Note: THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT COOKING. Not really. There is no secret recipe lurking towards the bottom. If you are in this just for the food, I totally respect that, and you should check back soon. This post is about understanding your core foods, your “safe” foods, if you will, for when your body doesn’t seem to really want anything.
CW: Eating Disorders. I don’t have an eating disorder, but again, this post is about dealing with having no appetite/desire to eat.
I have been meaning to post recipes, wanting to post recipes, on here for weeks. I had all these ideas about what I was going to cook and share with y’all. But I kept running into the same problem, over and over:
I didn’t really want to cook. And there was nothing I really wanted to eat.
It wasn’t that I was trying not to eat. I wanted to want to eat. But when mealtime rolled around, I wasn’t hungry. I could maybe get myself to eat, but not the kinds of foods I usually make. The foods I usually make use combinations of flavors and textures that make for a more complex (and usually, more delightful) food experience for me. But I couldn’t do it.
On top of that, I didn’t really want to cook. This is extra surprising for me because I love cooking. Cooking is stress relief for me. It gives me a chance to step away from schoolwork and just focus on this very important aspect of my self care. But I’ve been stressed (and probably a little depressed) and unmotivated-~-which, again, is very common in grad school.
And this is not something that could be solved with cheese and a little food pampering. Believe me, I tried. I have tried wielding cheese in several forms to motivate myself (nachos, quesadillas, apples and cheddar, brie and crackers) and nothing has worked.
I’ve been through this before, though. And I know that it will, eventually, pass. And in the meantime, the strategy is basically this: identify the foods my body is on board with even when it thinks it isn’t hungry.
Have you ever done this? If not, it’s actually not a bad thought exercise. Which foods bring you joy? Which foods bring you comfort? Which do you not actually need any motivation or appetite to eat because they’re just kind of there and your body will accept them? What forms of foods work for you in these situations?
For me, it basically comes down to a few staples:
- Pasta. It’s good, it’s reliable, and it is very easy to prepare. Even when I’m really out of it, I still try to stick to me 2 food group minimum, so I’ll often try to add in a vegetable; for me, sauteed broccoli often works, or blanching asparagus and adding it to pasta Alfredo is often an easy option.
- Fried rice. Preferably from the local Chinese takeout place, but I can make it myself. Veggie fried rice or chicken fried rice are usually easy go-to meals, and they offer at least a few food groups to help with the whole “nutritional balance” thing.
- Green smoothies are a super easy way to get veggies into my system even when I don’t really want to eat the veggies. (Also, they are honestly one of the only ways I will consume kale, because I really do not like kale.)
- YOGURT. Yogurt is honestly the true MVP of my grad school experience so far. Every time we adjust my anxiety meds, my appetite gets messed up, and yogurt becomes a critical source of nutrition for 1-3 weeks at a time. It requires basically no appetite, and it has protein, calcium, and vitamin D. I’ll be real with you: get the good yogurt. At least reduced fat, preferably whole fat, Greek or Icelandic yogurt. Nonfat yogurt has a lot of hidden sugar. Seriously, go check.
- Protein shakes-~-a life saver
- Salads are a good way for me to get at least some vegetables, without getting overwhelmed. The trick, for me, is to not have an overly fancy salad; instead, I like to get a shaved veggie “slaw” (HEB calls it power slaw, the one I eat), pour a bunch of vinaigrette on it, and eat that.
- Waffles with peanut butter. They take almost no effort, they provide some protein and a starch, and I can follow them up with a fruit or veggie like carrots, strawberries, or bananas.
- Berries, cherries, or grapes-~-they are easy to snack on and require little motivation.
The other big trick for me is to switch to simpler meals when I meal plan. Fewer flavors overlapping and lower effort meals mean I’m a lot less likely to bail on cooking them or have trouble with them. Here are a few of my recommendations:
- These Brussels sprouts with eggs and bacon, with or without actually including the bacon
- This Parmesan crusted chicken with green beans that offers an easy, balanced meal; I sub in diced up potatoes for the tomatoes (I was never a big tomato fan and this way I get a starch and some potassium)
- This five ingredient chickpea curry, which is easy to make and usually sits well when I eat it
- This easy lemon chicken and asparagus–you can also just grill or pan-sear some chicken and saute some asparagus with lemon pepper and lemon juice and call it a day
- Hamburgers with green beans or sweet potato on the side
- Shakshuka, preferably with a veggie on the side (I like to eat mine over pita or naan)
- These zucchini fritters with hard-boiled or fried eggs
- These fruit and yogurt overnight oat parfaits, which I usually eat for breakfast.
- Macaroni and cheese, maybe with a side salad.
- This Sweet Potato and Black Bean hash, with or without the eggs
Honestly, this may not work for everyone. Maybe you need to default to favorite foods, no matter how “fancy” or complex they are. Maybe you need to switch to more new recipes, to keep things interesting. But the important thing is this: know what you are willing to cook and eat when you don’t particularly want to cook and eat, because no matter how stressed, depressed, anxious, or tired you are, you still need to meet your nutritional needs.
Grad School Girl Eats 