Does anyone else hate to cook?

#1

I’ve been on carnivore for a month, and I’m not eating enough because I hate to cook. Also, don’t like eggs too much cooked any way. Pan cooking meat leaves grease everywhere, and I hate cleaning as much as I hate cooking. Plus, I’m just getting bored with carnivore. I’d like to have more variety, especially since I don’t like eggs.

I went on carnivore to lose weight fast, which didn’t work out, so there is really no reason to stay on it. I’m thinking of going back to standard keto so I can have some non-cooked meals, especially for breakfast and lunch. Then if I decide to have a ketovore day or two, I can, but I don’t have to cook and clean as much.

Even standard keto is pretty restrictive to me, because I have a goiter and GERD, which cuts out a lot of allowed foods, but it still has more variety. I really miss fruit so much.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

That sounds like a good plan. Just remember that neither keto nor carnivore is a quick-weight-loss diet. It’s best to think of them as ways of eating that can heal the metabolism, with fat loss as a pleasant side-effect. If there is some other way you can achieve your goals, you might be better off doing that instead.

Goitre is supposed to result from a lack of iodine in the diet. If you can’t find or don’t like foods rich in iodine, a supplement may help. And while many people believe that GERD is the result of excess stomach acid, there are data to suggest it’s actually the result of insufficient stomach acid. Several people on these forums have found that when they got more acid in their diets, it seems to have helped resolve their GERD.

In any case, a diet one cannot eat or that involves food one dislikes is not a diet that is going to benefit from, no matter how much it benefits other people. So eat what you like, and don’t worry about it.

#3

This is so true. My goiter is caused by too much estrogen, not iodine deficiency, as are many goiters in older women.

My GERD is caused by having too much fat around my belly and a hiatal hernia. Dr. says if I can lose my belly fat and strengthen my core muscles, GERD should go away. Has nothing to do with how much acid, because I actually take a digestive enzyme supplement that has HCl in it.

(Joey) #4

I guess it’s all relative. Question: You do hate to cook and clean up more than you love to eat?

While I can’t say I love to cook nor clean, I do love to eat good food. Cooking and cleaning are means toward that end.

As a result, I don’t mind cooking/cleaning for myself and for my wife - someone whom I love very much. Sometimes, she returns the favor … and cleans up afterwards. :wink:

#5

Have never “loved” eating. Grew up poor. Basically got toast and tea or milk for breakfast, school lunch (in summer PB sandwich & water), supper was one small helping of everything, which wasn’t much. Just always considered eating a way to stay alive. In the summer, I would eat a lot of wild fruits or snatch fruit from neighbor’s trees.

So eating isn’t about pleasure for me, except with fruit. I loved that when I grew up, I could have all the sweets and fruit I wanted, which is what made me fat.

#6

My father suffered greatly from heartburn from acid reflux, sometimes it was quite debilitating (unfortunately he went on to develop oesophagael cancer, no doubt the acute reflux he suffered from was a likely contributor to that).
However there are far better treatments these days for this condition, surgical and medical.
Also, if the acid reflux is related to a physical condition, such as a loose lower oesophagael sphincter muscle (which can allow acid to reflux into the lower oesophagus), I believe that these days this can be corrected by relatively simple keyhole surgery.
(In which part of the shincter circumference is stapled together, so that the sphincter hole diameter is effectively made smaller, and thus when closed is closed tighter, preventing reflux).
I saw that on TV a few years back.
image

#7

In answer to your initial question though: Does anyone else hate to cook?

I like cooking sometimes, when I’m in the mood and have time, but at other times I like basic things that don’t take too much effort.

I like batch cooking a load of meals and then freezing them (or sealing them before throwing in the fridge), then I can take it easy for a few nights and just heat up whatever I need whenever I need it.
Get’s all the cooking/washing up hassle (if you want to call it hassle- cooking can be very enjoyable) out of the way all at once.

#8

I like to cook but I like not to be forced to it. That’s why carnivore is so great, I can make food for days with a few minutes of work! :smiley: (I like variety so it’s more for me but I would have problem without the need to cook for a high-carber! Carni food is just way too simple.)
I spent so much time cooking on keto, I am glad it’s over. I just toss 3kg fatty pork into the oven and it should be enough for the week with some other, even simpler meat items and a bunch of eggs and sour cream. I could do it that simple if I wanted, sometimes I am close as I can’t make tastier food than this and I stopped getting bored of meat. I can’t imagine cooking that simple on keto unless I do the same just add raw vegs (grab and bite) and nuts.

Why can’t you eat food without cooking? If I really wanted, I could buy cooked meat, some countries even have cooked eggs (but it’s soooo insignificant work to boil a few or a few dozens of eggs), one can eat various quick stuff, dairy, deli meat, whatever as well (though I couldn’t use them as staples).

