On not eating

[carbonel]

You know, not eating is a lot like not smoking. This is one of my favorite quotes from Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille:

"I thought about having a cigarette. I spent a great deal of time thinking about having a cigarette, though not as much time as I had six months before. Stupid way to spend your time, not smoking. 'Hi there, whatcha been up to?' 'Oh, I've been not smoking. You?' 'Not drinking. Whatcha gonna do tomorrow?' 'Oh, I thought I'd not drink coffee, without cream and sugar, you know. Maybe in the evening I'll not gamble for a while.'"

This morning I had a perfectly good breakfast (latte made with Hood's dairy beverage, low-carb yogurt with a quarter cup of low-carb cereal stirred into it), and in fact I'm not truly hungry. My stomach is content, as the Nethack line goes. But my stupid rebellious hindbrain keeps suggesting that just a little something to nibble on would be about right. I keep telling it that lunch is at 12:15, and it shuts up for a minute or two, then goes back to nagging me.

I don't have this problem in the evening, partly because both TV and cross-stitch are good distractions, and partly because I save my snack food for the evening, so I actually do have something to nibble on, at least until it's gone. But right now (and for the past couple of weeks) when I'm sitting at the computer working, unless I'm deeply involved in a project, I'm also not eating.

I hope this is a temporary state of affairs that will pass over time, but if not, I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. Or get fat again.

Comments

[homemakerj.livejournal.com]

It's the commercials! Right after Christmas all you see and hear is get fit, diet, and take this medicine. If you count the commercials in this category, even for just one day, you can stop not eating and resent being brainwashed.

[carbonel]

For some people, maybe, but I don't think that's my problem. I have a TiVo, so I fast-forward through most commercials. And I don't get cravings for specific things that are shown on TV. (The two things I miss the most are pizza and sushi, but those aren't really "nibble" food.)

[homemakerj.livejournal.com]

>(The two things I miss the most are pizza and sushi, but those aren't >really "nibble" food.)

Oh dear! I had a phase where I seemed to be allergic to pizza and I felt downright unAmerican. As for sushi, well, the one time I had it, I felt like I was eating my spare tire and the more I chewed, the bigger that tire got. (Hold that thought!)

It sounds silly, but drinking lots and lots of water really helps. I use ice and a straw. I never thought I'd say it, but now water is my first choice for a refreshment.

[pameladean]

You may have created a new definition of luxury; a life in which sushi IS a nibble food.

P.

[carbonel]

That would be luxury indeed, since it would require an in-house sushi chef, or at least frequent home delivery of fresh sushi. Like madeira, it just doesn't keep very well.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Madeira doesn't keep well? Then why would Great Aunt Sophie have a cellar of it that Pap laid down, so as to have a glass of it every night?

K. [or is "Fine Old Pale Madeira" something else?]

[carbonel]

It's a reference to the Flanders & Swann song "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear" -- but the song specifically refers to the Madeira having been opened:

Have some Madeira, m'dear!
I've got a small cask of it here,
And once it's been opened you know it won't keep.
Do finish it up -- it will help you to sleep

So Great Aunt Sophie is quite safe.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Madeira keeps fine, even an open bottle.

It does decline in quality slowly, though. When I opened the 1900 Madeira a couple of years ago, I noticed a difference over the weeks it was around.

B

[carbonel]

You mean the old man lied to the sweet young thing? How perfectly shocking!

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I found myself with three copies of that book....