Food and Fun or Food and Flop

Does anyone else ever feel like food is the center of most events? Out with friends, work parties, business meetings, family gatherings, it's a Tuesday night :)  The last few months I have been enjoying playing around in the kitchen more. Learning about different meats, fish, and spices. I love shopping for fresh new finds and look forward to the meals I will make.  I like my bubble of eating, but I also know I can't hide from the outside world. 

Take this weekend for an example, I had a friends party to attend. I was very good during the day eating like normal. I even ate a small meal before going so I wouldn't be starving. By mid-way through the evening I found myself hungry and wandering to the food table. Yikes. Pasta everywhere!!! Then I saw there was a nice caesar salad and meatballs. Figuring that would be safer than the other choices I made myself a very small dish. I ate half the salad and half of the big meatball and prayed if my stomach rebelled it wouldn't be until later when I was home. Fast forward, I am home for 10 minutes with a massive bad headache, heartburn, and stomach ache. I woke up the next day feeling just as yucky and it took me a while to shake the feelings. Thank you acid reflux attacking my system.

That night I went out to dinner with my family. At this point I still feel sort of yucky, but a little better and hungry. I order a steak and veggies, but that night my body was in overload and I once again was feeling like I got hit by a truck. I called my mom the next day telling her I felt like I had been poisoned. After many hours and endless warm water and gum chewing I finally got the acid under control and was able to function somewhat again.

Dinner out with the family 

mmm steak, eggs, and bacon

Sorry for the long background story, but it all leads up to my feelings of I wish I could just always make my own food. I like knowing what's in it and where it came from. I used to love eating out with friends and family and now I feel like each event, function, and get together is a bit painful. I wonder if it will ever get easier or I will always feel like great, what now or deprived because I didn't join in eating. Sometimes I avoid going out with friends because I know there is nothing on the menu I want to eat. 

I'm starting to feel like you can have your health or you can have your fun, but rarely at the same time. If that's the case, I choose health. 

Cindy