Diet Troubles

It's a little tiring to live with a parent who obsesses so much over diet. My mom has been struggling to find a diet that best suits her. First, she tried low-cal. When that didn't work, she tried mixing up her calorie intake. When she struggled with that, she started reading about eating naturally, and switched to a low-carb, protein/vegetable diet. She was hooked on that for a while, but then she started reading about eating only plant-based foods. That's where she's at currently. 

The reason I say it's tiring is because I have to shop around her needs. She doesn't make meals for anyone other than herself anymore; she simply buys what she wants and lets me buy what I want. I've tried to mirror her to make things simpler, and because I figured it would help me eat better, too, but it's just led to a bunch of dietary confusion. I have decided one thing, though: a plant-based diet is probably the best for anyone.

But there are a few problems with that, which I know I've talked about before: eating vegetables. It's not that I dislike vegetables... I just grow tired of them very quickly, and it gets hard to eat them continuously. We go to the farmer's market now, so we get all the good organic stuff, but eating raw vegetables every day is quite a challenge for me - not just because of flavor, but because they just don't fill me. I pretty much snack throughout the day. I have some carbs in the morning (a croissant or bagel), then a small meal around lunch (usually a protein & vegetable like tilapia and cooked spinach), followed by tea and a square of dark chocolate. For the rest of the evening, I simply snack on whatever I'm in the mood for: a cup of miso soup, some fruit (usually berries or dried apricots), a muffin, maybe some carrots if I'm actually wanting them, or whatever else I have on hand. In the evening, though, I tend to get very hungry quite fast; I'll snack on something and find my stomach rumbling an hour later. 

It's not like I can just buy a bunch of raw vegetables and eat them day in and day out. I'd end up like my mom: sick of vegetables. I doubt we'd have room for that in the fridge, anyway. I've tried my mindful eating technique, but sometimes it just doesn't work. 

Even if I am consuming some sugars, I know my diet could be worse. I could be eating fast food, or more processed junk. In fact, when I was mirroring my mom's low-carb diet, I was eating a lot of deli meats. And it was funny to me when my mom got into her current plant-based diet and said, "Those deli meats aren't good for you," when she was the one who got me eating them in the first place (they were the more expensive Boar's Head meats - not the cheaper brands you can just pick up in the deli aisle). I was also eating rotisserie chicken, tilapia, and stir-fries with spinach, bok choy, tofu, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and a couple other tasty things. But after weeks and weeks of eating the same thing, I soon grew tired of those stir-fries - and mom started her plant-based diet. 

I feel like I should just keep eating the way I do. It's getting frustrating trying to find decent things to eat that are actually filling and don't require me to get up every half hour to hour with a growling stomach. Perhaps I should nose around the interwebs for some meal/snack ideas.

Man, diet shouldn't be this hard. Some light meats, vegetables, and fruits, with teensy bits of carbs (bread, sweets) on the side. Maybe small amounts of dairy if I ever want it. It works for me. I don't have the willpower and metabolism of my mom, who can eat a small salad and be satisfied. Maybe things will change as I get older. For now, though, I don't see anything wrong with what I eat. 

I just need to try and eat more of those veggies...