A Girl...

I do the same thing, but I eat a piece of string cheese or an apple at 11 AM and then I go to the gym and I am completely starving when I get back to work at 3 or 3:30 and I inhale my lunch. No granola bars for me; I have to look good in a bridesmaids dress in a few months. Ugh. I've started being better about bloodsugar-related stuff in the last few years because I've realized just how bad Unfed MLE can be (and again, sorry about that on Sunday; we just should have planned ahead better) and I try not to get to that point. For me it's some sort of pride or a power trip I play on myself or something that I can make myself wait until AFTER I exercise before I eat, and I know it's just not that healthy. Have you considered bringing some non-granola bar snacks with you that might stick with you a little longer? String cheese works well for me, because I am all about the protein, but I don't know what works for IBS.

i despise breakfast but i force myself to take in something. it is usually a dairy product. and i stuck a mini fridge and microwave in my office so i wouldn't have to the kitchen down the hall... do it. it will change your life!

I usually don't eat anything until 5:00 or 6:00 pm (that's usually when I get hungry for the first time each day). That's really unhealthy and probably making it impossible for me to lose weight if what they say about your body going into starvation mode and clinging desperately to all available fat and not letting go is at all true.

At least you're putting something in there throughout the day. Maybe something a little healthier and less processed would be better. Like maybe some nuts, fruit, salad (brought from home to avoid outrageous by the ounce salad bar pricing) or even leftovers from your healthy dinners?

But, I'm sure there's worse things you could be doing to your body so all in all I (the expert, just kidding, I have no idea what I'm talking about) think your cereal and granola bars are fine. But then again that's coming from someone who starts eating at 6:00 pm and then continues eating well into the night, so what do I know?

Oh, the joys of IBS. I have to be within running distance of a bathroom at all times. How about that for too much information on a Friday evening?

My husband has IBD - ulcerative colitis, to be specific - and hoo boy, it's horrible. He is constantly on some elimination diet or another, and it just sucks to be him, just SUCKS. I feel for you. Not that you need assvice of any kind, but slippery elm powder/extract has really helped him, although again, UC is different in that it brings um, the added bonus of blood and mucus (SORRY SORRY SORRY)

Anyway, I always bring my lunch from home. Always. I get a lot of shit for it, but honestly, it saves me a truckload of money, and I just don't enjoy daytime food that much, plus I'd rather save the time and just get my work done and get OUT of there.

I just wanted to say that my brother has IBS too but he's taking 'Digestive Advantage IBS' pills (1x a day) and he no longer has to rush into the bathroom mid-conversation or worry about eating certain things anymore. It works great for him, so I thought I'd mention it and maybe you'll want to give it a try. (it's only like $10 for a 30 day supply at most drugstores)

Making friends through discussing our bowels and the bowels of our loved ones...One of the many reasons I simply adore the internet. And youse guys!

I just reread the original entry, and it probably sounds like I never eat a proper lunch, which isn't true. I eat proper lunches when I bring food from home, and on the other days I usually drag myself out into the world for something or other, whether "proper" or not. I do still wait until I'm faint with hunger before I eat, though, which is just...weird. Although, now that I think about it, it's probably just procrastinating the potential of IBS disaster; if I don't eat, I don't feel like crap, right?

Also, I usually try to be healthy and nutritious with my snacks--apples, clementines, bell peppers, tomatoes, and sometimes yogurt or pudding snacks depending on if I can stand the texture that particular day (I go through phases where it grosses me out). Sometimes those things will set me off, though, which is why it's always safe to have a granola bar. Well, that or sushi.

Jonniker--What is this "daytime food" you speak of? I'm intruiged. Do you bring beef Wellington leftovers to work every day? Do you?

I am not a breakfast person if it means I have to make it myself...have been known to stand in front of the fridge long past the `close the door' beep standing in my PJ's just sighing at the thought of it all. I also prefer non breakfast food for brekky and breakfast food for lunch which is strange. To me, a bowl of muesli is way too rich and heavey for brekky but if there's half a serving of lasagne in the fridge left over from the night before then that's #1 on my list. I have cereal for lunch every day during the week. But if going out for breakfast is on the table (we find ourselves doing this every second weekend these days) then I love it :)

I love that I found your blog. Your pictures and your posts are so fun and refreshing to come across. And, by the way, in my opinion, points are highly overrated ... and I, for one, certainly don't think you are dumb. But I also think Jess is still going to come back to the CANCELED Gilmore Girls and give me my happy ending, so I should probably just shut up and read quietly ;)

