My Life in Food

**This is a long post that I just feel compelled to share. Feel free to read or not read. :) 

I've briefly mentioned my eating habits before, but usually try to hide it. Most of my friends know about it but don't understand and don't know the extent of it. I am a part of an online support group called "Picky eating adults" which originated as a Yahoo group and is now a website. Not only that but the group has caused this disorder to gain more publicity, including episodes on the Food Network and Nightline and studies by Duke University (to which I submitted my profile for further studying).

In an attempt to define this as an actual physiological disorder, the group shares their stories. We know that picky eating adults (not just the phase you go through as a child) has to start at birth. For me personally, I know that my mom had issues from the get-go feeding me normal baby food, and I stuck with fairly bland foods. Not being one to force-feed a child, my mom told me that if I didn't eat what they were eating then I'd just have to make my own food. So my childhood (and really through high school) diet consisted of cereal, bread, and Ramen Noodles without the flavoring packets.

Today, my food options have been greatly increased and I can appear less as an outcast in public situations, but still have a difficult time when it comes to finding something I like. When I try to summarize my eating habits there are a few generalizations I can make.

1.  I don't eat any fruit. 
2. I don't eat red meat.
3. I can't find anything on a Mexican restaurant menu that I like.
4.  Anything with too many ingredients (or mystery ingredients) is overwhelming and I try to avoid.
5. One bad experience with a food can take it off my list forever

My picky eating is centered around strong flavors and weird textures. I have physical reactions to foods I don't like. For example, if I touch ketchup I obsessively wash my hands and feel like it's still on me. I can't get near/cook/wash certain foods. I don't really gag with anything, but smells can be really difficult. I feel anxious at times and it's very hard for me to try anything new.

I equate it to someone who is afraid of something harmless, like bugs (I realize some bugs are dangerous, but just go with it). Logically, you know that the bug won't hurt you but you cannot bring yourself to touch it. I know that trying a new food will not harm me in any way yet I can't usually bring myself to try it.

According to www.pickyeatingadults.com, there are 12 main reasons that people are picky eating adults.

1. OCD
2. Swallowing Disorder
3. Brain Function Disorder
4. Food Aversions
5. Taste and Smell Disorder
6. Super Tasters
7. Sensory Integration Disorder
8. Some children use it to control parents
9. Autism
10. Tourettes Syndrome
11. Neophobia
12. Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum 

I am not sure which ones I technically have, but I believe it could be food neophobia (fear of new foods), supertasting (higher amount of taste buds), and possibly a taste and smell disorder. I definitely don't think I am among the pickiest of people, but there are definite challenges in the way I eat.

For example, I love Mandarin Chicken from Panda Express. However, I can usually only get through half of it because of how I "decide" which pieces to eat. Can't be too much fat, can't be a darker color, can't just look "off" in any way. John often will eat my leftovers and say, "so why didn't you pick this one?" "how about this one?"


Anyway, here are a few links to youtube videos about this condition. Feel free to peruse at your leisure. I just want to get the message out there that this is a real condition and to accept me when you see how picky I am. Don't pressure me to eat anything, don't make fun of me, just let me eat in peace.

On tap for Sunday...

First off, let me say I had a wonderful Saturday with my husband. We left early for a day trip to the Ocean. John's grandpa owns a piece of property over there so we went to check it out, and just enjoy Ocean Shores since we hadn't been in awhile. What a perfectly sunny day for driving around. It's only about 2 1/2 hours away and we ended up getting home around 5:30.

Today John is weekend manager and has some things to finish up for work. So, I figured I should accomplish a few boring things (cleaning) so I can enjoy my week off.

On tap for today:

• Clean the master bathroom... it's about time!
•  Laundry (both putting away stuff I haven't yet, and washing some other stuff)
•  Clean up our wine supplies and put the labels on the bottles (finally)
•  Clean out my car from our trip yesterday 
•  Groceries/Target/Hardware store/Staples

 This week:

•   Build myself a table (see previous post)
•   Work on school work (prep for the following week)
•   Any other crafting I find
•  Antiquing in Puyallup

We shall see how much I accomplish this week! I always feel like I didn't make the most of my time off. Next weekend John and I will be going to his grandparents' cabin on Hood Canal for some more R&R.

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Schoooool's in for the summer

Well, school starts for my students AND for me on the 28th now. I'm all registered for my first class and have even peeked at my week 1 assignments. Okay, I'm almost finished with week 1's assignments, approximately 2 weeks ahead of time... I've never been so excited to start a class! My first class is called "Numbers and Operations" and focuses on the history of numbers, problem posing, and problem solving.

Anyway, I'm only taking 1 class to start out to see how this whole online program works and to see how manageable it will be. There are 11 classes in this program for a total of 33 credits. When I finish (in hopefully just over a year), I will be at Master's +45 on the teacher pay scale, which is nearly the top for education. What's great about Lesley U, from what I can tell, is that there are actually 6 terms per year (Fall, Spring, and Summer are split up into 2 8-week terms each). The pace is fast, but you can get more covered. If I double up in the summer, then I can finish my 11 classes by June or August of 2012. This would be great.

