The Rude Reader

What is so tempting about a person reading a book?  When I see a person reading a book I don’t even say hello to them, I let them be unless they choose to look up and engage.

I have a stressful, non-stop, mentally exhausting, detail oriented job.  When my lunch break rolls around I want nothing more than to stick my nose in a book and be somewhere else for a while.  I live too far from where I work to go home at lunch time so I sit in the break room with my food and I read.  Every day.

Today one of the sales guys came in as I was reading and attempted to strike up conversation with me.  My responses were short and distracted and my attention repeatedly returned to my book.  It took several tries and caused me to lose my place each time but he eventually took the hint and left me to my book.  I don’t want to be rude like that, I just want to read in peace.

Shortly thereafter a co-worker came in and began to chit chat with me as my face was firmly planted in my book.  She continued to chit-chat, and I continued to read.  She then opened the microwave and exclaimed over how disgusting it was inside.  I continued to read.  Then another co-worker entered and she commented to them (in jest) over how disgusting the microwave was and how it was all my fault, since I determinedly continued to read instead of getting involved in her chit-chat.

This resulted in me essentially ignoring comments directed at me, which was awkward.  I don’t want to be rude or cause awkwardness, but I don’t know what else to do anymore.  I don’t want to talk about the microwave.  I just want to read.

Why do people refuse to leave people alone who are reading?

In desperation, I plan to put up a sign that says: “please do not disturb – I am reading.”

What would you do?

Done for the Day

I have identified a problem with my current weight loss program.  I’m not sure how to solve it yet, but I figure that having realized what’s going wrong is half the battle.

I have difficulty being done for the day.

My appetite usually starts out small and grows stronger in the afternoon and toward dinner time.  I can easily eat a small breakfast, around 200 calories is fine.  I have a snack of fruit in the late morning and push lunch late, around 1PM.  Lunch is usually around 500 calories, which also doesn’t bother me.  I then have either another piece of fruit or a savory 100 calorie snack at some point in the afternoon.

Then dinner comes around and everything goes to pieces.  I have dinner, and then I want seconds.  I don’t need seconds, my sense of feeling full works and kicks in appropriately when around 500 or 600 calories have been consumed.  I just like eating and I want to continue to eat.  More often than not, before I can stop I’ve consumed nearly twice the number of calories I needed.

The incredible growing appetite phenomenon is a common problem.  I believe it’s because our brains reset our resolve as we sleep, and as the day goes on it gets slowly used up.  If you spend a lot of your day saying, “no” to that morning doughnut in the lunchroom and, “no” to the fast food place at lunch and, “no” to the cake that shows up in the afternoon, then each subsequent, “no” is going to be harder than the one before.  This is because you’re suffering ego depletion every time you turn down food for rational health reasons that your animal survival instinct wants.  This is why I practice behaviors like avoiding situations that will put me near foods (or smells) that I have difficulty resisting and making sure I never get too hungry.

That’s part of it.  The other reason why lunch is so much easier than dinner is that I know at lunchtime I still have dinner ahead of me, so it’s easier to stop.  I realize how pathetic that sounds, but it’s the truth – at lunch, I’m thinking about dinner.  At breakfast I’m usually thinking about lunch.  Behold the sad reality of a food addict.

After dinnertime there’s nothing to look forward to other than going to bed in a few hours with an empty, growling stomach.  Since I (ideally) do not consume enough calories during the day to support my current body weight, my body’s complaints over the matter are kind of inevitable, and I experience a weird sort of animalistic fear of hunger late in the day.  I guess it’s not dissimilar from a dog growling over her food bowl while wolfing down all contents.

In the wintertime I’ve been able to halt the charge for seconds by having a hot cup of tea.  The hot liquid soothes my stomach and nerves and helps put an end point on eating.  Hot beverage = done, and I’m okay.  It works about half the time, if I can find the resolve to go and heat up my tea instead of grabbing another serving.  Unfortunately its summer right now and I don’t want hot tea in the evenings.

Since the issue I’m dealing with is a disordered eating problem, I know the solution likely lies in employing more behavior modification techniques and somehow convincing my illogical lizard-brain that it’s okay and safe to end the day not stuffed full of food.  I just haven’t got it figured out yet.

Recipe Share: Fridge Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a favorite breakfast of mine. Sometimes I take the time to cook it properly on the stove and add my own flavoring elements, but I also just go for a package of instant now and again. Since it’s hot, it’s a good warm-up breakfast on cold days, but in the summer it’s not quite so refreshing.

This recipe for refrigerator oatmeal is a creamy, lightly sweet, fruity porridge served cold for summer eating. It’s a delicious, hearty and healthy way to start the day. Additionally, I love anything I can prep ahead of time that is ready to grab and go!

Ingredients:

¼ cup rolled oats (not instant)

1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)

¼ cup low-fat Greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)

1 & ½ tsp. chia seeds

2 tsp. honey (I like locally sourced, raw honey)

½ cup fresh fruit (in this case, fresh cherries & blueberries)

Nutrition (using ingredients listed above and before adding fruit):

Calories: 188

Fat: 5.21 g.

Cholesterol: 0 mg.

Sodium: 54.25 mg.

Carbs: 27.15 g.

Fiber: 3.9 g.

Protein: 12.89 g.

Sugar: 14.25 g.

Instructions:

You mix everything together in a cup sized storage container then leave it in the fridge a minimum of 24 hours. Another great thing about this recipe is it takes only around ten minutes to make. While it’s chilling, the mixture will thicken up, blend together and soften the oatmeal and chia seeds. It looked like this before I tucked it away overnight:

I used the rolled oats as the recipe specified, but I’m curious to try this one with steel cut oats (my favorite kind) and see how it turns out. I’m guessing the oats will be slightly chewy since steel cut requires a lot of cook time to soften up, but I like mine a little chewy (I tend to undercook them for just that reason) so I’m willing to give it a try.

Variations:

Substitute agave nectar, stevia, or artificial sweeteners for honey.

Spice it up with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, flavor extracts, or whatever suits your fancy.
Strawberry basil oatmeal? I’d try it! Spicy cinnamon with vanilla extract? Sounds good to me!