I can think of a couple of things you can do. But first, you have to decide that you want to go forward with the program and you are willing to do what it takes. Then, you can make dinner very easy.

What does your mother eat for dinner? Is there any way you could eat some of the same things she eats? For instance, if she eats canned soup, could you eat it also, but add some cooked meat (like rotisserie chicken) and steamed veggies or defrosted frozen veggies? Once in a while, I doctor up a can of soup for an easy meal.

How about a sandwich on whole wheat bread with deli meat and cheese, and some baby carrots?

Another option would be to cook a pot of brown rice every few days (really easy in the microwave, requires no checking, stirring etc, put two cups water, 1 cup rice in a covered glass dish, cook on high for 5 minutes, low for 40 minutes, I add some herbal bouillon to add a little flavor.) Buy yourself a rotisserie chicken, and keep a variety of frozen veggies in the house. If you move an individual serving of frozen veggies to the fridge every night, it should be mostly defrosted by the next night. Then you put brown rice, veggies and chicken on a plate and heat it for a couple of minutes in the microwave. I often do this for lunch at work, only I use leftovers of whatever meat we grilled the night before. Today I have stir fry veggies, so I put a little soy sauce and ginger on the rice.

If you belong to Sam's or Costco, you can even find things like chicken burgers that you can heat up in the microwave and have with brown rice and veggies, or even stuff them into a whole wheat pita.

Or you could make a tuna melt - you could even make it on brown rice cakes, so you don't have to toast the bread first.

Or buy a can of lentil soup and a can of chicken (or rotisserie chicken) and dump them in a pan together - when I was single, I used to keep that on hand for an instant meal.

Or, if you have a slow cooker, put some boneless chicken breasts or pork chops in the bottom (spray with non-stick spray first), pour in mushroom soup (I use Amy's organic, but you could use Campbells), put in some baby carrots (I like to add mushrooms as well) and cook on low for about 6-8 hours, until carrots and meat are cooked.

Of course, you could also cook a casserole or dish that will give you at least 4 meals and heat up some of that every day, but that takes a bit more planning, work and motivation. When you get to that stage, you may find that the slow cooker is your best friend, because in most recipes, you just dump things in and turn it on. We like to put a whole chicken or a chuck roast or pork shoulder roast in with potatoes, onions, carrots and mushrooms and cook for about 10 hours on low. I'm trying to think of really, really easy meals.

You can disappear into your room with your dinner. And you can tell yourself that after your dinner, you can eat whatever sugar or junk you would normally eat.

Dinner doesn't have to be hard. But you have to decide you want to commit to eating it. Otherwise, you are going to be stuck where you are right now. I know it's hard being a caretaker, but if you take care of you, you will feel better, and if you move forward with the program, you will feel better mentally as well. When my food is not good, I feel overwhelmed by things that I handle much more easily when I'm eating right.
Allison

: Hi Allison,

: Well every day when I think about
: meals I say to myself that I can
: handle breakfast and lunch but
: coming up with dinner is too much.
: I don't know if that's laziness,
: lack of creativity, strong dislike
: of being in the
: kitchen/cooking/cleaning up,
: fatigue, lack of appetite - I just
: know that when I give myself
: permission to not worry about
: dinner I feel relieved.

: I'm most tired in the evening, all I
: can think about is getting my
: mom's dinner, making sure she's
: ok, and then going in my room and
: shutting the door. I found this
: web site a few months after moving
: in with my mom so I don't know
: what it would be like working this
: program while living a more
: "normal" life.

: But, good grief, lots of people
: successfully work this program
: with a spouse and small children!
: What's my problem?! I don't know.
: Any ideas?

: Gigi