What else do I like about this set up? Well, you have to be very organized to be successful. Each week of work for each course comes with a checklist/timeline of what needs to get completed. The way it's set up is very clear from what I can tell, which I appreciate (I attached a picture below). Since I'm ahead on my work-work and I have next week off, I decided to set up my binder for my class. Being this organized can't be more exciting to me. I just can't help but share.

I made tabs for each week - this way I can keep all the assignments/readings/journaling organized within each "weekly module." Very exciting to see that there are only 8 tabs! I've got the syllabus in the front, too.

I love that they make a checklist FOR us, because I'd be doing it myself otherwise. I will put these in the front of each week to keep track of what I need to do. Since it's not really "work at your own pace" (you have to post to the boards by a certain day), it's important to stay on top of things.

Just thought I'd share one of my first assignments - it's a little silly. We had to sort and organize different systems of numbers on our own.

Takes me back to be annotating articles! Plus, we have to make all our thoughts and journaling digital - so I can't just scribble in the margins!

Anyway, couldn't help myself.

So, what will I be doing on my week off? Mostly trying out some power tools by making this:

 

Ana-White

If all goes well with this little table (which I'm making for practice, not for necessity), then we'll see - maybe bigger things will come. Wish me luck!

Why I love my sister

Okay, no one will ever get me like my sister. For some reason she always knows what I'm trying to say when I can't quite say it. Whenever we've played catch phrase or something, she can always guess my nonsensical clues that she gets stuck with. I appreciate that she's my big sister, because she's so good at it. I'd like to share a text conversation we had to show just how much she knows me. I couldn't stop laughing at how much of a "you-know-me-so-well" exchange this was.

(I'll catch you up on what we're talking about in a bit)

Lindsay: How does that sillyville song go that the frogs sing? here the something song of the la la la la mm, ba ba mmm, ba ba mmm, baronnnggg?
Lindsay: Writing that text made me laugh out loud because if you don't know what I'm saying it sounds CRAZY.
Lauren: HA. Well lucky for u i do know what you're talking about but not sure of the words... Hear the lively song of the frogs in yonder pond, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip, dip baaaaroooom. I can't think of any other words but I think they do it in a round. Dare I ask why u need that...
Lindsay: Because the spa on the cruise ship is called the Barong Spa and it reminded me of a song but I couldn't think of it.
Lauren: Oh my god.
Lindsay: Ha ha ha ha I can always count on you to know what im talking about.
Lauren: You're welcome. We can only hope there is a jingleheimer lounge aboard too!


Okay, now I few words may be unfamiliar. Here are some videos. Hopefully some of you out there remember Wee Sing videos. Well, Wee Sing in Sillyville was among my favorites. Mostly because of the anti-racism message, but also because of the great costumes and catchy numbers.



And here are a few others I enjoy. First, the SpurtleGurgles (yes!) performing "Boom boom ain't it great to be crazy":



And the Red Bitty Booty's singing "Risseldy Rosseldy":



Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll post more about our weekend happenings soon!

Last-Minute Planning

So... anyone got any ideas what I can get John for Valentine's Day?

I realize this is last minute, but the fact that I'm supposed to do something sweet for my significant partner completely eluded me. I totally forgot.

We have plans to go to on a date this Saturday, to the Best of Seattle Comedy show, which is ironically playing at the Pantages in Tacoma. That'll be fun, just like old times. We haven't been on a datey-date in a while.

But I still have nothing to treat him with! I'm such a bad wife, and it's very sad that this is only our 2nd Valentine's day as a married couple. Help me out!

How I spent my Superbowl Sunday

Yes, I watched the Superbowl. Yes, I was disappointed in the caliber of commercials and performances. But, I found a way to make it a quality time.

I am sick and have been spending most of my time on the couch in sweatpants (really, this isn't much different from the rest of my days...). So, I cuddled up with some tissue paper and created this little gem:

I think it turned out okay, and it adds a bit of color to the shelves, which I'd like to keep fairly neutral. Now I just have to make 2 more for the other two pots from Ikea. :)

In other news, I got accepted into my Masters in Math Education program today. It's a bit last minute, but I'm hoping all the financial aid can get worked out so that I can start Feb. 28th, but we'll see. Yay!

Zumba!

Tonight my sister and I officially survived our first Zumba Latin Heat class at LA Fitness. This is pretty much what we looked like:





Okay, that's a lie. It was probably more like this:




But it was fun. We were thinking too much I think. Some people just did their own thing. I could not figure out how to move my arms at the same time. Any move that involved quickly moving feet was beyond me. But it was more fun than doing the elliptical even though catching glimpses of myself in the mirror was less than reassuring. I think we'll do it again. I may need to do more Wii Just Dance to prep myself, though.