Good day and welcome! Come in and join me for a cup of coffee and a chat. We’ll have to settle for the instant stuff as it’s all I have unless you prefer a cup of tea or Hot Cocoa?
If we were having coffee, I would tell you it’s been a strange week. By strange, I mean unusually quiet at work – low volume of emails, calls, even Mr. CFO seemed to have gone MIA with an email or two every other day. I shouldn’t be so glad for I could be jinxing it and then next week, I might be buried with emails, phone calls, and invoices to fix as my co-worker goes on vacation next week.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you it’s also been an educational week. I learned why I recently lost my interest in food.
I told my dietitian during our appointment last month about how I lost interest in food. She thought it might be the bland selection, of always eating the same thing every day, and that I’m in dire needs of switching things up. “Look at some recipe books, watch some food videos on YouTube, might help jog some inspiration. What do you crave?” My dietitian said.
“I don’t know.” I replied. I used to know what I crave – fish, hamburger, mac n’ cheese – but now, nothing. Actually, it’s not nothing. It’s worse, I think. It’s like my thoughts are jumbled, I can’t decipher what I want. When I go to the grocery store, I used to know right away what I want. There used to be a mental checklist but now, I walk from aisle to aisle and nothing stands out anymore. Nothing would make my brain go, “I want that.”
This week, I finally figured out what’s behind this phenomenon. On Tuesday afternoon, I brought three pieces of chicken tenderloins in a bowl to thaw so I could marinade and stir-fry for my Wednesday lunch. When mom saw that, her face turned repulsive and she said, “Ugh, chicken makes me want to gag.”
Instantaneously, I felt the same way. Great, I lost my appetite, defeated by the power of suggestion.
On Friday night, as we were eating dinner, I was watching a YouTube video on radishes – uses and ways to eat them. As always, I had my ears plugged so I could hear the video. Then, out of nowhere, there she went again. “Ugh, what is that? That looks nasty.”
“What, radishes?” I replied, pointing at my phone screen. “How can you say that? You’ve never had it.” The power of suggestion did it again.
I know I’ve been craving a lot of foods lately but with mom’s power of suggestion and her constant criticism of my recent weight gain, it’s clouding my brain and I do hope it clears up soon.
If we were having coffee, I would thank you for joining me in this edition of #weekendcoffeeshare and hope we’ll both return next week.
This is Another Story 
Ugh…I’ve been through that too. When people tell me to not enjoy certain foods like burritos and hamburgers, why should I care to enjoy any food.
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I think it’s the look on my mom’s face that turns me off. It’s hard to see that look when I’m trying to cook a meal.
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If it’s any comfort, I haven’t been too interested in food lately either. My buddy suggested that it just might be part of the “pandemic phenom”… after all, we’ve been cooped up for far too long. When we’re cooped up, and not able to get out to markets, interact with people, etc. we fall into a routine of the same old thing everyday, infinitum. We’ve eaten far too much chicken because it’s the only affordable meat in the current market, so we’ve lost our desire for it. As humans, we desire change, we crave it immensely. Even something as simple as trying a new veggie that you’ve never tried before (ie: radishes, carrots, etc) can make a difference. I found myself at the Asian market a few weeks ago and I couldn’t find the foods I usually buy there, so I tried something different. It was still chicken based, but it was “different”, and as I smelled the new smell cooking, my tummy growled. I tried it. It was good. Last week, I went back to the market and found my favorite, but went instead to try something else. Now, I’ve got to find out how to make bokChoy into something…. youtube, here I come!
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Maybe it is the pandemic. Ugh… *Sigh*
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That sounds so sad to me, about how you feel about food. I hope you can get back to enjoying it again.
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Me too. I’m trying to add more varieties but nothing yet.
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YingLan, this appetite killing skill of your mom’s is weird. I cant imagine how this is working but it does sound like something with you because you said it happens in the store and that even there, with all those options, noting appeals. This sounds like something you should also share with your GP doctor. As you learn what’s going on, I’d love to know what it turns out to be and hope you’ll feel okay about sharing it.
Regardless, I hope it passes soon and your meal times return to normal.
Blessings
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I think it happens at the grocery store because for some odd reason, her voice is constantly in my head. It’s like she’s controlling me. “Don’t buy this,” the voice seem to say or “You’ll never finish this. You’ll just waste it.”
I’ve discussed this with my dietitian but maybe I should be discussing this with a psychiatrist instead.
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