Some days are like that

[cjsmith]

Happy Hour in the office today is nachos and beer. In terms of progress, my day so far has pretty much been like yesterday, and things aren't exactly speeding up while I listen to everybody else party. Did I mention that the music is loud?

I realize I have really turned into a whiner lately. I do not like being a whiner. There must be things I can do to improve this situation. So far, I can think of three dramatic changes I might be able to make, any one of which would help in the short term:
1) Get off this diet
2) Get off this project
3) Find a job at a less food-oriented company, or at least one that isn't militantly carbohydrate-only

Maybe other things would help too. It is now my job to think of them.

But damn, it sure would be nice to be like everybody else once in a while. I took years to accept the fact that I would never again be fully able-bodied. I thought I was done with this "suck it up, everyone around you can enjoy things you will never enjoy again, get used to it and learn to shut up" kind of mental adjustment crap. Now I have the relentless tyranny of food in addition to being a gimp.

Some days just suck.

And now I need to think of ways I could make life suck less.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, I could, but honestly, I don't know what to suggest. What snack foods aren't carb-rich? Carrots are out. I've already had all the nuts I can stomach today. Cheese would be good, I guess. That's a thought.

I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I may just have to get out of here -- sooner rather than later. That is not a conclusion I particularly like, but I definitely need to keep it in mind.

Man, it's getting louder. The beer has reached their bloodstreams.

[cme]

I was going to suggest cheese. Cold cuts, if you like them? With a little bit of money and research one can find dry sausages intended to be sliced and eaten without further cooking (sojouk comes to mind). Is fruit okay, or too carby? Dried fruit? (Trader Joe's Dried Berry Medley, so addictive holy crap.) Jerky? Yogurt (maybe the Greek style)? Oh what about smoked salmon?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Cheese, yes. Some cold cuts, if they're not sugar-cured; ditto sausage. No fruit or dried fruit; no jerky; yogurt is good as long as it's not sweetened.

I definitely need to branch out. I haven't had yogurt in ages, because I haven't bothered to go find a non-sweetened non-artificially-sweetened kind. (Most artificial sweeteners taste bitter to me. It's a weirdness of mine.) So I could go get some good plain yogurt. Celery sticks with unsweetened peanut butter or almond butter on them; those would be great. I need to go get this kind of thing and have it on hand.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Plain yogurt - allows you to mix in permitted fruits (berries, maybe?) as you wish. You will want to get Pavel's or Stonyfield, or some of the other brands. The hippy brands will likely be good, and the other brands that will work will be ethnic brands. Either of these gives you a lot more choices.

Cheese it totally do-able, as are sausages. Jerky is good for a keep in the desk snack, if it is not too salty for you. Almonds, peanuts, whatever nuts are permitted. Roasted chickpeas can be made at home and are tasty and crunchy if beanz are allowed?

As for your company and food, perhaps ask around to see who else might be willing to work with you on food. Your restrictions are pretty severe, but folks who are low carbing, doing South Beach, or something like that may also want to do the same kinds of food as you - that way, a group of you can brainstorm and bring ideas up to the folks who are doing the food buying and bringing. That may make it more effective to get more you can have. You're not the only one with food restrictions, and if you get others on board, you may improve things for everyone. The people without restrictions aren't used to thinking about this, but you can bring it up best with a group.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Beans are allowed "in moderation". What's roasted chickpeas? Is that a step in the process of making hummus? (I have never worked with chickpeas, can you tell?)

I've got one coworker who claims to be on a yeast control diet but who ate the nachos. So he doesn't count. This is a stunning blood sugar control diet, so diabetic people might be interested, but the diabetic coworker who helped me with my first self-injection has recently left the company. I think I'm on my own on this one. The company is small; we don't have too many outliers around.

I need to snag some snacky cheese, sausages (summer sausage, if that doesn't have sugar), and other munchies. Main dishes, while kind of blah when I'm the cook, are mostly doable. Snacks and treats are where I'm floundering.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Roasted chickpeas are just that.

Take chickpeas (be lazy, buy a can, and rinse those suckers like craaaazy.) Then drain em, toss em in olive oil till they are wet but not dripping. Bake in single layer on a cookie sheet at 375 till they are roasted. Soooo good.

Hummus is different. Basic hummus recipie is chickpeas, some kind of oil, lemon juice, and salt. After that, one starts adding things and tweaking things and it is best to either purchase or find a recipie. You can add olives, red peppers, chili, paprika, tahini (tahini is my best friend. It is a ground up sesame paste that adds flavor, smokieness, and body to foodz.), some folks add eggplant, I don't. Hummus is a good base recipie.

Another fun one is olivada. The simplest version is take olives, chop them hella fine, or run through the food processor till it is a smooth happy paste. Then eat on lettuce roll ups, or on celery or whatever.

You can do a chunky olivada with sun dried tomatoes if that is allowed.

[gekko.livejournal.com]

Tahini is a great thing to have around the house anyways. You can mix it with a little bit of lemon and make a fantastic sauce for a light fish too.

My hummus is simply chickpeas, tahini, garlic (very important!), lemon, and salt. Salsa and hummus is also a lovely combination of flavors. I make them seperately and serve them together (ie, put a layer of salsa on top of the hummus and serve with chips).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

How long is "till they are roasted"? Should they turn a darker color, become crunchy, ...?

I totally want to learn to make -- Never mind, I'm lying. What I want is to EAT hummus. I can buy hummus, in fact a particular favorite of mine is stocked regularly at TJ's, and I'm allowed to have it "in moderation", so now I just need to figure out what to scoop it up with. A spoon seems a little boring. :-)

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

My cousin's hummus recipe:

1 can chickpeas.
1 big tablespoon tahini.
1 or 2 cloves minced garlic.
2 tbsp. olive oil.
Juice of 1 or 1/2 lemon.

Blend with hand blender, add water till texture is appealing.

Simple, tasty. I add extra tahini.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

now I just need to figure out what to scoop it up with

Celery, lettuce, raw spinach. Hm, carrots are out; are red bell peppers okay? They make lovely scooping sticks. Cucumber slices, raw zucchini in sticks or slices. You don't like broccoli, so that's out; how do you feel about cauliflower? Lightly steamed might be tastier than raw, in which case I would thin the hummus out with lemon juice or olive oil or in a pinch water and use it as a dressing instead of a dip.

Or a spoon! If you are going to use a spoon, I say cover it in chopped fresh herbs (parsley comes to mind) and maybe olives and paprika first. Mmmm. Not boring at all.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Foofy stores like trader joes will sometimes carry ready made roasted fava beans. They're tasty, and spookily similar to pretzels in my opinion.

I will try to think of more things. I love food and I love finding things for people to enjoy.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

Best yogurt EVAR (http://stbenoit.com/)! Or maybe it's just me? This stuff is awesome too (http://www.fraicheyogurt.com/)... but you gotta come to palo alto for it :) Of course my favorite is the frozen stuff, which is sweetened... but I am told they have excellent greek yogurt too.