Introduction, but also some pics of some of my meals the past couple weeks

Hi, I’m sure some of you might recognize my username, and I just wanted to say hi and share some (more) pictures of my meals and maybe introduce myself a little bit. Some pictures you might have already seen, but I don’t remember which ones already were posted, so my apologies. Also there are some on another device, so at least I’ll have some fresh pics to post some other time lol not to mention the meals on haven’t made yet!

I’m sure you guys are thinking “Oh Joyous Day” with eyes rolling, am I right? Haha sorry had to include some self deprecation. But no one’s yelled at me yet that they’re sick of seeing them, so i must not be too annoying, right? RIGHT?!!!???? 🙂

Please bare with me as I know this is a long post. And I know this is a Korean food sub, and not a health or nutrition sub, but as I said I wanted to introduce myself and why I’m trying to cook more Korean style meals and that has a lot to do with it. If this is too much for this sub, I’d happily cut this text out so you can just enjoy the pictures 🙂 I won’t mind. But I’m also not trying to push one way of eating or any of my beliefs. Except to love yourself and let yourself make mistakes. I will never stop preaching that.

I don’t eat like this always, and I don’t take pictures of my oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, so this is not representative how i eat every meal. Also you’ll notice while I try to eat lots of veggies and stay away from fried foods, there’s one picture where i basically made a simple ssambap, but on the side I had hashbrowns and garlic knots… Haha. Sometimes I’m not feeling up to chopping or cooking, or maybe I’m running out of veggies, so sometimes I go with convenience. Not to mention the donuts and cup cakes I’ve eaten in the past two weeks, too… Sometimes it calls to me and I have to answer the call. Sometimes 🙂

But I do try to eat like this for lunch and dinner most days, sometimes for breakfast, too. Making food in a Korean way, if you will, has helped me incorporate a lot more “healthier” foods, since the veggies and side dishes were one of the things that drew me to it in the first place!

Obviously since this is a Korean food sub, I generally post the Korean style food I make(also a reason why you haven’t seen my oatmeal lol, and the fact I make overnight oats and I just throw everything in… That’s not very pretty haha)

(This is future me after typing all this up and picking pictures: I did find a picture of my oatmeal that I ate with bacon. Apparently that day I didn’t mix everything together haha. Also, side note for anyone wondering: protein foods help lower the glycemic index from carbs, which I’m not sure if it’s protein in general or just high protein foods.. but I had some bacon and I wanted bacon haha and it couldn’t hurt if it helps me not get diabetes! That’s why I ate bacon with my oatmeal that day lol)

Also, I’m not vegetarian(future me again: obviously since I just talked about bacon) nor do I plan to convert. I just try to eat more plant based foods, and I use meat basically as a way to get more protein in. I think in some meals you’ll see meat(primarily chicken and salmon) but especially lately I’ve been using tofu as my main protein in meals(and braised beans but I don’t consider them the “main” protein) and honestly it wasn’t that big of a change. Also I’m running low on meat and what i do have is frozen, and tofu was just easier.

Although, it took me a while before I finally pressed my tofu and also made sure it was completely dry on the outside before frying. And sprinkling flour as as a little crust for the tofu before frying. It’s as though I never watched thousands of videos of people preparing tofu. Sometimes I’m smart, sometimes I’m the biggest idiot. And that’s okay haha you live and you learn

Also also, I’ve eaten pretty unhealthily in my life, and that’s why I’m trying to eat healthier. I have gout, which means i need to be somewhat careful otherwise I’ll get a flare up, but luckily it’s about once a year now a days. I’ve also tested for prediabetes a couple of times, not in a row tho. So I try to keep carbs to whole grains and veggies(since these fill me up more, carb for carb), although i do still use sugar and honey! And eat sweets and candy, too!

(AFAIK, prediabetes its just a general term for when your blood sugars and things are getting higher than normal. Or something like that. It doesn’t mean I will get diabetes, just that I am making my body a good place for diabetes to settle down)

I also have ADHD, and there is something called the MIND diet that has shown some promising results in doing very good things for your brain, like cognitive function wise. For that reason, and the fact that most Korean foods are already pretty MIND friendly, my ADHD brain got to latch on the newness and figuring out how to make everything work and hyperfixate on something that was going to be good for my body(instead of scrolling mindlessly on YouTube).

I actually took a weekend to plan out budget and weekly food plans, because since I want to have side dishes in the fridge at all times, actual specific meal planning would be tedious lol. So i just came up with rice, protein, and i try for at least two other veggies/or beans in my meal besides kimchi. Let’s just say with all the veggies and wild/brown rice mix, I basically have to force myself to eat the meat to get that protein in lol

But I also get protein in from my grains, some veggies have protein, and Greek yogurt isn’t bad on my stomach for whatever reason(probably the probiotics) so I get a lot of protein from that too. So it’s not like I have to force myself to eat meat, again I’m trying to listen to my body to see when I’m full. Once I made a lunch so big that I made a burrito out of it for a snack and still ate the leftovers for dinner. Oops. But I guess I didn’t have to worry about cooking anything else that day. Definitely a win haha

And that kind of motivates me to eat this way. I’ve always loved fruits and veggies and the healthier stuff, just never made it a priority. I’ve always loved cooking, and I’m curious enough to see how eating differently will change me. Kimchi and the whole grains keep me regular, which I can’t say had been true for the first 30 years of my life haha. And now, when I pig out on sugary foods I feel kind of terrible the next day(not out of guilt, but I do seem to be more depressed/unmotivated after eating junk, but alas sugary foods aren’t the only reason i get that way, but they are at least a reason, for me anyways).

All of this isn’t too say sugary and fatty foods are bad or people are bad for eating them, please don’t get me wrong. Everyone’s different and if you feel fine after eating those foods and you’re not immediately hurting yourself from eating those foods(celiacs,diabetes,lactose intolerance etc etc), or if you have no problems feeling that way after, then please do you, as I’m doing me lol. I mean, how many lactose intolerant people here still eat cheese and ice cream? I know I do haha. At one point in my life I considered it fine for my insides to hurt for hours just so I could have a milkshake at work almost everyday. My tune has changed since then, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve had a milkshake lol

I love seeing everyone’s posts, and I hope with this post and others, I can help someone, even if all they learn is to be kind and compassionate to yourself when it comes to foods.

Also, it’s taken me thirty years to learn these different things little by little. It might seem terrifying that I’m talking about glycemic indexes and different foods to help gout and the mind diet. But please remember that I didn’t learn all of it in a day, and I certainly don’t think of these things all the time when I’m preparing food.

If I, a person with OCD and ADHD, probable autism, who can almost barely take care of themself and who has never ever listened to their body can do it, someone else can too! But just listen to your body, and your thoughts! It takes time and patience and I’m still learning. And that’s what living is all about. Let yourself mess up. Let yourself learn. You’ve got this.

Enjoy the pics, I try to make sure they’re at least colorful, but I know they are not professional by any means. If you’ve read this all, thank you for your time, it’s nice to meet you! Let me know in the comments what inspired you to start eating or cooking Korean foods, even if It’s just “the bad stuff” because those are always the best dishes!! Feel free to share your story too! I’m also always down to look at pictures of food, so show me your favorite Korean foods!! Either that you like to eat or make!

by Background_Koala_455