food dysfunction

[tielan]

Having major exec dysfunction around food lately

Eating meals - well, prepping them - is a horrendously big thing atm. I'll put off cooking for ages, and then stare at the fridge and the things in it and go "there's nothing to eat, I don't feel like anything".

I do have some instant or quick meals in the freezer. Dumplings. Soup and bread. Vegie lasagne. I can heat them up, no problem. But IDK, I'm just...not enthused. Hungry yes, and knowing I need something, but just...not enthused. And the prospect of having to do all the steps to get the food out? Feels like too much.

I'll do other things around the house, no problem - cleaning, gardening, work, etc. I'll go to the gym in the morning, go shopping to buy food (bananas and mandarins) But food? I'm just...struggling if it's not set down right in front of me ready to eat...

I was on the verge of having cereal for lunch today, and then I discovered the milk was off. And I can't have dry cereal. I cannot even.

There are lots of awesome takeaways around, but that requires effort. And choosing. And ARGH.

I guess I'll go the banana and mandarins for lunch. But I'm going to have to make a decision about dinner and I'm not entirely sure I can.

Comments

[raine]

Do you like nut butters? A large spoonful of peanut butter or almond butter, if you have them, will help stave off a little of the decision paralysis. Sometimes because you're hungry, you can't think, which leads to a spiral.

[tielan]

I can snack. I have some honey macadamias at my desk. Last week, I had fruit jellies in a nearby drawer and just ate through those. But I can't seem to put together actual nutrition right now.

[beatrice_otter]

If you have healthy snacks they ARE nutrition. Trail mix is food. So is chips-and-dip; if the dip is a salsa you're getting veggies, and if the dip is bean-based you're getting protein. Cheese and crackers is grain + dairy. There are a ton of options that are easy to snack on that will give you a mix of what nutrition you need. Also, meal replacement shakes and frozen dinners are a thing. Get a stash, and when you can't think to cook just grab one and boom, you're done.

I have been dealing with this most of my life, and it SUCKS, and I am so sorry you are having to deal with it now. Also, this is something you might want to get checked out with a doctor.

There are two things you need to worry about now. One, getting enough calories into you. Do not worry if they are the right balance nutritionally, or if they're too fatty, or whatever. Accidentally starving yourself is far more likely to cause other health problems than anything else. So make sure you're getting enough calories, whatever way you have to. Two, don't beat yourself up. Give yourself grace. Do not hold yourself to a standard you are not currently capable of holding. Do the best you can and then let it go. The only thing "But I should be able to" will get you is worsening the problem.

[tielan]

See, that's a mental model that's tricky for me. Snacks are snacks and food is food.

*exhales* I think there's just too much happening in my brain (and my life) right now to be able to contemplate meal prep.

[beatrice_otter]

I get that, I am often in that place where meal prep is just not going to happen. (I can have enough executive function to manage a job OR activities of daily living. Not both.)

But the "food" vs. "snack" is completely a 20th Century invention. It is a cultural thing. It does not reflect some Platonic Form of Edible Things. It's a social construct!

Your stomach does not know if the tomatoes and peppers and onions and other veggies come from salsa or a salad or a spaghetti sauce. It doesn't! And it also does not know whether the grains/carbohydrates and cheese came from a grilled cheese sandwich or from cheese and crackers. And nuts and berries (exactly like trail mix) were a large part of the diet of many hunter-gatherer groups. Not snacks, the main food they ate, especially in the winter! (Nuts and dried fruit keep well.) Veggies and dip! Again, your stomach does not know that they are a 'snack'! It just knows that it is calories and nutrients. There are so many snacks out there that are simple, easy, tasty, and nutritious. Find what you like and keep it on hand.

I wouldn't recommend just eating potato chips and calling it a meal; those have a very high fat amount and very low amounts of nutrition and they're not very substantial. But chips plus a cheese or bean based dip will get you at least some nutrients, plus calories, and if that's what you can do it's what you can do. Eating something is better than nothing.

[timespirt]

Pancakes are good. The old standby of peanut butter and jelly is too.

[tielan]

I have been having a craving for crepes lately...

[timespirt]

Ooh, I like those too.

[summerstorm]

I'm having a hard time with this as well, though I'm not sure how much of it is exec dysfunction and how much is just circumstance -- the fact that I'm the only person who can go grocery shopping for me and the heat, both when cooking and when going outside, are really doing a number on my already questionable eating schedule. I managed to thaw out some veal steak last night and cook it in large part because I could just have leftover cauliflower with it and not have to do anything else. (Also found out veal steak tastes nothing like normal steak, good to know for the future.) There have been so many days where I couldn't commit to anything and just ended up making myself a sandwich.

[tielan]

See, I couldn't even manage to make a sandwich. Not to mention that we don't really have sandwich fixings in the fridge right now due to it being winter.

For me, the dysfunction is connected with circumstance. At least, I think it is. Solitude is not agreeing with me.

[rmc28]

This is partly why I got myself a Huel subscription : if I am having a bad food day and don't know what to eat, I can make a Huel shake, and usually that helps enough to figure out if I need to eat more and what that might be. And I also have a live-in spouse who is a much better cook than me, and much better at literally catering for my brainweasels if I say "bad food day".

beatrice_otter is very wise too, I just want to add a hearty +1 to her comments.

(the other part of getting Huel is it's really hard for me to eat the recommended amount of protein per day for my weight and activity level without eating lots of meat or using protein shakes; I like meat well enough, but I'd rather not eat it every day)

[tielan]

I haven't had protein supplements/bars in a long time. I might have to look into them again.

I just did a bunch of dinner orders that will hopefully take me through the next few weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

[wpadmirer]

I quite simply would rather eat a protein bar than cook. It's just not worth it to me.

If I lived alone, I would probably eat a lot of ice cream dinners.

[tielan]

I love cooking and I love home-cooked food. But for Reasons right now, I'm really struggling to do meal prep and cooking.

[e_k_braveman]

I literally had a big problem with this yesterday, down to getting overwhelmed by the takeaway choices! I ended up just going to the kebab shop down the street since it was the closest, saved my day honestly.

My only idea for preventing this is to stock up on microwave and frozen meals, if you have the fridge/freezer space. Frozen veggies/fruits can also be really good, even if you don't make a big meal out of them, since the vitamins in them are well-preserved.

Either way, I hope you can overcome this soon!

[tielan]

Yeah, I just bought some ready-made meals, so we'll see. But at the peak of this, if it's not slid in front of me, ready to eat, then I have trouble even heating things up.

[lilysea]

I struggle with food too for a variety of reasons,
including mental exhaustion
and physical exhaustion
and sensory issues with some textures

one thing I find sometimes helps is calories that I can drink

eg fruit juice
vegetable juice
Almond milk.

Opening a bottle and drinking something through a straw is one of the lowest-effort ways to get calories into myself that I have found,

and it often works when everything else is All Too Hard.

[tielan]

This is an excellent point.

I'm thinking of protein shakes - not something I've bothered with in decades, but I'm thinking having some on hand might be helpful for these moments.

[facethestrange]

Ugh, it sucks when executive dysfunction focuses on food. (Mine fortunately does it relatively rarely.) But tbh, making all the decisions about decluttering AND making all the decisions about food, on top of other things... It sounds like something that can fry your brain. *offers support and hugs*