It's the start of a new week, and I'm trying to lead a healthier lifestyle (hence why I am dunking like 5-6 cups of green tea a day!). Nevertheless, the point of today's post being:
It's awfully hard to eat well when you're a writer!
1st constraint - time. Or 'lack of', actually. In a typical day, the writer who's also a mum & a homemaker, has to fit in everything that needs to be done around the house and write on top of that.
24 hours is just not enough - and ain't it a b*tch that we need 6-8 hours of sleep every night. I could really see that time going towards writing, but alas, I cannot function without sleep.
2nd constraint - we're not Nigella. She seems to be able to throw a feast together with leftovers. Not to mention that we hardly cook that way to even have leftovers on hand! (especially in a house where there's a grown man and 2 growing boys, what on earth is the concept of leftovers, I ask you!)
3rd constraint - we get in the zone, and if lunch time comes and goes when we're there (in that perfect la-la-land), forget the thought of food.
Side note - it would appear getting in the zone is a great diet strategy. Don't test it though...
So yeah - all of the above make it hard to follow a super duper diet and eat well and prepare fresh food and-- Arghh! Who does all that, except for Bree van de Kamp???
And I dunno about you, but whenever I write, I crave sugar! Here's my (unscientific and totally baseless) theory:
writing=using brain
ie brain fuel= glucose
ie glucose=sugar in any form, preferably very sweet as opposed to complex carbs that will take time to break down
I could literally kill for something sugary - chocolate cake, anyone? - after a writing spree. But I'm trying to write everyday, and let's face it - you just cannot dunk a slice of chocolate cake with extra frosting every single day and expect to get away scot-free.
Enter the spare tyre that overnight seems to balloon around your hips, said hips that sit in your writer's chair everyday chasing against time to get those words down before the kids come home, before the house becomes a health hazard because you haven't cleaned in ages, before chaos breaks when your husband cannot find his socks...
What's a writer to do, for goodness' sake?
And then I find the perfect solution - my ideal writing food. It's sweet, it's not that much of junk, it's filling, and it takes just 2 minutes to put it together, and about 5 more to dunk it down.
What is it? A bowl of cold cereal with milk! My poison of choice is Special K Red Berries with skim milk.
On days when I'm writing, you can bet your paycheque I'll be falling on a bowl of cold cereal for lunch. If I'm lucky and my mum has taken pity on me and sent food over, then I just reheat whatever she's sent (my mum makes amazing Indian food! Whatever she sends, I know I'm in for a treat. Too bad her domestic goddess skills didn't deign inscribe themselves in my gene pattern...). But that's like, once a week, and the other days, well, I'm screwed. :) Cold cereal it is!
What do you turn to? Do you have a specific writing food? And if you manage to cope with writing and making lunch, how on earth do you do it?
Share your strategies in the comments, please. :)
From Mauritius with love,
Zee
3 comments:
Oh girl! This is so on the money! I feel the same way every day. I found that the easiest thing to cook are soups, especially in winter. Today, for instance, I made red lentil and spinach soup - all it takes is drop a bunch of veggies in stock, add some spices and boil for 30 mins, then add red lentils at the end and cook for another 15. The hardest part was chopping an onion and potato, but today one can find the frozen kind as well...so no work! The best thing is that it's healthy, and if I find myself getting hungry I'll just fill a small bowl and eat away. I even like it cold!
I also like Special K with Berries...or the one with dark chocolate, but I skip the milk and use water instead. Or else I chug a banana or some low-fat cheese. It's very hard, I know, but at least I'm trying. A writer's life is hard! :-D xxxx
I'm right there with ya girlies! Something fast is usually the best for me so I can break, get food and then get back to work. It's tough because most fast things are unhealthy (except for cereal) but cereal works in a jam. Especially if you want something light, healthy and a bit sweet. :-) Fruits and a smoothie also work!
Lol, that's exactly it - something fast is needed!
My problem is that I just cannot eat fruit. Some strawberries maybe, but just the smell of fruit makes me gag (and hence why you'll see me holding my breath in the produce aisles at the grocery store!)
I somtimes chug some soup but I make the dehydrated kind which tastes way too salty, so that's ick half the time. :)
Post a Comment