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Angie Mc
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 8:54pm | IP Logged
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This topic could easily go under Our Lady of Good Remedy or Laundry, Loom, and Larder, but I've decided to put it here because...
This article summarizes an idea that my dh shared with me after reading a fitness article. The idea is to eat your main/big meal in the morning, then have smaller meals as the day progresses. Maybe another time I'll share how this has helped with meal planning and personal health, but for now, I want to share that perhaps the biggest benefit of this approach for us has been how it has positively impacted the order of our days.
Eating a big, main meal at 9:00 a.m. means that no matter what else happens during the day, we've had one decent meal. That is sooooooooooo encouraging! No dread of "what's for dinner?" or "will I have enough energy to pull off dinner?" With evenings so packed, especially druing baseball season, it is a dream to not have to fit in a big meal smack in the middle of the busiest time of our day. The kitchen and dining room stay neat throughout the day because the main mess happened early and has long since been cleaned up.
I'll stop there for now, but wanted to share our happy experience with this shift.
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 8:57pm | IP Logged
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So your dh is home to eat with you at 9am?
I'm afraid my cooking skills deteriorate rapidly the longer before sun up I'm trying to use them. 
ETA and that doesn't even take into account how bad the rest of my day would go if I got up that early 
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: April 15 2010 at 9:05pm | IP Logged
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...
We stagger wake-up time here but I'm up at 6:00 and my teens are up shortly after so by the time we get to 9:00, we're hungry! At first I thought I could never eat anything but traditional breakfast foods in the morning but I made the switch to just about any meal rather easily. Did I mention that I'm hungry at 9:00?! Plus, I'm expecting to really appreciate eating early in the morning once the heat kicks in.
Unfortunately, my dh is already gone for work - leaves at 5:00 a.m. and often doesn't return home until very late in the evening and he also travels a lot. He's doing his own parallel eating/fitness thing so when he's home at night, he's happy to eat like a pauper too. That's why we put a big emphasis on our big Saturday night meal, per the ideas on Keeping Sundays a Priority.
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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LeeAnn
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 12:16pm | IP Logged
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Interesting. I've been reading the Rule of St. Benedict and St. John Cassian's "Institutes" these past few weeks. Cassian talks about gluttony being the gateway sin and Benedict lays out a moderate approach to eating.
The monks would eat one main meal in the winter (usually around noon) and two meals in the summer (around 9 am and 3 pm) because of the heavier labor of harvest and other outdoor work then. Each monk was allowed a pound of bread per day, only fish and chicken (beef and other red meats were reserved only for the weak needing to regain strength or recover from illness), and fruit or vegetables if available. A moderate amount of wine was allowed.
This was in great contrast to extremely ascetical monks of Egypt who tried to subsist on just bitter greens and water and even in some cases a more complete diet than the average person of the time. St. Benedict was creating a middle way that preserved health enough for the task at hand but without falling into gluttony. How much more we accept as a normal amount to eat in a day now! Amazing.
I like your "queen, commoner, pauper" meme. Perhaps for others they could reverse it if their husbands are not home until evening.
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 1:48pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Lee Ann. Here's a related topic, Eat like a Saint. I really like the link of eating food connected to timing of work. It reminds me of Farmer Boy and the HUGE breakfasts they ate...oh how I drool!
LeeAnn wrote:
| Perhaps for others they could reverse it if their husbands are not home until evening. |
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I dragged my feet on making this switch, in part, because *I* wanted to make a big meal for my dh whenever he came home at night. *I* love to feed people - ask my friends! I was raised in NE PA where womanly competition over who is the most generous and talented cook is alive and well! I'm proud of that! Yet, something interesting has happened...
When my dh does come home, we have more time for him. There is less rush...less to clean...less to go wrong - think burning dinner  . It's as if we were trying to live like a 9-to-5 family when...we've *never* been that. Because his time with us is so erratic AND valuable, I'm thrilled that we're all happy with this switch.
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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LeeAnn
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 4:09pm | IP Logged
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Sounds like your husband and mine are on the same schedule. Sometimes we can all be up at the same time, but that would mean our main meal for the day would have to be around 6 am or earlier if we were going to eat together. But it sounds like your husband pretty much eats separate from the rest of the family?
So what kinds of things do you make for your 9 AM meal?
That Farmer Boy description is amazing, isn't it? But they were certainly very hard working folk. Wasn't it Michael Phelps the swimmer who had to eat 10,000 calories or more a day to keep from losing weight? Some people really expend their energy. I am not one of them!
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: April 16 2010 at 5:10pm | IP Logged
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LeeAnn wrote:
But it sounds like your husband pretty much eats separate from the rest of the family?
So what kinds of things do you make for your 9 AM meal?
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Yes, dh eats separately most of the time during the week. When he is home in the evening, he eats like a pauper with us! Most weekends we eat all of our meals together.
At first, I served more brunch-like foods at 9:00 a.m. but after about a week of that, we all went fully into eating whatever we would normally eat at an evening meal. I was VERY surprised by this! We eat fish, pasta, pizza, beans, enchiladas, big breakfasts, salads, etc. Here's a copy of our current meal plan. I literally flipped my usual breakfast and dinner plans.
I don't think I could eat a big pan of lasgna at 6:00 a.m. I'm pretty convinced that a big meal at 9:00 a.m. works because I've already been up and working for 3 hours.
This morning we had home-made pizza, salad, and fruit. YUM!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: eat like queen, commoner, pauper
