Depression and totally uninterested in Food and Cooking

Sounds difficult! If you don't enjoy cooking and I totally get that, what do you enjoy?

I'm Scandinavian so can't say I know exactly what plain English food is, sorry. I like well cooked Swedish food though and a lot of other stuff. I have had troubles cooking for myself since hubby died from cancer in June but am slowly getting there.

Difference when it comes to carbs is I grew up in a diabetic family so have been sort of no sugar and low carb all my life and have been low carbing in a serious way for some years and on strict LCHF since diagnosis. I try to be strict during the week anyway but can occasionally let my hair down enough to enjoy some risotto or chips on a Saturday night and toast or hash on Sunday morning.

My question was more about what you enjoy doing in general.

localgirl said:

I enjoy all the stuff we're not supposed to eat. I like plain English food but dislike the preparation and Cooking. I'm fed up of having to make meals .... basically different meals, for 2 people , one diabetic one not. I just find the whole thing laborious. Not everyone enjoys cooking. I'm having a bad time fathoming out meals for myself that I can actually enjoy without any of my favourite food.

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Why are you doing different meals ... Low Carb high fat is a good way of eating for both of you !! If you eat meat .. thats fine have meat with low carb veg .. Are you T 2 .. If you really cannot cope with the diabetic healthy way of eating .. the go back to your Dr and see if they change your medication ..

Quite a quandary..

If they put your blood glucose up, things like mashed potato are going to have to go out the window. You could experiment first, and find out whether mashing them with cream and butter not milk, makes a difference. You could also try smallish baked jacket spuds or sweet potatoes, eating with plenty of butter or scooping out the spud and mashing it with butter or butter and cream.

A researcher found that if you boil new potatoes, drain and rinse under cold water then leave in the fridge overnight, when you re-heat the next day, they don't spike people quite as much.

You can mash cauliflower really simply. Just boil as many cauliflower florets as you want, drain, and add cream and cream cheese, and mix until smooth, adding salt and pepper.

With peas, it's about portion size, 2 tablespoons of frozen peas (80g) is around 6g carbs. 2 tablespoons (80g) of drained tinned sweetcorn is around 9g carbs.

I would suggest using oven, slow cooker, pressure cooker or microwave and just bunging things in, rather than a lot of messing about with saucepans - or buying a tiered electric steamer - it would be really good with salmon, for example. You can buy soupmakers too. Another suggestion is to use a deep fat fryer to make chips out of swede, carrots, even zucchini, rather than spuds.

You don't have to change anything about the meat, fish and chicken recipes apart from cut down gravy or cut it out if it spikes your blood glucose.

I suggest looking for recipe books which aim for meals in minutes or one pot cooking. You could borrow some from the library maybe and come back to the forum to check whether the ingredients are likely to spike you.

Some root veg might be okay, others not. You might do better with fennel, radishes and swede than you do parsnips, beetroot and spuds. Testing your BG after eating them will show you.

There are still plenty of vegetables that you can eat e.g. runner beans, spinach, kale, spring greens, asparagus, samphire, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (red, white, Savoy, Sweetheart), kohl rabi, gem squash, aubergine, pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, radishes, leeks, onions, globe artichokes, to name a few.

As for the other half, if you do the cooking, you're the boss !

@localgirl ,
Sorry you are in the food situation you are. I'm lucky, I love cooking.
How does your "other half" feel about helpin with cooking/food? it may not be neccessary to prepare 2 separate meals(my family used to love my lower carb twists on meals) and perhaps we can suggest easy lower carb versions of meals if we have the basic non carb menus. e.g. I love celeriac mash with my salmon steaks! and i make my risotto with "cauliflower rice"

I am enjoying my low carb diet. However I don't eat 'flesh' every day. I made some vegetable consomme soups and froze them in take-away containers. That way I can enjoy my low-carb veggies; more palatable to me than a plateful of cauliflower or sprouts!

I try to match my eating to the foods that were available to our ancestors prior to the discovery of agriculture and baking. Talking about baking, the only aspect of it I enjoy is TGBBO, cos I love Mary Berry! I do miss my roasties from my Sunday lunch mind!

If you like baking sweet stuff, then have a look for low carb cakes and goodies on the internet. It is a different challenge from normal baking, but the results can be amazing.

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/

http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/

and our very own thread here
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/vegetarian-vegan-low-carb-recipe-index.61859/

some of these recipes are amazing.

Localgirl I can empathize. I hate cooking with a passion. I'm not diabetic, my hubby is - but I have quite bad ME and if he wasn't here I'd live quite happily on cornflakes and crisps because some days just getting out of bed takes me all my willpower. This is a great forum though, I don't post much but I do lurk. Wishing you well and hope you feel more positive soon xx

I too have a problem with cooking/eating because I have no appetite at all. Absolutely zilch. My hubby cooks food for me snd leaves it in the fridge for me to heat up or eat cold. The only reason I eat it is because I know I have to or because I know he would be upset with me if I didn't.

He tries to encourage me by doing shoppping lists with me or planning food for the week. It doesn't really work to be honest as nothing interests me in food.

There is just one thing that I do enjoy doing and that is eating a meal together. As he works 2-10's we rarely get opportunity to do that.

I know what you go through. Wish I had some answers but definitely trying to make lists together and planning meals and eating them together does help.

My hubby although he isn't diabetic and doesn't have my stomach probs does tend to eat the same food as me and has lost a lot of weight from doing so. Mines trying to keep weight on thats the prob....and again.. Having an interest in food.

@donnellysdogs Can't offer help, just sympathising. Sounds grim.

Yesterday I cooked belly pork with loads of green beans and brussels and I had two quarters of a roast potato, just to give me a taster and gravy. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and in fact I think that the satisfaction the fat and crackling from the pork gave me, I could have done without the potatoes. I also had a glass of dry white wine. It was the most "normal" feeling meal I've had in the two weeks since I was diagnosed. My BS went up from 10.6 to 11.6 after an hour but was then back down to 11 after 2 hours. Sounds horrendous I know but two weeks ago it was 22.

Localgirl, I just stuck the pork in the oven and forgot about it for 2.5 hours, so not much effort there.

Having to start real serious cooking was one of THE absolute worst things for me about becoming a diabetic, too. I did not enjoy cooking, at all. But I realised that food was IT. I have always loved eating, and like you - always liked baking for special occasions. I began with learning to cook lowish-carb versions of food I liked to eat ready made, including paleo baking substitutes. It took me about six months to really begin to enjoy genuine cooking, ie cooking food from scratch. Now I see diabetes as having given me this gift - getting to cook really healthy yummy food from scratch. Isn't that awfully Pollyanna-ish??!! But true. Herbs and spices - this amazing world of taste sensations that I am now in control of. My fridge and cupboards a whole world of wonderful tastes and aromas! Thank you diabetes! (OK - that last sentence is going too far.....)