Cravings

I will admit it, I am a picky, picky eater. I try not to be too much of a freak about what I will and will not eat but I have a weird relationship with food. Like many other people out there.

First there is the whole food allergies that come and go. For 22 years or so, I had no food allergies. Then all of a sudden I’m allergic to unprocessed corn (I could eat corn chips and corn tortillas but no corn kernels), raw carrots (but cooked were fine), and shellfish (and I mean anything that has a shell or is related to anything that has a shell. No more alien/calimari for me). Of course, seven years later, I can now eat unprocessed corn and uncooked carrots. I don’t have the guts to try the shellfish thing, I have no desire to eat the little beasties.

Then there is the pseudo-vegetarian trend of my life. I will not touch bird of any kind, no chicken, no turkey or whatever. And like I said, I am allergic to shellfish but I will eat fish occasionally. And I occasionally like a nice piece of beef. Yeah…like I’ve said before, “I’m a vegetarian, I’m just not very good at it.” It’s not a matter of animal rights or health reasons that I don’t eat meat, I don’t like the texture of the meat. I don’t like the look and I can’t imagine putting it in my mouth. I’ve had this thing with meat going on 15 years now. Wow, can you believe that? I had to do the math twice to double check that number after I wrote it.

And I don’t like chocolate. It is very rare that I want or will eat chocolate. The possible exceptions being Thrifty’s Chocolate Malted Crunch ice cream and the occasional cup of hot chocolate. But those are far and few between.

But I ADORE salty things. I know, I know, not good for blood pressure but I like salt! Corn nuts, Fritos (which a certain someone close to me describes as disgusting but in a good way), beef jerky (Yes, double wammy on the meat and salt thing), French fries (MMM, fried carbs). .ooh I have to stop and wipe the drool from my chin. Something tastes a little dull? Add salt! I do taste my food before adding anything to it and I am more likely to grab a hot sauce before reaching for table salt. I like items that already have salt on them, not adding table salt to my food.

I am also a Weight Watcher’s Lifetime member at goal. What does that mean you ask? That means that I joined Weight Watchers two years ago and lost 30 pounds. I reached my weight loss goal, so that made ma a lifetime member at goal. Which means I only have to weigh in once a month and as long as I do not go two pounds over my goal weight, I don’t have to pay for any meetings. And I can go to as many meetings as I want. So of course, I only go to one meeting a month. And so that means that every food has a ‘point value and I have a certain number of points per day with a ‘bonus’ amount of points that I can use whenever I see fit.

See the thought of being on a diet for the rest of my life is depressing. But if I think of it as watching what I eat at all times, well that isn’t quite as depressing. But I do miss eating what ever I want whenever I want. And I have the occasional weeks when I fall off the wagon hard and then have to work to get back to goal or there about.

But other than all of the above, I like spicy food, most vegetables and I have yet to meet a carbohydrate I haven’t liked. And I believe cheese is Manna from Heaven. I love ethnic food except Thai because they use too much seafood for my taste. Although there is a certain someone who might be changing my mind about that with his homemade Thai food. (MMM, Drag queen curry)

So, what’s your food secret?