy!!! I just had a baby (8 weeks ago), and had really healthy cravings. I think it’s nature’s way of making the best environment possible for the baby…But now, I can’t get enough of the ice cream!!!
Hey those antibiotics are the same one I had for my ear infection two weeks ago.. They were really cute looking. Loved the pink.. LOL hope you feel better….