eating – Sidewalk Face

Because I don’t want to do abstinence.

If the choice is some potato chips or no potato chips, I prefer some.

Of course, I have habits and vices that get over indulged. I am thinking of you coffee! When the window between those times narrows, I know I have to dial it back. Not because I am a good and disciplined person but because I fear real discipline. I should probably quite caffeine for a few days but how about I just go back to two cups a day instead of four?

Moderation is a strategy of having one’s cake and getting to eat a few bites as well.

This only works when you aren’t battling true addiction. There is one substance I am totally prostrate to, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers. Once the bag is open, I have to eat it all, as quickly as possible. This is going to get gross for a second so skip to the next paragraph if you want to avoid a visceral description of eating. I don’t even swallow fully before more goldfish go in. Apparently, I want the crunch and the bolus together. Yuck! I feel all that cheesy mass gathering behind my molars and yet I don’t clear it, I just keep inserting the crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

It’s hard to say if what is happening is enjoyment. It’s almost like I want it to end more than I want anything else and ending is not stopping but just getting the stuff gone.

It’s so bizarre to me because I don’t have this with anything else. OK, one other thing. Pringles. I guess I really like salty/crunchy. But I can and do make a can of Pringles last two days. Otherwise I’m okay. We always have an opened bag of corn chips and though I sometimes eat a regrettable amount, I do stop. I don’t require the absence of the chip to end the session. Who knows why some things are irresistible but those things have to be eliminated. I just can’t have Goldfish. I don’t buy them. It’s that simple.

I don’t care about giving up Goldfish. They mean nothing to me. I do care about coffee. I really don’t want to give it up. I think moderation is a good strategy if it can be achieved.

The May 12, 2014 issue of the New Yorker has an article titled “The End of Food”, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/12/140512fa_fact_widdicombe?currentPage=all, about a new product called Soylent. It’s an everything you need to live nutrition drink that eliminates the need to meal plan, cook, and chew. You just mix it up in a big pitcher, which they provide with your first order, and portion out cup fulls as needed to ward off hunger. It was described as being a bit like drinking pancake batter. I can’t wait to get it.

http://soylent.me

Andy and I have talked of little else since learning about it. We’ve ordered our first supply. It is to be used strictly for lunches during the work week. I do not anticipate enjoying the consumption of this product. I don’t much enjoy my hastily reheated leftovers or my Trader Joe’s bags of frozen ethnic rice, especially as I race to meet the day’s deadline. On really stressful work days, I eat at my desk anyway. Why not just drink lunch and be done with it?

I like to eat, I love good food and I would hate a world where triple cream brie and Italian rosemary crackers were gone. But, I find I spend a huge amount of time each and every week planning what we are going to eat, shopping for that food, paying for that food, unloading that food, cooking that food and cleaning up after cooking that food. No matter how well I do at these tasks, and I often kill it, I just can’t come out ahead. We eat everything and I have to start over. Where is the interest on my investment?

I won’t stop cooking dinner and we won’t stop eating it together. I like that. But I will like it more if the kitchen isn’t dirty from lunch.

To be continued. Our order won’t come for 10-12 weeks. The company is receiving $10,000 worth of orders every day. We are not the only people who want to eat people.

Tag: eating

Why I Do Moderation

Wherein I learn About Soylent and Am Not Disgusted