I know I am not the most prolific blogger, writer or whatever, but my New Years resolution was to pay attention to my web-chat and share my knowledge and experience with anyone who chooses to seek my site out.
I hope to get better at this, I also hope to get better at making anything I write look more attractive, but for now I am limited by my lack of IT savvy, please bear with me.
So, why heartburn you might ask? Why on line food shopping?
Well apart from my experience as a Dietitian dealing with gastritis, heartburn, GORD, or GERD if you are American ( they spell oesophageal esophageal), I had my own awful bout of the worst heartburn EVER, just a few days ago. Here is the sorry tale.
Times are strange just now, living in a pandemic has impinged on all of our freedoms, necessarily. I am one of those sad folk who actually enjoys going to my supermarket, butchers, baker and candlestick maker and I have made a step change in that process and have my victuals…vittels delivered. I didn’t think too deeply about what ordering on line might change as regards my food choices but, for sure my choices actually have been hugely affected.
The heartburn story begins as I choose my butchers order.
Free range eggs, some Belfast smoked bacon, a Popeseye steak ( I’ll share with my husband, he would rather I bought 2 but they are huge and he is greedy),
A free range chicken, some potato scones. Some lean beef mince, some turkey mince to mix with it for my weekly spaghetti Bolognese.
Normally that is my order for two weeks or possibly three, we are not huge meat eaters. However, on line as I look in the Beef section I see our local Butchers award winning steak pies. Now, pies in our house are a rare treat, I may be a Dietitian, of more years duration than I can believe, but I am human and I love a pie and beans with green chilli like any other Hooman !
I also note that they are bigger and much more expensive than your average pie. Does that stop me? No. Two of your award winning pies please Mr Butcher, I deserve a treat, after all it’s a pandemic. Purchased!
Due to my natural curiosity I stroll through the rest of the site, the lamb section, no, can’t eat a woolly lamb lamb, pork section, mmmm, those pork Lorne sausages with onion sound interesting. I do hesitate, as I rarely buy sausages. But, I think, butchers sausages, 97% pork, not your cheap fatty sausages, sold 1/2 kilo of your finest 97% pork sausages please. I stroll on through to sundries. There I buy the butchers locally sourced award winning black pudding, 4 slices please! Oh, I’ll have that wee pot of peppercorn sauce, some potato scones, (unaware I had already purchased these in the bacon and sausage page) a Chinese curry powder and finally a wee bit of liver for my Maine Coon George Cooney, he likes a bit of liver cooked in milk no less.
Dear reader, this not only cost me an arm and leg, it bears no resemblance to my normal meat and poultry order. I am supposed to know better. I work with psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, GP’s doctors from various specialities. I do know the allure of on line shopping. But, I feel I did not have my guard up at all. After all its Butcher-meat, not Dolce and Gabbana,
So, as I said, the pies were “award winning”, I was caught up in the rarity of the occasion and looked forward to my steak pie and beans with green chilliest in.
To say they were good would be an understatement. My pie was crispy, piping hot, full of lean delicious beef and gravy to die for. No comparison to your average pie. Magic!
I spend my life telling people to be mindful when eating, to stop when you begin to feel full, to be aware of portion control, to slow down the eating process etc etc.
The pie was huge for me. I would NEVER normally have finished it. But, it was the butchers award winning steak pie, it cost me more than two chicken breasts, I will finish this pie. I did!
Never again.
At first it was a feeling of being stuffed, a feeling I hate, I rarely go there. Then about 2 hours later I felt gassy, burpy and bloated. I felt that my digestive system had stopped.
Four hours passed and my eyes were watering with the pain of reflux. I still felt bloated, I drank water and though I felt thirsty, I had no capacity.
I knew exactly what was going on. Why did I lose all inhibitions over a pie?
I ate too much.
The high fat (though delicious) pastry was a huge fat overload compared to my normal diet. Fat takes ages to leave the stomach, it’s presence increases acid production, the perfect storm.
At least I know my demon in this case. My heart goes out to those individuals who regularly have reflux or worse.
I will never have a combination of high fat and overly large portion of anything again. Learned the hard way and totally own it, should have known better, well did know better, but chose to park my knowledge using the pandemic as an overarching excuse.
The key fact here is my behaviour around food changed, albeit temporarily. Online presentation meant I saw more than I would normally think of looking for if I was standing in the butchers. The presentation appealed. The Award Winning tag worked. The high cost, in my head screamed quality for a product rarely purchased and normally considered a low quality item ( common pies of commercial ilk).
I ignored my observation that it was too large a portion for me. I pushed beyond my capacity, Why? I think a combination of flavour, it was special, cost, I am not wasting it, and, this background pandemic excuse for everything that allows us to self indulge despite all of our inner alarms screaming STOP!
So, to end, I hope this saves some souls from themselves. Lesson learned in the McCreary household!
I will do a short check list following this for those who suffer from reflux and don’ want to read this blurb!
Stay safe!