Food for the Fun of it?

I used to spend a lot of creative energy making exciting new meals for the family every day.  Even back then, though, I loved having “leftovers” from last night’s dinner for the next day’s lunch.  I cherished the nurturing feeling of security, knowing that lunch had already been made for me.

Wanting to expand this feeling, from time to time I advocated for batch cooking to save me time and energy in the kitchen.  I felt pretty stretched with 2 little kids and lots of ambition.  

The subject of “leftovers” sparked many heated debates with my spouse:

“Making a big pot of beans that lasts for 3 days takes the same amount of time and energy to prepare as a smaller pot that lasts one dinner!”

“They aren’t fresh!  I can taste the difference in quality, even overnight!””

I researched a bit online to discover that prepared food is safe for at least four days in the fridge!

“I don’t care what they say.  It’s not good.  It’s not fresh.  Fresh food is worth it.  Are you really that busy?”  (Grrr!) 

I suspected that she was simply bored, craving the novelty of new meals, freshly prepared daily. Our battle went on for years, even involving the kids,  

“Aren’t these leftovers?” Chimed a little voice, sneering distastefully.  I gave up.  

Year later, though, I began to make some ground when my partner finally got tired of carrying around an extra 30 pounds of body fat.  

Suddenly, it became attractive to make the process of eating more simple, a bit less exciting, less complex!  There came to be a value in knowing the amount of protein in a meal, and how many calories it contained.  

What a shocker how little protein we were eating!

Revelations came in fast pitch, such as:

• Fruit has almost no protein and tons of quick carbohydrates!  

• Vegetables are awesomely nutritious and high in protein per calorie, but have so few calories that the protein is negligible!  

• Beans are a fantastic protein-carbohydrate source, but, especially for older, strength focused athletes, their protein numbers come in shy of optimal!

Forgiving all the past pain and bickering around food, I quickly embraced the revelations my partner brought to the table.  A frustrated athlete my whole life, desperately wanting to build muscle and strength, I had been stubbornly playing the victim for years, “cursed” to be weak.  Discovering that my injuries and failure to build muscle related simply to my low protein intake showed me a room full of proverbial light switches.   I’ve been switching them on ever since.  

Now I have experience with clients too.  When wanting to change body composition, whether shedding body fat, building muscle, or both, it makes good sense to keep food simple, nutritious, and close at hand.  It works! 

Today, I know exactly what I am eating, and I am thrilled with that!  I plan ahead for the whole week in fact!  Food has become so easy!  I always have all my breakfast ingredients on hand.  I rotate through batch cooking other meals.  Last night, for example, I noticed that we will run out of prepared lentils by this afternoon, so I started soaking new beans (black beans for the next round).  A couple days ago, I made a big batch of seitan (delicious, high protein “wheat meat”) that goes phenomenally well with beans.  We always have tempeh (high protein soy product) on hand because we buy it wholesale in big sheets, and store it in the freezer.  

You get the idea, my partner and I are finally on the same team with food.  This makes life easy, and the easy makes it more fun! 

The excitement for new, different meals all the time has been replaced by athletic excitement and creative pursuits.  For her (side note: my partner’s gender changed while shedding body fat.   Results may vary.  Lol), having a body that is 30 pounds lighter is a good tradeoff.  Now she is looking forward to an Olympic weightlifting tournament, rather than a novel meal.  For me, yes, I finally got the savings in time, but the real win is in confidence and strength, and a body I love! 

Food for the fun of it? Yep, still happening. Batch cooked recipes are totally delicious, my favorites, in fact. Get creative! I even have a chocolate bread for a workout snack!

Plan your nutrition success in advance, and watch your fitness goals roll out easily. Let me know how it goes!