clarify/rephrase

[nolly]

I think my comment in the branch discussion in serenejournal's LJ may be more clear than my original statement, which was something of a first draft, so I'm reposting it here:

I know that I rapidly become irrational when I need food, especially when I'm physically tired. I've gotten pretty good at having a plan for dealing with this in ways that don't have much impact on other people. Occasionally, factors beyond my control throw a monkey wrench into those plans, and the cranky spills. If I am not exhibiting basic courtesy, I don't feel I have a right to expect it from others. However, in this situation, rudely ignoring me is going to be rather less exacerbating
than rudely arguing with me, which is part of what I felt needed to be said -- whether it's heard or not. Handing me food or otherwise assisting in acquisition of food is likely to be helpful, but I don't actually expect that from anyone -- it's bonus if it happens, but ultimately, it's self-care and self-responsibility.

Comments

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

By the way, thanks for the thought-provoking discussion, and I'll try to remember to offer you food (and not rudely argue with you, which I hope I wouldn't do anyway) when you're cranky. :-)

[nolly.livejournal.com]

The only way I can imagine you rudely arguing with me when I'm cranky is if you're even more off kilter than I am, due to whatever factors throw you way off kilter. :)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Heh. Hunger plus a really messy house might do it. :-)

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh... yeah. I guess i kind of missed the first discussion, but can I say that this is completely and totally me. My sister has learned through painful experience that arguing is so not the way to go, and most of my friends tend to hand me food if they see me becoming cranky.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

This (http://nolly.livejournal.com/180563.html) is the original; Serene posted her own thoughts in her journal, and that helped me clarify my thoughts. It's mostly a response to a situatioin Tuesday night where an unexpected venue change threw off my food-acquisition plans at a time when I was too low on cope to really handle it well. An acquaintance -- who doesn't know me very well at all -- started being very belligerent with me about the availability of food at the new location, and it made matters worse. I doubt he'll read either of these posts or their comments, but others who witnessed the interaction will at least read the posts and may be helped by the extra context.

[redbird]

That is a useful how-you-work disclaimer, especially since that's one I think varies a lot from person to person.

[colleency.livejournal.com]

I have much the same problem. Have you had Trader Joe's Cliff Bars? They have a great new product called Clif Kids Organic Z Bar. They're fifty cents each and they're half the size of a regular Clif bar. I've been finding them incredibly convenient to carry in my purse, and they've saved me a couple of times. The only problem is they only come in chocolate brownie and peanut butter.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I have a wide selection of that sort of product at home and work, and take them with me when travelling. But I haven't found any that are edible and can survive in a hot car, so I don't always have them in that car. In the recent situation, I knew when and where I would be getting food...until someone decided that location was unacceptable and moved the gathering to a venue where I don't have a no-thought order.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

The fruit leathers from Trader Joe's aren't, obviously, as good as a Cliff Bar, but they are surprisingly good for their size at keeping me going for just that five more minutes that I need to get to real food, and they do pretty well in my glove compartment.

Nolly, your post made me think about the thing that I KNOW does not survive in a hot car... Once I had the bright idea of putting TJ's Gummi-Vites in my car so that I could always have vitamins with me when I was driving to work or whatnot... They look very amusing all melted in a little multi-colored sugary heap.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I'll consider it, but I usually need protein more than sugar. Beef jerky is out, and turkey and fish jerky's are expensive and hard to find.

[phreespirit.livejournal.com]

I was told by a nutritionist (just yesterday, actually) that when I get all wonky due to a need to eat, the best/fastest way to cure it is to drink a glass of (non-fat) milk.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Think soy milk would work? I can't drink the real stuff. Also, there's still the portability issue.

[phreespirit.livejournal.com]

Don't know about the soy aspect... but small cartons of (bovine) milk are available at most fast food restaurants.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Which does me no good since, as I said, I can't drink it, and haven't been able to sine I was small.
(I can generally cope if there's familiar takeout available/convenient; in this case, there was none.)

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

If you're a member, Costco has turkey jerky (in several flavors). If not, I can always pick some up for you or go to Costco with you.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I"m not a member; how are the prices on it?

[buddykat.livejournal.com]

From what I recall, fairly good prices. I know they come in two sizes - little snack size packages and larger bags. I'll check the next time I'm there (likely sometime next week after the con).

Emergency Food Supply...important @ cons...

[msgeek.livejournal.com]

Clif bars are good but they're a bit expensive. Usually there is some sort of power bar sort of selection at the 99 Cent Store and I load up like a fiend for Comic-Con. This year they've got South Beach Diet bars for $0.50/bar. Those have 210 calories but 20 grams of protein and only 6g fat. And they are CHOCOLATE. I don't see that as a problem, I see that as a selling point. It's like a chocolate crispy rice bar except it's not gooey with marshmallow.

The high amount of protein tends to offset the carb blast. In situations where there's a bunch of panels I want to attend in a row and I can't dash off to Tin Fish for real food a power bar of some sort keeps me going, particularly if it's a high-protein variety.

Re: Emergency Food Supply...important @ cons...

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I'm pickier about ingredients than price, as general rule, and the South Beach bars I've looked at have too many fake sugars for my taste. I prefer the Kashi bars.

It's generally not a problem, though; the problem occurs when I have a plan -- eat X at Y -- and discover it won't work when I"m too far gane to make a new plan. If I know plans are likely to change (llike at a con), I'm prepared; it's when they change unexpectedly that I sometimes fall down.

[surelars.livejournal.com]

My primary shares your reaction to lack of food. She routinely get cranky close to dinner time, in particular if we eat late for some reason. In these situations she will snap at you, and anything that appears as critizizing her will be taken as offense and lead to Big Trouble[TM].

When we're out, in particular if we're in situation where we use at lot of energy (i.e., a cycling trip), this can get really bad. The tiredness and lack of food become a vicious cycle, completely draining her physical and emotional energy.

Our theory is that this is related to blood sugar. My primary has learned to have a pack of grape sugar in her "emergency pack", and to always bring it when go on trips.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

In my case, the only thing that will cause trouble that lasts beyond the moment (and wouldn't were I my usual self) is repeatedly doing something that is clearly making the situation worse, not better. (You're allowed to try somehing and see if it works; it's the persisting when it;s clearly counterproductive that will result in things like this post, and like me avoiding the provoker whenever possible, whether I'm off-kilter or not.)

[(Anonymous)]

Have you been checked for hypoglycemia? It would not be surprising for you to have that with the family medical history. In any case, a good protein snack option could be any type of nuts you like and tolerate well. They are portable and hold up well in the car. You could tuck a small can or bag in the glove compartment for the occasional unexpected need. In an unopened package, they keep a long time which would be helpful since I'm hearing you say that most of the time you have the food situation under control, but occasionally there are special circumstances when plans go awry and you have a problem. It sounds as if this particular incident was triggered by a combination of factors and the last minute change of plans without notice exacerbated the situation.
JGM

[moontoad.livejournal.com]

Also, the old tests for hypoglycemia don't work. That is, a glucose fast test won't tell you if you're hypoglycemic. You have to actually have a hypoglycemic episode to be diagnosed as such these days. I think that is mostly because everyone becomes hypoglycemic at some point (just don't eat all day day long, and you'll have low blood sugar). Having hypoglycemia as a chronic condition is far different from having low blood sugar from skipping meals.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I'd last had a snack ~5.5 hours before, and lunch ~4 hours before that, and I'd speant 90 minutes or so working out immediately before, so I'm guessing it's not so much something indicative of a need for medical intervention as fairly normal biology.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Whoa, how'd I get logged out? The anon that sounds like me is, in fact, me :)