I follow @biglittlefeelings, and they shared this the other day.
At face value, it made me smile and feel like a part of a group exhale, the way it can feel when we (millennials) all gang up on the expectations of generations before us or unrealistic standards portrayed in the media. It’s undeniably annoying when people on social media try to make their lives look easy-breezy, but what they’re doing is actually super labor intensive and so they end up making the rest of us feel lazy and less than.
But, under the surface, this collective exhale has a little bit more going on, for me…. It’s not just someone quirky showing their “real” selves, exposing their laziness by admitting chopping an onion feels like too much (I am also very much over the social media persona of being super REAL because it’s SO UNIQUE to show that you have FLAWS even though you’re a PERSON) (lol Instagram is terrible) (this should be its own blog) (oh wait I have it written already)… It’s a representation of where we are, collectively, with our understanding of what we eat and how we nourish ourselves.
Having to view the act of eating or feeding ourselves as the straw that breaks the camel’s back in terms of keeping it together is just…so… Capitalist. Our collective pace of life has made it such that our very basic needs and pleasures have been reduced to afterthoughts and major burdens. Ouch.
Then, there is this meme floating around…
This feels pretty true to me AND is a really useful reality for food companies who want to capitalize on our exhaustion and sell us convenience. In other words, conditions are just right for people to make money off of helping us to “save time” by de-prioritizing eating… feeding ourselves … nourishing ourselves…ourselves... our HUMANITY. To eat is to be human and should be, in my humble Nutritional Therapy Practitioner opinion, the center of our days. An “easy” or “lazy” meal isn’t where it’s at, it’s just an appealing thing to sell to an exhausted, burned out professional.
These things all feel true to me:
We’ve gotta have jobs/make money somehow to buy food.
Every single function of our body depends on what we put in it (food, hydration, supplements, contaminants etc.).
Between gathering food (shopping), preparing food, eating and other wellness tasks, it takes/would take almost all day every day to nourish ourselves “appropriately” (I use this word to mean: in line with the needs of our bodies as human bodies and as individuals).
It’s an unrealistic expectation that we could nourish ourselves appropriately and make money within the system that most of us need to work within.
So… Shit. What to do?
Part of what I hope to normalize through my work is that nourishing ourselves with proper food intake takes significant time and effort. And, that chopping an onion SHOULD feel like a really, really, really accessible kitchen task. It’s collective burnout and detachment from pleasure that make it seem otherwise.
I always want to work with clients to make food as accessible as possible given the parameters of our modern work-life balance. But I also want to empower my clients (with the privilege to do so) to consider how they can push back against the job market when they’re asked to compromise so much time and energy that they really can’t attend to this essential need. I also hope to deconstruct the comments around “not liking to cook” or being “bad” at cooking. Food is pleasure. If you like pleasure, you like to cook. It is our perceived time poverty that fools us into neglecting this pleasure and skill, and opting for other more immediately rewarding activities in our precious “free” time.
So. Ok. What’s the compromise? We need to nourish ourselves, but dealing with the expectation of doing that “well” while maintaining a job in the current climate is overwhelming and unrealistic and making us feel like failures.
For me, the compromise is…….. ………Meal prep.
What? Were you expecting a less millennial influencer-y answer? I mean... It makes sense as the “answer” to our generation’s lifestyle. We are burned out, but we are starting to recognize the importance of living in accordance with our design. It’s a logical middle ground between living in your kitchen 24/7 and eating out 3 meals a day.
ALL OF THIS TO SAY: I have a trick to share with you, if you’re in need of “easy” meal prep ideas (*eye roll* for the irony of this post that’s mad about capitalism and the need for easy meal prep ideas being a post to share an easy meal prep idea).
THE BIG IDEA: I like to prep a protein and veggies that can be turned into any cuisine throughout the week. I find that onions, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers tend to fit with most spice combos.
This week I grated some zucchini, carrots and CHOPPED AN ONION, then cooked it up with some ground beef and put it in the fridge. The first time I used it, I was craving a teriyaki sauce, so I made some rice, stirred up my sauce, and piled on some kimchi. The next time I used it, I was craving spaghetti! So, I baked a spaghetti squash, cracked open a jar of spaghetti sauce, and boom, spaghetti… The third time I was in the mood for some curry… you see where this is going?
Chopping vegetables does seem to be one of the number one barriers for people who are feeling lazy about kitchen tasks, so by doing this I made it so that I only had to chop veggies once, but could enjoy them in my meals all week long. This week I did it with beef, but I’ve been known to do the same thing with tofu, ground turkey or lamb, or chicken. You do you!!!
***As a side note, our brains control our central nervous system and therefore our digestion. The communication between these systems takes a little bit of time to get through. When you cook, your brain has plenty of time to signal to your body that you are about to accept food, calling for the appropriate enzymes to come to action. When, alternatively, you stick something in the microwave for a few minutes while scrolling through your phone, your brain doesn’t signal to your body to prepare for eating, and digestion is negatively impacted! ***