But if carnivore doesn’t give you benefits or not enough, don’t do it, sure. I don’t do it pure myself, I add tiny amount of other stuff and have off days but my carni ones feel the best and overeating has the smallest chance there so I have a huge motivation not to stray far. I experiment a lot and try to figure out what is a good idea to add and what isn’t. I need to avoid even some carni stuff as they just cause problems (usually overeating fat, it’s my usual problem).

My time consuming low-carb and keto times taught me to cook as much as I can every time. We ate it up but after a while I started to freeze some of it. It comes handy. Even if I am willing to cook, sometimes I need more food than what I have ready to eat or I fancy a bigger variety so I just get out something from the freezer and in a few minutes, I have something nice to eat.

#9

I don’t know why you think high carb eating is more cooking. I guess it depends on the person, but I would say I ate 70% raw food. I don’t like lettuce and greens salads, but I do love chopped veggie and chopped fruit salads that don’t involve any cooking. It’s just me, so I don’t have to worry about feeding anyone else.

I don’t cook in bulk because I have a small, apartment size refrigerator with a tiny freezer, so that doesn’t work for me. Plus, I get bored if I have to eat the same old same old food every day for days and days. Even though it’s restrictive, keto at least has some variety.

Each to his own, though. I know some people love meat and love eating it all the time, but before I went on this diet, I hardly ever ate meat, and when I did, it was usually in a soup or stew. I’m just not a big meat eater. Seafood, yes. I could live on shrimp, but meat, no. Again, all that cooking and cleaning up does not appeal to me.

(Bob M) #10

I’ve always found the prep and cleaning to be the hardest part. The cooking, I like.

(Marianne) #11

Last summer, I discovered the grill for really the first time. Our stove/range was out of commission and that’s all there was to prepare meat. Now, I probably grill almost every dinner out there, and lunch, too. Lately, lunch has been a small (6-8 oz.?) round steak. We love the grilled flavor and no grease all over everything.

When I came here at the beginning, I reported that I didn’t like to cook. Several of the old timers broke it to me that I would need to - to some degree. I’ve discovered I don’t like to make elaborate “recipes,” but I don’t mind throwing one ingredient items together to make a sauce, soup or other, and I don’t mind pan searing or grilling our meat. Actually, I’ve found I enjoy it.

What doesn’t go in the dishwasher, my husband cleans up!

#12

Yip, I know what you mean.

As long as I’m not pushed for time, and have a nice drink and pupper to accompany me, I don’t mind chilling out, prepping everything, getting the cook times coordinated for each part of the meal, the ongoing taste assesments and seasoning adjustments, then the final article.

For the clean up I mainly use the dishwasher, but there’s always something you need to hand scrub (which I leave for later, soaking). Plus then there’s the cooker, grill and worktops need attention.
But by the time I have blitzed the cooker and worktops etc. the cooked food is sufficiently cooled to serve/eat. It’s not too much hassle, and it is worth it. Yeah, I definitely like cooking more than not.

#13

Because it is 10 times as much for me?
I always hated salads and carbs just make me hungrier so cooking carby food is pretty useless in my case…
Obviously one can avoid cooking or do it simply on most woe if they really want, one can do most woe cheap and expensive, simple and complicated… And it matters how exactly one eats, obviously.
I liked my raw vegs but they weren’t food, just joy. I can’t get much protein and nutrients and satiation from them… Just like fruit is natural candy. If it’s about cooking time and effort, my real food is matters, the stuff that gives me satiation and nutrients…

I came from vegetarian keto and I never ever ate meat every day in my life until… 2.5 years ago? My time sense is very off but maybe that. I ate very little meat in my first carnivore trials :smiley: Those weren’t always easy but still loads better than my normal keto.
But it’s individual. Eat the way you like, even high-carb if that works for you or anything! There are almost always options, whatever your priorities and tastes lie.

I personally always liked to focus on eggs and they are ridiculously easy. I can eat pork roast basically every day but I can’t eat the same egg dishes (except my sponge cakes, I can eat them every day forever I suppose). But as they are so easy, I can have variety there. My freezer is quite small (could be worse, it’s part of a big fridge… I had times when I could put 1 kg stuff into my freezer) so I need to be careful what to put here but even that helps (a smaller one would help to - and if one doesn’t live far from all supermarkets, they can pull it off easier). And we can just buy some canned stuff for convenience and variety. Or make them ourselves sometimes but that’s work. Not so much if one just makes something in bulk, eats some and pressure can the rest.