I love that I found your blog. Your pictures and your posts are so fun and refreshing to come across. And, by the way, in my opinion, points are highly overrated ... and I, for one, certainly don't think you are dumb. But I also think Jess is still going to come back to the CANCELED Gilmore Girls and give me my happy ending, so I should probably just shut up and read quietly ;)

I love hearing about other peoples' food thoughts/habits. We're all so different.
Since being home with a baby all day I have found myself in a similar situation. I don't really sit down to eat lunch or breakfast (I too don't like to eat much first thing in the morn) but am just nibbling on goldfish crackers, licorice, and diet coke all day long. So I never really feel hungry nor satisfied. I don't like it.
You'd think that all this bird-like pecking throughout the day would make me slim, but you'd be mistaken. Maybe I should, I don't know, EAT A CARROT!

You need to go bento!
http://tinyurl.com/yhdgpw

I would love to go bento if someone else would make it for me. I can barely manage to throw a frozen burrito in my backpack let alone make eleven separate snacks and arrange them tastefully within containers that would have to be washed daily. Too much work!

Heh. I wish it were beef wellington, though sometimes it is leftovers. Most of the sad time, though, it's a Lean Cuisine or a WW Smart Ones and a bunch of fruit. Being on Weight Watchers, I want to *enjoy* my food, and during the day when I'm busy (sometimes eating in the car on the way to an assignment), the last thing I feel like doing is wasting precious, precious points.

Also, it's worth noting that I HATE breakfast, but also that I can't eat it. I take medication for my thyroid disease, which requires an empty stomach for at least an hour before I can eat anything. I don't know about you, but I get up, shower and get the hell out of the house in under an hour, and I am certainly not getting up earlier so I can make myself *breakfast*. I have coffee at work, and that's breakfast.

Yep, same here. Eating to me is just wasted time; I'd always rather do it on the run or while multitasking--I always have lunch at my desk and if there's a drive-through option, I'm your girl. This drives Simon nuts, although he really should be grateful because it makes me a wonderfully cheap date!

I think eating is a waste of time to. Although, I'm getting better realizing that I will actually be more productive if I just eat the breakfast -- a big one -- and get it out of the way. It does give me more energy. But, most days, I let the morning slip by, as I'm busying doing tasks.

"I hate paying for things that will turn into poo no matter what they were or how much they cost in their original form."

Classic. And my thoughts exactly. :)

Hah! How I know your pain. It's funny how the shame of explosive diarrhea subsides after you've had 8 little boys laughing outside the bathroom door saying "Miss Rachel is busting ass!" (I used to work with kids.)

I did recently find a very helpful website about it. If you change one thing: Fibercon instead of Pepto. http://www.helpforibs.com/

I bring my lunch everyday as well and everyday my new(ish) coworkers, look at me like I'm crazy. I also eat my breakfast (cup cereal w/milk and FULL of fiber) at work as well. So I'm that weird girl who eats at work a lot. Mostly because I'm too lazy to get up early and eat breakfast at home.

P.S. I had a filet o' fish today. It sadly will be my last for a while. Tears.

I never ate breakfast until I married someone who considers breakfast his favorite meal option of the day. I will still occasionally do dishes or something while the husband eats breakfast (we carpool to work) just because I don't feel like eating right out of bed. Just don't take away my daily chai tea or coffee!

I am apparently in the minority here, but I love to eat and I like to choose carefully where my calories are going (more so now that I'm older)... variety makes every meal interesting.

My eating habits stink during the work week, too. Balance Bars and diet soda at my desk for breakfast, yogurt and some carrots for lunch (on a good day - pretzels and a granola bar more often), and arm-gnawing hunger by 5pm. At which time I hit the vending machines for a York Peppermint Patty or similar so I can make it 'til dinner, which is usually a decently nutritious meal along the lines of your Big-Ass SaladTM.

Eating at work is not pleasurable in the slightest, and I can't be bothered to make more of an effort or take any more time than tossing something portable in my bag and/or walking down the hall to the machines. But you know, it works for me and I take a multivitamin. That makes it ok, right?

Oh, IBS is a pain in the butt and, uh, runs in my family (puns intended for levity). Fiber is actually sometimes prescribed to ease the symptoms, including supplements. Though I know you've shunned religion, I think God created food as a metaphor for life: that which is good, man turns into crap.

That aside, I love breakfast so much that I usually eat it for dinner (even if only cereal). "Dinner" is so hard to face after a long day at work. But a bowl of crunchy goodness? Priceless.