Food That Earns Its Keep
Hi my name is Glen. I have been an over-eater for most of my life. There was a time when I could eat almost anything, in huge portions, keep moving, and not think about what that food was doing to me once it got past my mouth. That does not mean I was eating well. It just means my body was younger, louder, and better at covering for me. Now, the bill comes much faster. Miss a meal, eat the wrong thing too late, eat something that burns quick and disappears, and the body sends a memo before the day is over.
During COVID is when my thinking about food started changing. I am less interested in eating for show and more interested in eating for energy. Not energy in the fake commercial sense where somebody eats a bar and suddenly wants to climb a mountain in tight clothes. I mean the kind of energy that gets you through a regular day. The kind that helps you run errands, stand in the kitchen, work a shift, think clearly, cook dinner, take care of family, and still have a little something left in the tank when the house finally gets quiet.
Today a lot of wellness talk makes food feel like a performance or a prison sentence. Somebody is always showing a perfect plate, a perfect body, a perfect routine, or a perfect kitchen that looks like nobody ever fried an egg in it. I have a working kitchen that seems to have a night crew dedicated to piling up dishes! In other words, real life is more uneven. Some mornings start smoothly. Some start with bad sleep, a stiff back, a full inbox, a sink full of dishes, and the knowledge that if you do not eat something decent now, you will be hunting for whatever is fast later.
This played out in my house the day I realized my wife was not a morning person. It only took twenty years for me to figure it out! I am a morning person so I started cooking in the morning, that is when breakfast and food in general came into focus for me. Not because breakfast is magic, and not because everybody has to eat the same way at the same time. Breakfast matters because it can set the tone. A better breakfast can keep the morning from turning into a snack hunt. It can help keep energy steadier. It can make the day feel less like you are running on fumes before lunch.
For me, eating for energy starts with asking what do the things I eat do for and to my body. As I have talked about many times, my relationship with food changed during COVID when I decided to really look at what I like, what I didn’t like and asking myself how I felt after eating. Did I ACTUALLY like what I ate? How did I feel after eating? Did I get pleasantly full or did I overeat like I have been prone to for decades? The last and most important question that came to mind was, did I get enough protein to give me enough fuel to get through the day? These types of questions are more useful to me than asking whether the meal looks like something the internet would approve of.
A meal that earns its keep does not have to be fancy. Eggs and toast, my wife’s favorite, have earned their keep. Yogurt with fruit, nuts, and homemade granola are keepers. Oatmeal earns a spot once it’s built in a way that actually satisfies you. Leftover chicken with toast or rice, a breakfast bowl, a sandwich, smoothie, or a plate of what is already in the refrigerator can do the job if it gives your body something useful to work with.
These types of meals are foundational in my house because some of them I make in house eliminating the need to purchase a product that I have no clue what all is in it. Yogurt, granola, fresh-milled bread, spice blends, and vinegars are basics in my kitchen and make it harder as the day goes by to eat anything that either my wife or I didn’t cook.
Recently, I have started to think about food in terms of support. Not punishment. Not reward, but support. Questions that come to my mind surround this help me stay full and satisfied? Does what I eat leave me drained while cooking, or keep me moving, so I can make better choices later because I am not running on empty?
To be helpful every meal does not have to be optimized. Sometimes food is just pleasure. Maybe it’s grounded in tradition. Other times food is convenient because the day got away. I can’t remember where I heard it from, but I can relate to hearing, “That was so good it made me close my eyes”. For us old heads that means soul food. Sometimes you just want something good even if you know it’s not good for you.
This is also where the old push-through mindset starts to show its limits. Decades ago Gen X learned how to keep going no matter what. Skip breakfast, drink coffee, work through lunch, grab something quick, and call it normal. That season is over, today our bodies demand better management. Our default setting is to buck against our bodies telling us what to do. In order to continue having fun we have to learn how to actually pay attention to what our bodies are telling us.
Eating sensibly is a practical but difficult adjustment. It is not a diet plan. It is not a challenge. It is not a new identity. It is a way of saying the food I eat should help me live the life I am actually living now. That life has work in it, errands in it, aging in it, responsibility in it, and hopefully some joy in it too.
So the question I am asking myself more often is simple: what can I eat today that helps me keep going without turning food into another job? That answer may change from day to day, but the direction is clear. I want meals that are useful, satisfying, and honest about real life. I want food that helps me stay strong enough for the day in front of me.
That is what eating for energy means to me right now. Not eating for show. Not eating to impress anybody. Eating in a way that helps me stand up, move through the day, and still feel like myself when the day is done.
What is one meal that actually helps you get through the day instead of just filling the gap?
