What I Learned About Hunger Today

I hesitated to write this post because, in truth, I have never known true hunger. Thankfully, I've never known what it's like to go without food or too little food for days and weeks on end like too many of the world's (and even some of this country's) inhabitants.

When I talk about hunger in this post, I'm talking about that nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach when it's past time for lunch or dinner and you've been caught unprepared.  You know how it is – no healthy cooked food in the house, nothing defrosted, and no convenience food in the house. That was me last night.

I was working away on my computer and, when I looked up, it was almost 9:00p.m. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch and I was ravenous.  The meat I had taken out to defrost was still frozen and, since I hadn't gone food shopping, I was missing key ingredients needed to make my standby convenience favorites.  Or so I thought.

Looking in my pantry this morning, with a calmer mind and my recipe books at hand, I see that I actually did have all of the ingredients necessary to make myself a healthy meal, but last night I was too hungry and too impatient to figure it out and think it through.  So what did I do?  I ordered in from an Italian restaurant.

I felt like the world's biggest hypocrite.  Here I was, just starting to embark on a healthy lifestyle again, and I order in a chicken parmesan sandwich and fries.  I inhaled half the sandwich and every single French fry until I was stuffed.

I felt terrible – physically and emotionally – and then I remembered something my old Weight Watchers leader used to say.  She said that if you wait until you're ravenous to get something to eat, you'll inhale food like a Hoover vacuum cleaner and regret it.  I thought what she said was funny at the time, but, last night, that's pretty much what I did.

She talked about how important it is to keep healthy food and snacks around so that you don't reach that state.  She told us to keep our pantries stocked so we could always throw together a healthy meal.

Looking back, I see now that if I had a cheese stick and an apple or a handful of nuts before deciding to order in, I might have been able to put together a healthy meal from my pantry or I might have ordered a salad instead of the sandwich and fries. Another choice would have been to make a quick run to The Fresh Market to pick up a rotisserie chicken and some salad greens.

Oh well, I ‘ve learned my lesson.  Next time, I'll be better prepared.  Keep an eye out for future posts on making better choices and being prepared for anything.

Peace

P.S. I still haven't gone food shopping yet, but, using the items in my pantry, I managed to make L.J.'s Salmon Cakes and sweet potato fries using the Cajun spice mix contained in a recipe listed in Metabolic Cooking's 9 Cookbook Set (affiliate link)* It was yummy.

 

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