Chaaaaanges

My goal with my Instant Pot is to take foods we already eat at home, ones established as our norm, and cook them more efficiently and more flavorful. I will definitely be scanning the web for inspiration and then change it up to my own taste. I see recipes where I have to special order ingredients and that's just not happening.

Living in Alaska, we have no fancy stores. No Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. About an hour away is Anchorage and I'm guessing there's a few fancypants stores I might check out for fun. But, my stuff is going to be basic family food. If I find inspiration and copy a recipe I'll be sure to post the original link. That's just polite, yo.

I hate to cook. I've always struggled with it. It's rare that I've had any complaints in my 34 years of cooking and some friends get excited when they hear I'm cooking something up. And that's flattering. But it's been complicated for me. I haven't had a healthy relationship with food. I've believed myself to be fat all my life when clearly I wasn't. With that mindset I've related to food as a necessary evil. I'm the eldest of six kids and after my parents were in a horrific accident that literally left them laid up for 11 months, I had to learn fast to feed the younger kids and my folks. My mom would tell me directions from her recliner where her shattered hip and pelvis held her captive. It was necessary and I harbor no bad feelings. I just never really learned the joy of cooking. It's always been a chore and a necessity.

I became a mom at 20 so I had to get over it and cook healthy for my family. Interestingly enough, I don't like eating my own cooking. Often I cook and skip the meal. I've been successful in eating just enough carbs to gain weight while keeping my calories under 1000cal most days. So I'm chubby and a carbetarian. Or...I was.

This is all changing. I found Eat to Perform and have been slowly changing my mindset and increasing my calories. It's like reverse dieting. We are seeing more and more in nutrition news that most people are underfed. Definitely an issue with me even though I'm overweight. Eat less, move more is no longer the recommended protocol by up to date nutritionists and scientists. I'm at the point in my life where I want to change my relationship with food and stop worrying about the scale. I believe the scale will change when I do.

Thus, my excitement over removing the burden of the cooking chores each day with a tool that, I believe, won't steal away what little free time I have. In turn, my resentment of having to cook healthy meals and the time involved is forever changed. Quite frankly I don't care if you have an Instant Pot or some other pressure type cooker. If my story sounds familiar to you I hope you find a way to create positive change in small ways and build a healthy relationship with real food. And throw in some fast and easy stuff too :)