Meat in soup is pretty okay, I probably could pull off carnivore using only that, it wouldn’t be as nice as with my beloved roasts but doable. And meat is less important not on carnivore, I didn’t need any on my original keto (but it meant I had to spend way more time on cooking)…

Why is tossing meat into the oven for hours is “all that cooking”? Cleaning is one oven pot (it’s a bit problematic, mine has corners… but they never will be clean again, it’s fine) and one plate for the whole week too… But one can do it with even less, buying fried meat and eating from whatever it comes, I am not familiar. But eat carbs, no problem, it just would add insane amount of work and cleaning up for me, typically.

As I eat less fat than ever and way less added fat than on my previous diets, I don’t have the “everything is fatty” problem as a new thing either but that’s me.

Cleaning isn’t the best but fortunately I don’t hate it. Prep is the fun, cooking is when I do nothing just wait :smiley: It was different before carnivore, I had to stand next to the frying pan all the time… I am glad it’s over. Now I only stand there a bit - except when I make pancakes. But I love pancakes and could sacrifice a lot for them.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #14

I enjoy cooking more when I cook for others, and not just for myself. But since going keto, I’ve noticed how much more preparation vegetables take than meat. Meat you just pop in the pan with some bacon grease, flip it over at some point, and then it’s done. Roasts are even better, because you put them in the oven and forget about them for a while. Vegetables have to be peeled, sliced, and diced before your can put them in pan or pot, and that takes a lot of time.

Of course, gravy and cheese sauce are also time-consuming, but that’s mostly just stirring, which is mindless. When I dice onions, I have to pay attention, because I value my fingers (I’m kind of attached to them, lol!).

Oh, and a fruit of my experience: never cook bacon naked! :bacon::bacon:

#15

I love to cook, wife isn’t a fan of (me) cooking. I cook awesome, I’m allegedly messy. If you don’t like pan cooking meat you can broil it in the oven, or get something like a Forman grill which will let you dump the grease out. I’ve got a Ninja Foodi oven which also has a broil function and it does pretty damn good!

#16

Oh that is already unnecessary complication for many of us (but some sauces are very, very simple, some seconds and that’s it). I jumped from vegetarian keto to carnivore trials and my Mom never made sauces either and I find meat very flavorful so it is normal for me to eat roasts as they are, without anything added (except maybe eggs. sometimes a tiny amount of raw vegs. but it works all alone as well)…

#17

I had more thoughts while weeding…

Because if I just stopped eating all the carby food, I almost got my keto. So I cooked the same amount MINUS all the time-consuming cooking of the carbs. (it’s gross simplifying even for me but yep, I basically skipped the carbs. I already had my protein sources as I always needed protein. And I definitely needn’t to add more calories than the result but adding calories is ridiculously easy anyway. I always can eat some sour cream. No cooking is involved.)

Some ketoers eat 100% raw food… Maybe it’s not something you like, just saying. And many cooked food involves zero cooking from your part, I already said examples.
And raw food often has insane amounts of preparation. IDK how raw vegans do it, I only made a handful of their dishes, they were nice but so much work was included for no satiation :smiley: (Okay, okay, some people get satiated even by vegs and fruits and nuts but many of us don’t.)
Carnivore is the opposite, almost no work gives me days of great, satiating, nutritious food. And cutting up meat is way easier than peeling, slicing etc. vegs. Of course one can live on mirelit vegs partially. Or canned ones. There are easy and complicated ways to eat on any woe, probably but some are harder (raw veganism unless one can do it super simple but all the ones I met online had lots of complicated recipes) and some are ridiculously easy (carnivore. I see that all the time in our carnivore thread, I am the most complicated one there I think and it’s still a pretty simple style). Even shopping and tracking is so easy when one has a more limited set of items :smiley: It’s not for everyone, sure, it’s good keto allows basically everything so you can choose from thousands of different stuff, choose the ones not needing much or any further work.

We are all different, we just can tell how we do it simple. And you can choose what suits you.
I am sure there are options. Keto isn’t particularly restrictive - unless you want your carbs badly but then don’t do keto. Many people are thriving without it. I was quite happy with my low-carb before keto but eventually I realized I need to go very low to get benefits. And I got very nice ones. But some people are better with more carbs. Or they are at the moment.

(Michael) #18

For the vast majority of meat, I wrap in tinfoil or parchment paper, bake for 10 minutes or so and then eat every morsel on my plate. Cooking takes at most 15 minutes and clean up involves throwing the tinfoil in garbage after cooking and putting the plate and utensils in the dishwasher. I do not like cooking, which is why I love carnivore for no mess, no clean (well normally). Pretty much everything I do not bake gets pressure cooked which unfortunately does involve cleaning one pot, which I do begrudgingly.

(Allie) #19

That’s way too much effort for me.

Meat, pan, fry.

Eggs, pan, fry.

Occasionally make burgers or meatballs with ground beef, maybe cut up some cheese…