Tis a boring first introduction and a little about myself

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Hello there. Ive been too shy to post on any forum before now but I thought I'd give it a try here with an introduction. My mother took my 6 year old brother who has high functioning autism to his doctor and somehow got on the topic of me while there. The doctor apparently said that she couldn't tell for sure without meeting me but that it sounded like I had autism. I can't afford anything beyond free online tests but from them and reading on the subject/lurking on this forum I'm convinced that I'm on the spectrum. This is definitely helping me accept myself more and make sense of why I feel so alien and even misanthropic at times (metal such as Meshuggah is great for such times though ).
I can put on a pretty good front of NT professionalism for short periods and I've lucked out a lot so I'm at least employed and able to support myself. Currently I provide direct care in a home for 2 fun and energetic individuals with developmental disabilities. They just find my stimming funny and most of my co-workers are accepting of at least my less annoying and worrisome stims so its a decent fit for me. I've been fighting for four months to get onto all overnights though since there is way too much extroversion and some of the individuals' stims are too much for me to handle for long periods. Thusly, for the last 6 months I've been a nearly complete recluse outside of work with barely the motivation to grab frozen pizza and heat it most of the time. I don't really feel lonely very often though. I've had nothing but abusive romantic relationships in the past either so I sure the hell am not missing having a girlfriend at the very least. Still there is some dissonance there which drives me nuts since I still long for human warmth and intimacy since I am, inconveniently so, human. Then I remember that everyone I meet seems to be completely selfish and out to use me so I tell that dissonant voice to shut its pie hole.
Anyway, enough with the self pitying whiny crap and onto a disorderly listing of interests. When I'm not too zonked to do anything besides sit at a computer (I've been known to watch multiple seasons of anime without a break) my main special interest is cooking (especially vegetarian Indian food), fermented foods, and low energy food preservation in general. If I don't start with local foods full of magic I'm not nearly as interested, however. I also love to hike barefoot alone when the ticks and chiggers aren't after even more blood than them red cross vampires. With spring about here (northeast missouri) I'm looking forward to hiking around picking chickweed and dandelion greens for my salad or perhaps some palak paneer with chickweed instead of spinach (yummmy!). I love quality imported Japanese green tea and Chinese puerh and red tea (black to us westerners) but the caffeine often times sends me into hypoglycemia if I'm not careful. When I have the energy for socializing I am very into supporting the local sustainability/permaculture movement here but I'm unable to make a long-term commitment due to my reclusive nature. The 10 day permaculture certification course I took last fall was way too stimulating and extroverted. Anyway, I've surely bored you enough without further writing but thank you for reading anyhow. I hope to maybe participate a little in these forums and I've very much enjoyed reading the posts here since I found the forum about a month ago. Thanks for taking the time to read my introduction.

Welcome!

I love the word, "dissonance".

Anyway, welcome!

That's the basis of modern classical music: dissonance LOL Dissonance becomes, paradoxically, consonance.

They'll be ample opportunity to have fun here.

Welcome.

Welcome! You mention having limited energy and such, I can completely relate. I have spent years spending my personal time surfing YouTube and not doing much of anything. Then I dramatically changed my eating, and have felt a lot of improvements with my energy level, critical thinking, executive function, and overall health. You mentioned pizza so my first question is, are you gluten free? If not it may be worth a shot. You cook vegetarian Indian food and pick wild greens, yummy! Why just yesterday I was walking the dog and I ate a dandelion. Are you a vegetarian then? I'm a gluten free lacto-ovo vegetarian. I wish there was a catchy short word for all that, lol. I'm also an advocate and partial practicer of raw foodism, ie markus rothkranz, joe cross, etc. I went on a raw juice fast for five days once and it was amazing. I own a vitamix and a centrifuge juicer. I use the vitamix a lot, but not the juicer now so much, although I want to start doing a day long juice fast on Saturdays. It'll be good for me and help empty the fridge for next weeks vedge. I've also read about fermented foods and their benefits, and would love to make some, but don't really know where to start. Any good links? Anyways pleased to read you. Please post again soon, and feel free to pm me anytime.

I love dissonant music, John Coltrane's later stuff or a bit of John Cage especially.


The closest I've been to gluten free was when I interned on a farm and consumed almost nothing besides raw milk and heirloom watermelon (with seeds) for a month. I felt amazing! A lot of my low energy and dramatic increase in sensory issues is definitely food related. My roommate is a hoarder/messy and the kitchen is carpeted so I need to get a new apartment where I can actually cook decently. I did get a hot plate for my room so maybe with the farmer's market opening up in May I can get the motivation to set up a kitchen in my bedroom. I had been a vegetarian for years, but after interning on a farm where practically all they ate was meat I'll eat meat very occasionally if it is local and raised well. I would start with Sandor Katz and one of his books on fermentation if you aren't a homophobe like some of his critics. Feel free to pm me anytime if you have any specific questions on fermentation.

If you want to cook in your room, there's another couple of things I use regularly that you might find helpful. I have a cuisinart electric pressure cooker which does an efficient and quiet job. I make things like rice, quinoa, roasts (for my wife), garam marsala with chickpeas, and cook potatoes in it in a flash. I also have two electric roasters, one large one small, and these can be used like tiny ovens to bake meats or even breads. I have a crockpot too. That's more than a couple of things lol. I use my vitamix more than anything though, worth every penny.

Do you like Rooibos tea? It's caffeine free and good for your brain. It has a nutty, dusty kind of flavor. I like to tell my wife that I think it tastes like Africa. She doesnt like it, and shudders when i say that; probably a reaction to the thought of drinking something dusty.

I eat a lot of garlic. And I'm not a homophobe, so I'll be happy to read up on Sandor Katz, thanks for the tip!

Welcome to WP.

I've debated getting a pressure cooker for years. The one thing holding me back is that I'm worried that the higher temperatures might affect the nutrition, but I haven't really found much to prove or refute that. Then again, it can't be nearly as bad as frozen pizza from Aldi's. I'll definitely consider your suggestions for cooking though and hopefully get motivated soon. Do you bake gluten free bread? I've yet to try real rooibios (after trying good green tea, I don't trust anything on the grocery store shelves to be anything close to the real thing in terms of tea or tisane offerings). Do you have a suggestion on where to source it? If you like garlic you'll love lacto-fermented garlic. Yummmmmy.

Cooking can destroy a lot of nutrients, but can make some even more accessible, so what I try to do is eat mostly raw, and when I do consume cooked, I eat it for the specific thing I'm after and not just a broad range of nutrients. Broccoli, for example, would be considered a source of complete protein, but there's not enough of it in a serving, but if you pair it with carrots then your good. Proteins are generally more absorbable once cooked, so when I want vegetable protein I always hit the broccoli and carrots. I don't know if I could crunch down enough of them to make that work, and a broccoli carrot smoothie doesn't sound so great, although I do like a variety of green smoothies.

I had an old stovetop pressure cooker when my parents bought us the electric one. I didn't even want it, but once I got used to it I really like it, especially when I realized I was no longer limited to the stove. I like to cook several things at once sometimes.