How food blogging has kept me on track for over three years

(Again, warning: LONG. As my posts usually are)

You know it’s interesting. I think the staff at my surgeon’s office are keeping an eye on this whole Bariatric Foodie thing to see how it goes for me. I’ve been warned more than my fair share of times against making food too big a part of my life.

 

What’s also interesting is that in the realm of food blogging there are food bloggers and then there are FOOD BLOGGERS. If we look at that as a continuum between the most basic (folks who just share what they’re doing in the kitchen) to the most advanced operations (folks who make a LOT of money from food blogging and thus have highly stylized blogs) I am somewhere toward the former. I do well with what resources and equipment I have, Bariatric Foodie now generates enough income to pay for the food I experiment with and I have a pretty awesome group of people following it. But I am far from the ranks of Pioneer Woman or Hungry Girl.

 

BUT for me food blogging has been an adventure that has helped me in my journey in many ways so I thought I’d share some of them with you. This may or may not convince you to food blog but I think it’s a testament to how hobbies really can help us.

 

When I cook a lot, I don’t eat a lot.

 

Isn’t that strange? I started to notice this in the thick of doing Pouch Parties (cooking demonstration parties I do for surgery support groups). I’d go for hours and not eat. The divas, the very first “employees" of my operation, would often worry about that and make me eat eventually.

 

The same goes for blogging. Anyone who food blogs knows it is a process that changes the way you prepare and eat food. You have to cook in a way that is photographable and you have to stop along the way to get shots of the process. For a BF recipe that has process shots, the four or five pictures you see in the blog post are among about 30+ that I took. That is to say it’s not a fast process but it is time consuming and I often forget to do the noshing I usually do when I’m cooking. So when I cook to blog, often I end up eating exactly the portion I was meant to eat and nothing more!

 

Inventing recipes requires an intense relationship with food

 

One of the biggest things I’ve learned from writing Bariatric Foodie is that developing recipes is a process (and in some cases, a science). You have to know more than what tastes good. You need to know how food works. This requires some study of food. I think this is why my surgical practice gets concerned about me. But what they don’t know is that this newfound food curiosity I have (because I barely boiled water pre-op) helps me. It fills in that honking huge empty space that used to be filled with eating food.

 

 Now I go to farmers markets and talk to farmers, study food packaging at grocery stores, sniff produce in the produce department, peer closely at various cuts of meat. This does not translate into more eating (for me). But it does keep me in contact with food which, to me, is important. At the bottom of it all I am a foodie. I love food. I’m not going to stop loving food just because of my surgery. So since I can’t eat it, it’s nice to learn about it and be in community with it.

 

The nature of sharing ANYTHING makes us more conscientious

 

It’s true. By virtue of the fact that I share these recipes with other Bariatric patients makes me hyper-sensitive to what ingredients I use, how I cook them, how I serve them. Here lately I have been photographing my actual portions. I used to take pictures of portion sizes I thought newer folks could relate to (thinking my portions might scare people). But in recent weeks I decided that part of being a good member of the community I have created is to be honest and accountable. I am 3.5 years post-op. I eat more. It’s ok. The pervasive thought that seems to permeate within our community is that we should not admit to this fact. Well, here I am. My name is Nikki and I eat. Last I checked, the sky did not fall.

 

And while I’ve made advances back toward more natural foods (for example in some recipes I use actual butter, gasp!), I am also mindful to put out the most healthy version of a recipe that I am capable of doing. I do this knowing the nature of recipes. No matter what, we all approach recipes differently. We almost always change them to suit our needs. So I consider my job to make the healthiest damn dish possible. You can make whatever swaps you want, but at least you have that recipe for reference.

For me, however, this means great things for my eating plan. I’m not rich. I can’t afford to food blog and give that food away. What I make for the blog I have to eat. So if I’m trying to make the healthiest recipes possible, that means I am eating the best recipes possible. Often that helps me stay on track.

 

I’m so vain. I really did think the song was about me.

 

Last but not least, I think food blogging helped me in that as more folks began to follow BF (and as I have gotten louder and more obnoxious…er, helpful on Obesity Help) folks began to know me. Last year, when I went to OH conference, I was approached by so many nice folks who said they read the blog and have seen my many, many, MANY posts on OH.

Now one thing you should know about your girl Nik is that I am nothing if not vain. I like to look good. Not just in how I dress but overall. So the fact that you all know me, coupled with the fact that I’m going around giving you all healthy recipes, keeps me trying to stay active. I slack off sometimes but that motivation always brings me back to where I need to be.

 

So just a few thoughts this rainy August day in Baltimore. In reality, I thank God for the day I started that blog (this very board was the catalyst for starting it). If you have ever considered blogging, or any other hobby, I highly recommend it. It has a lot of benefits and if you’re blessed (or lucky, whichever term you can relate to) you’ll find what I’ve found – a wonderful community of people who make your life so much richer than it was before.

 

 

Nik:
Amen, you're an inspiration - I've enjoyed your Pouch Parties and appreciate the time you've put into the recipes - time that I would otherwise have had to invest!  Thanks from the bottom of my tiny pouch!.

Keep blogging I always enjoy what you write!