Thursday, October 29, 2009

I'm cold and that makes me want to eat carbs

Just a few days ago, temps were back in the 80s and I was quite annoyed by that. I wanted to be cold! Emotionally, I'm really ready for it to be winter.

So today I was cold. And it was nice. I got out my heavier winter jeans, put on a sweater...it actually wasn't that cold. Mostly I really wanted it to be cold. And I wanted to eat winter foods to get warm. I made a pot of my brothy charro beans (pinto beans, bacon, onion, celery, tomatoes, green chilies) and a skillet of buttermilk cornbread and we ate well for dinner. During the day, I had brown rice with turkey meatballs and some sauteed spinach on the side. I drank hot tea and coffee.

I kept eating and drinking, hot foods to warm me, all day long. Could not stop and could not get warm! I ended up going for a nap just to warm up under the bed covers and to stop eating. Tonight I've got a little acid tummy from overeating. And I'm still cold. But I'm not hungry any more! Finally.

I think tomorrow I'll be trying more brothy soups with less carbs and more veggies. And maybe I need to increase my protein again. When I'm cold, I eat more carbs and less protein and I think that's why I get hungry. I've got some baby bok choy in the fridge, so perhaps I'll cook that in a broth-based soup with ginger and garlic, scallions and some shredded chicken and soba noodles.

I've also got a small stockpile of winter squash. I've never eaten acorn squash and I'm considering that as well. I just read how spices like ginger, garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg can help increase body heat and help circulation, so a spiced winter squash medley sounds tasty.

Have you noticed I'm not talking about exercise? Yeah, I noticed that too. Hmmm.

2 comments:

Orchid64 said...

You might want to make some pureed soups with lots of vegetables. I find that homemade tomato, carrot, pumpkin, or corn soup really warm you up and fill you out. Most of them start with a base of onions and garlic sauteed in a little oil and butter (50/50). Then I'll either add a bit of carrot or potato, chicken bouillon cubes, black pepper (or parsley) and water, and then cook it until everything is tender. Puree it with an immersion blender until it's nice and smooth and it's heavenly.

Tomato is one of the best because it's so low calorie and so much better than canned. If you make a ton of it, you can freeze it and enjoy it for a long time. My basic is one can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 small diced onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1/3 carrot, 2 cups water, and 2 chicken bouillon cubes with pepper, salt, and about 1/2 tsp. sugar. Saute the onions, add the garlic and carrots and cook them for a few minutes, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the carrots are tender. Puree and be in heaven. :-)

Georgia said...

Orchid, I actually made a pureed soup last week. I had some leftover white bean and whole wheat pasta soup (it had onions and garlic and tomatoes too), so I threw in some celery, spinach and carrots and a little extra organic chicken broth and pureed it with my immersion blender. It was great!

I forgot about making tomato soup from scratch, so thanks for poking at my brain!