Saturday February 7, 2009 Do you ever just get tired of eating?  Ha.  If someone said that to me even 5 years ago I would have cracked up laughing.  Tired of eating?  My main source of addiction and pleasure?  No way.   Now, since my eating habits have changed, I’m eating less carcass and processed foods and more vegetables and fruits.  In the past few years, I have morphed into a new routine as far as eating to go low fat and largely unprocessed.  That changed my cooking habits.  That changed my shopping habits.  Now, instead of just stopping in the restaurant down the street, it’s less hassle and more variety if I just cook for myself. 

I used to eat out sometimes twice a day, because it was easier and I could stay more focused on work.  Plus everyone was a better cook than I was.  I had a half dozen favorite places and each had a half dozen favorite items I’d circulate between.  This went on for a decade, during which I’d gained 50 pounds.  Then the decision to go low fat and – along with it – went the beef, the butter, the mayo, the ribs, the chicken wings, the porkchops, the ceasar salads, the cream soups, the gravies, the nuts, the burgers!!!!!   Aaaaugh!  What to do?  What to eat?  At first, sometimes the effort to get thru a decent meal just made me feel tired of eating.

I’m a menu collector.  I found a menu from the now defunct Community Harvest Cafe and had my friend Susan Rizzo Giles’ vegetarian cookbook, so I began experimenting with dishes I used to enjoy at the Harvest.  I began discovering interesting vegetarian recipes online and experimenting with them.  Many of them I had to make low fat versions of.  Just because something is vegetarian doesn’t mean it’s good for you.  Some dishes are high in sugar and fats, in the form of nuts or coconut.  I don’t care for sweets but do miss nuts.

It took me a long time I will tell you, before I began to enjoy my new routine.  I knew it would keep me totally healthy and that was motivation enough, but it was a slow, years-long transition until it became automatic and second nature.  Now I usually enjoy my daily shopping and chopping and cooking routine.  But sometimes I’m just over it.

I figured I would begin looking at what I put into my body as fuel for the day’s activities, and think of it as prasad, and begin looking at my eating habits as part of my daily spiritual practice.  That gives me a different spin on it, when I need a different spin on it.

It isn’t the cooking that gets to me, it’s the constant cleanup that goes along with it.  I will admit I may reheat a pot of soup 3 times in one day and use a different spoon and cup each time.  If I have a cup of tea, I place my cup in the sink and I may drink 3 cups a day.  I like my dishes to go through hot soapy water and I don’t use a dishwasher.  I like the sensual pleasure of washing them mindfully in the soapy water.  So at day’s end I may have a sink of of dishes and I haven’t even cooked anything new yet.

Now I’m working on seeing the housecleaning as a spiritual practice.

I’ll keep you posted on how that works out.

Right now I’m headed to the Mt. Dora Art Fest.