Monday, November 17, 2014

What's For Dinner?

I spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm going to eat.  There are no quick stops for me at Burger King or similar places.  I rarely eat out at all.  My preferences, personal decisions, religion/faith & health dictate every bite I eat.  It wasn't always like this, I used to eat almost anything that sounded good & anywhere it was served.
  About 20 plus years ago, I began a journey to become a vegetarian.  This was not because I thought it might be a healthier diet or that it would be better for the planet, it was because I wanted to stop eating anything that used to have a face. I grew weary of looking at something "dead" on my plate.    First came beef, later chicken, but never fish.  I just couldn't stop eating fish so I call myself a pescatarian.
However, I don't eat just any fish because also within the last 20 years I decided to start keeping kosher to honor the fact that I am Jewish.   That means no shellfish or fish without fins & scales.  I actually have an app on my phone called "Kosher Fish" which offers a list of what is & is not kosher. Shellfish is not kosher so no lobster, shrimp, crabs, scallops, clams, etc.... Probably everyone knows that pork products are not kosher.  Keeping kosher also means not mixing milk & meat products, which is not hard for me as I don't eat meat anymore.  I try to eat only at kosher establishments, but I will admit that I don't yet have the discipline to do that all of the time.  When I'm in a non kosher environment, I stick to salad & fish.  Keeping kosher also means very careful shopping & label reading so that I don't accidentally eat a non kosher ingredient.  I used to eat a lot of non kosher food before I made this change in my life.  I never consciously ate pork, but many years ago, I turned a blind eye as to what was in that chef's salad. (Now I think "Yuck!")
When my sister died in 2006 at the very young age of 54(from the same kind of cancer I recently had), I almost cracked up.  I needed to see a healthcare professional to help me learn to cope (something I'm still trying to do). He helped me in many ways, one of which was telling me I needed to decrease my caffeine intake.  Over the next month or two I gradually decreased caffeine until I was not drinking any coffee ,caffeinated tea or soda.
One of my doctors told me not to consume: salt, black tea or calcium carbonate.  Two of my doctors told me to eat a high fiber diet. (For a long time I was on a medically prescribed low fiber diet).  I'm not supposed to drink any soda caffeinated or not (I will admit to a very occasional diet ginger ale or 7 up). 
Oh and the kicker? I must be the only woman in history to gain weight while being treated for cancer so now I am on a diet which means reduced calories, fat & carbohydrates. 
So what do I make for dinner? Well you can be guaranteed it will be kosher, pescatarian ,high fiber & low calorie with no added salt, no caffeine, no black tea, no soda & nothing with calcium carbonate in it. OK, what's for dessert?

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