Food boredom

 I notice that I fall into ruts and eat the same meals over and over again because they are easy to make and meet my goals for calories, protein, fat and carbs.  But I do long for a bit more variety.  How are others handling the food boredom issue?  Any tips or strategies?  I try new recipes occassionally, but they all end up tasting the same to me eventually, lol.  There are only so many ways that I know how to dress up ground meat and fish.  Suggestions, please!  Thanks.

 Have you checked out the "what are you eating today" posts.  That might give you some simple ideas.  How about checking out  http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.ca/ or http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.ca/p/whats-eggciting.html for some recipe ideas.

Andrea. 

 I love eggface recipes and make them often but I do find that many of her recipes end up tasting the same.  She has a common spicing profile..a bit heavy on the oregano for my tastes sometimes. Her protein muffins are a staple for me.  I've also made her eggbites many times and her ricotta pancakes (OMG, these are delicious).  I bought a ice cream maker a few weeks ago, but have only used it once...but looking forward to trying out more of her protein ice cream recipes

I've checked out but not made anything from Bariatric Foodie.  For some reason her recipes don't appeal to me as much as eggface recipes.  I'm trying to expand my recipe repetoire...and have been searching for good quinoa recipes online.  I've also come across tons of interesting low carb/high protein recipe sites which hold promise for some tasty dinners.

Maybe the food boredom is really about something else?  Maybe its about me looking to food to fill an emotional need that was never meant to be filled by food?  I think food used to comfort me when I was sad, entertain me when I was bored and act as a companion when I was lonely.  Now it just fuels my body mainly.

"Maybe the food boredom is really about something else?"


I think that's very insightful.  Maybe you can use that new space to develop new recipes that work for WLS with the food that appeal to you?

A girl in the TWH waiting room said to me one day, when I asked her what would be the one tip she would give if she could, and she said "...to find a hobby."  And I thought that was great.  What will be the most different to adjust to is the extra time.  Even on Optifast, right now, my world revolves around it.  After surgery for the first few months, food will be our main concern.  What do we do once things have settled into routine and all of a sudden there's all this time/space?

Maybe finding/developing new recipes that appeal to your tastes and work for WLS can be a hobby for you?  ...just an idea...

Good luck!!

This is another site I have tried.
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/cookbooks.asp?cookbook=13807

I have bought a couple of books. I like to cook so I go into a rut then spring for something totlaly different. When i don't feel great I go to chili so sometimes I get really tired of it.
Good luck with your search

A friend taught me how to make Indian curries, and they're very healthy and something different.

Basically, fry some onions and garli****il they're translucent.  You don't have to use much, if any, oil - perhaps a tsp or two of olive oil at most.  Add boneless, skinless chicken, or fish, or shrimp, and stirfry that for a few minutes.

Mix a couple of tablespoons each of turmeric powder, coriander powder, cayenne pepper powder (to taste - depends on how hot you want it), cumin, and garam masala powder in a small bowl. Add enough water to the bowl to mix the spices together and turn into a watery paste.  Throw that into the cooking pot with the meat, onions, and garlic.

Simmer for about 15 minutes covered so the moisture doesn't evaporate and the meat gets cooked through.  Fish will take less time than chicken.  Add a bit of water halfway through the cooking time if you find it doesn't look "saucy" enough, although since you probably wont' be eating much bread or rice with it, you might want it to be a little less saucy.

Now, it's traditional to eat curries with rice or roti, but not absolutely necessary.  You could experiment with a bit of quinoa, which I believe has some decent protein and iron.  (Directions on how to cook it are generally on the package).

Serve plain yogurt with it to cut the heat and for general yumminess since you can't drink at the same time as you eat.  (Which might be a good reason to cut back on the spicy heat, even if you're like me and love really hot food.)

You can also do things to mix it up a bit and make the curries taste different - experiment with different combinations of spices to make different curry powders (Jamaican ones, for instance, use cinnamon, cloves, etc.) - just look up some recipes online.  You could also add a can of drained lentils or kidney beans or some other bean maybe 10 minutes before the curry is done cooking - more protein!

Anyhow, that's one idea for something a bit different.

I always thing that routine and boredom can be a good thing too. When food got to be 'exciting' again, it became problematic for me.   

Dawn

Me too!  The move variety I could eat, the more I wanted to eat.  But that's me - I'm not saying this is a problem for others.

I hadn't thought of that.  Good point!

Food Boredom - I cannot even look at applesauce now, after almost a month on the stuff.

I was vomiting a lot trying `new` foods, so I went back to a lot of tried and true (boring) but I am not at the same stage as you.

You sound quite restless in this stage of your WLS journey.

At 13 months out, were you thinking something would happen at the one year anniversary that hasn`t? I`m sincerely asking.