Cupboards and Food and Our Diets

It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring...
He went to bed and bumped his head..
And couldn't get up in the morning.

That old familiar rhyme so explains the day today. We've had a lot of rain...and it can stop anytime it wants.
I was reading some old posts about rain this morning and thought I would re post one that I found interesting...I will change it to fit today.

Something I have always loved is a rainy day. I always get a lot accomplished on a day like this. I especially like to clean cupboards and closets. Some people will have their nose in a book...mine is in a cupboard.
 Since I can't go outside and work today...guess I'll continue my job in the kitchen. Taking advantage of the hot weather and wanting to stay in the house...I have been cleaning out cupboards in the kitchen. "Marrying" packages of the same things. Putting everything in plastic containers and bags. I like to keep things in plastic...because of the problem with tiny visitors during the summer. Where do they come from? I swear they come from the stores...right in the bags of flour, cornmeal, and bisquick. Next came the pantry, where we keep the canned goods. Everything in a row so I will be able to find things in a hurry. My spice cabinet was next....things I use often on the bottom shelf, things used occasionally on the middle, and on the top shelf goes the backup spices. The door shelves are used for baking things...cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice etc. This morning I cleaned the lower cabinets. I do the same with pots and pans. The things that are used most are in front and the seldom used to the back. When this was done a quick swipe with a paper towel and windex on my appliances and I'm done for another month. It's hard keeping a kitchen when there are two cooks. What Joe thinks is indispensable can be seldom used by me. He likes certain utensils...so my utensil drawers are always in a mess. We have a few squabbles over...."Where is this, where did you put this, did you throw my _____ away, or are our good knives in the dishwasher? I said that it's hard sometimes, but well worth the inconvenience when he says that he is going to cook and serves me a delicious meal. Two cooks can coexist in the kitchen. Between the two of us...he will have the hardest time, because I clean the kitchen, so I get dibs on where things go.


This is where the old post stops and the new one begins.

A few weeks ago, Joe decided to try to eat less wheat. That involved getting rid of lots of things with wheat listed as an ingredient. The Church pantry barrel got a lot of donations that week. It seems that there is wheat in everything...from postage stamps glue, chewing gum and many, many foods that we eat everyday. Now I find that our cupboards have a lot of empty spaces. The refrigerator is the only thing that is packed full. I never realized how many times we reach for bread...Joe says he misses having something in his left hand while he eats. The substitutes for bread, that I've found, taste pretty yucky.Who wants tuna salad between two corn tortilla like things? The crackers that I have "ordered" are in such small portions and very expensive.. at that. The pasta is OK...we have a couple of cases in the freezer to use :) He can eat a cheeseburger with no bun easily....so that's not a problem. Yesterday, he decided to stop what he was doing, because he hasn't lost weight like he hoped. Only 5 lbs. the first week...and nothing since. I think that we will continue to eat a "clean diet" with no boxed anything...like meals, desserts etc. No prepared items are in our house, mostly because we very seldom used them before. Fresh and frozen fruits and veggies...small amount of meat....cut down on dairy.....few desserts will be our way to go. You know...once you get close to 80 yrs...I think it's a shame to have to give up anything, but Joe carries his weight around the middle and it's causing him problems, so I guess it's the way we'll have to go.I'm always on the lookout for new recipes...healthy ones. I have a few years of Vegetarian Times magazines  that I have kept and refer to once in a while. I do find that my recipe boxes of Mom and Mother in Law's recipes are pretty unhealthy. They cooked comfort foods and their meals were eaten by people who were very active...not two older people who are pretty sedentary. Speaking of sedentary...Joe has started walking in the neighborhood and I am gardening everyday (that it doesn't rain)I feel better than I did in the past two years, because I have pushed myself to be more active. So, saying all that....we are constantly in a struggle to find the right things to do to keep healthy and more than that....keep feeling good and being happy. Once in a while a little stumbling block will come along and we have to find the way around it. Just hope we don't trip over it:)

Joe has a favorite story...
I take good care of myself...I eat healthy, take vitamins, I get enough sleep, I exercise regularly and here I am at 95...dying of nothing.
Balisha