I like being efficient. I’m attracted to simplicity, well defined processes, speed, and certitude. Reflexively, I’m always considering the time required to do something, steps taken, wasted effort vs. productive effort, duplicative efforts and other measures of efficiency.
It is my natural inclination.
That doesn’t make it right.
Let’s consider the carnivore diet, which I recently left. It was the most efficient way of eating I had in my entire life.
I ate four foods – ground beef, eggs, liver and wild salmon. Shopping trips took 10 minutes once or twice a week, depending on that week’s prices for ground beef. Weeky food prep was defrosting 10 lbs of meat, batch baking unseasoned meatballs or meatloaf for 2 hours, packing it into small containers and freezing it. Daily cooking was one meal – an omelette with eggs, liver, ground beef and salmon. I used 1 frying pan, 1 spatula, 1 plate and 1 fork for years.
I drank water and iced tea.
It was efficient to an extreme.
I got great results from this in term of losing weight, getting extremely lean and not overeating.
What did I miss? The joy of cooking. Flavor. Variety. Social connections over food. Normalcy. Fruits. Vegetables. Laughter. Relaxation.
I noticed on the forums, user groups and podcasts that most of the participants were pursing carnivore due to health issues related to allergies, illnesses, diseases, food disorders, stomach issues, digestions issues and, what I suspect were mental illness/psychological issues. There were an occasional people like me who were pursuing body composition and/or athletics/fitness goals – but we were clearly part of a small minority. There were a lot of maladapted people.
That’s not a knock on the diet or the communities. It’s an observation. I suspect if I dove deep into almost any other diet/way of eating forum, I’d find much of the same.
I, of course, thought I was different.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Perhaps I was just as maladapted for different reasons.
As I mentioned in a recent post, I think this diet turned into another way for me to attempt to control my world and to repress my grief since losing my wife. Exerting rigidity and control are methods I use to stuff my feelings of sadness deep inside so I don’t have to deal with them.
In hindsight, it seems so obvious to me. Meanwhile, for the six years I was doing it, it never occurred to me once.
I’m not so efficient right now. I spend hours each day planning menus, shopping, reading recipes and considering different foods, spices, cooking etc.
I cook for several hours each day – often “wasting time” trying new recipes, considering different approaches, reviewing food blogs and checking nutritional details.
I’m shopping “too much” – nearly every day – as I stock up on spices, build my panty and establish a new routine. So far, it’s still aa jumbled mess of inefficiency and figuring my way as I go along.
It is not efficient.
Nor is it very productive.
But it is kind of fun.
It is challenging.
It’s interesting. I’m learning that much about cooking carries over from one recipe to another. There are techniques, ingredients and processes that only require a few ingredient swaps to create different dishes. By the same token, I can often make a dish twice as healthy by substituting for or eliminating commonly used ingredients like seed oils, sugar, or highly processed foods.
I know that in time, I’ll establish a regular routine and establish a comfortable, predictable system that will be more efficient. And I’ll like it.
It won’t be as simple and monastic as the carnivore diet.
And that’s a good thing.
There’s more to life than efficiency.
Here’s a cute pic of Wiggles, who now joins me for several hours each morning in the living room while I work out. We both love that I now work out inside the house instead of the garage.
