Jamie Sanders went to
the grocery store in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy with good
intentions. Cucumbers and apples were on her list.
But
her local supermarket hadn't gotten any new supplies - and with the
prospect of working in her Upper East Side apartment for several days
ahead, she joined the hordes of East Coast residents holed up in their
homes who found comfort in the bottom of a crinkly bag, a brightly
colored box or a perfect pint-sized cardboard container.
"There
was some canned food left and some Oreos," the copywriter and beauty
blogger said. "I do like Oreos, but these were an impulse buy. I saw
they were Winter Oreos with red cream and a snowman on top and I had to
try them."
Chips and salsa also went into the
cart, although she would have preferred Doritos if any were left, and
she sheepishly admitted to making a meal of some boxed macaroni and
cheese, too.
Facebook and Twitter were full of
similar mini-confessions of calories consumed while people were either
left in the dark and trying to eat up what was deep in their freezer
before it thawed, or making due with the shelf-stable, packaged foods
that were in the grocery store after the meat and produce were gone.
Others turned to baking as a rainy day family activity.
Add
to that the Halloween candy that many people bought for
trick-or-treaters and it really was "the perfect storm," said New
York-based registered dietician Keri Glassman.
Glassman,
author of the upcoming book "The New You and Improved Diet," said
stress and boredom make it hard to fight off temptation. Her advice:
don't eat it all in one sitting. "If you have that candy in the house,
make it one treat a day for the next few days."
Oreos were also on the menu at Jill Nawrocki's home in Brooklyn, although hers are of the Double Stuf variety.
She
is preparing to run in Sunday's New York Marathon and had been
expecting to be eating protein and leafy greens this week, but it wasn't
meant to be. "I usually do my grocery shopping on Sunday, which didn't
happen this week, so my cupboards were pretty bare," she said via email.
She
had stocked up last year on "pretty gross" non-perishable foods during
Hurricane Irene and didn't want to make that same mistake.
Even fitness trainer Simone de la Rue gave into a burger, french fries and margarita on Tuesday - for lunch, no less.
"I'm going stir crazy myself. I have a little cabin fever," de la Rue said. "I never do this, but it helped me pass the time."
Nancy
Yates, a retired United Nations development officer who lives in
desolate lower Manhattan, where thousands of people are still living
without power, went shopping with neighbor Norma Fontane for comfort
food at a bodega lit by flashlight and candlelight.
They
picked up canned chicken noodle soup and crackers, chocolate bars,
chips and cookies - "to help the depression," Fontane joked.
Extra
time prompted Matthew Bautista, a publicist in Harlem, to go really far
in the other direction: Instead of junk food, he has spent the last
four days concocting gourmet meals. "I've been homebound, so I used my
Dutch oven for the first time," he said.
His
lights stayed on, so one night it was spare ribs braised in red wine,
another it was butternut squash soup, and there's still a pork loin to
cook. He has invited neighbors and friends who are without power or
affected by flooding to join him.
But now he knows that his local gym is open, so he is planning on squeezing that in between meals.
Still
without power at her apartment or West Chelsea studio on Wednesday, de
la Rue was making up for her indulgences with a few extra workout videos
streamed on her iPad.
For fellow storm
binge-eaters, she suggests candlelight yoga or any sort of household
cleaning that requires scrubbing. If you're home with the kids, ask them
to put on their favorite music - maybe you'll become hip to a little
Carly Rae Jepsen or One Direction - and just dance around together.
Next
time, Glassman said, plan ahead and make things such as low-sodium,
bean-based soups, frozen vegetables, peanut butter, canned tuna and
salmon, green tea and oatmeal the pantry "staples."
It's not too late to get on the bandwagon now, she added: "Every meal is a Monday morning."
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
