Eating Gives Me Headache!

My passion for eating for pleasure has come to a full stop. I'm now just eating for the sake of providing sufficient nutrients to my body cells for an effective body system. Simply put that as 'eating for survival'.

I used to love eating, especially snacks (ohh!!! Chocolate is the best!). Whenever I felt like munching, I headed down to the kitchen and started ransacking every corner of the refrigerator and cupboards, even for the tiniest bit of cracker. As long as I satisfy my hunger pang. 

Well, that was before my father was diagnosed with a few serious diseases. I'm glad that it was a turning point for my family to start eating healthy. Even the food we cook is healthy (too healthy if I'm cooking). Virgin olive oil, no salt, just use shallots and ginger as seasoning, no deep-fried stuff whatsoever. Snacks, instant noodles and fast food once in a while. What else? 

Oh, I began to be very choosy when I eat out. I can look at the menu and think over the choices for 30 minutes because I would consider 2 factors very seriously: nutrition and price. Yes, there would be a frown on my forehead as I go through the nutrition facts while calculating the risk of burning holes in my parents' wallets. Unless someone serves me a plate filled with vegetables (not salad please) cooked in a healthy manner, I would start sulking, knowing that my body gets the wrong amount of nutrients.

I hate restaurants with either little or no vegetables on their menus. And I hate those that serve oily vegetables. I mean, what's the point of eating veges when all the good stuff in them are gone thanks to the oily cooking? I remember I once ate the oily vegetables served in my college's canteen. The moment they landed on my plate, their oiliness revealed, glistening in the bright sun, and I knew I made a mistake. My stomach was cursing me while my tongue begged for mercy as I swallowed the veges, oil covering my mouth. Alright, too exaggerated but I was horrified with how oily the vegetables were. Even the green colour faded to yellow. Honestly, I felt so down just by looking at the pathetic state of the veges. 

Due to my family's fussiness in food, I find that it got more difficult for both my mum and I to decide where to eat. We both would ask each other to decide, simply by stating, "I'll just eat whatever you want to eat. So what do you want to eat?" And this question became a pain in my neck everytime we want to eat out. It bothered me so much that I now hate eating out. Home-cooked food is my favourite since I get to choose and control whatever I eat. And hey, more non-oily veges too!!!

Speaking about home-cooked food, I'm a housewife again for the weekend because my mum is having the time of her life in Penang. Ironically, eating all kinds of delicious local cuisines (unhealthy alert!). It's fine, once in a while and as long as she exercises. As usual, my grandmother cringed when she knew that I will be in charge of cooking for the next few days. Too healthy food is a no-no for her. Meh, I don't really care. But fortunately, for today's dinner, I grilled teriyaki mackerel and stir-fried *potato shoots (very little olive oil, tons of shallots and water for the gravy). At least, they've got decent taste. No, actually they tasted good. 

*The potato shoots were organic home-grown veges. My mum used Beta's poop as fertilizer. Go green!!! Go mama!!! Go poop!

Organic home-grown potato shoots!!

Grilled teriyaki mackerel.

Anyway, when it comes to eating fast food, I tend to compare between McDonalds, Burger King and Carls Junior a lot. Well, Carls Junior should be out of the topic since I find it hard to finish the huge portion of burger and fries despite the fact that the fries are 100% made of potato. McDonalds' burgers are pathetic. All you'll see are bread, meat/fillet, a little bit of sauce, a few shreds of dead lettuce and another layer of bread. There goes the nutrition pyramid. Burger King's burgers are just nice, some of them though. I love the Whopper Jr burger. Fair amount of protein, carbohydrate and veges. 

My friend introduced another fast food chain restaurant to me, it's called Wendy's. I tried the lunch value meal - chicken burger, fries (maybe 70% made of potato) and a cup of carbonated drink. Erm...I have to say that it is slightly better than McDonalds? Not that pathetic but the burgers lack vegetables. Seriously, humans are omnivores, not carnivores! Give us some greens, for our digestion's sake!