Spoonie is a term, coined by Christine Miserandino in this article, that refers to people who have chronic and often painful diseases that deplete their energy (or spoons, if you are trying to illustrate what living a life of limited energy is like to someone who has unlimited energy, as Christine was). Some examples of these diseases are Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Depression, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. These are often referred to as invisible illnesses.
Just quickly, imagine that you had 10 spoons, and you had to relinquish one every time you had to do something in the day- once they were gone, you were done for the day. So you start with getting out of bed, eating breakfast, taking your pills, taking a shower, getting dressed, brushing your hair/doing makeup... see how quickly those spoons get used up? You're not even out the door yet and you have 4 left! Most people have unlimited supplies of spoons, but spoonies have a finite and often very limited supply of spoons, so sometimes they may have to sacrifice brushing their hair or teeth to have the energy left at the end of the day to make sure they can feed themselves or their families. Sometimes, they have to make the choice between doing the laundry or taking a shower.
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2012 after years of trying to figure out why I felt like I had been hit by a bus all the time. In fact, I won the chronic disease lottery with 5 invisible illnesses, so far. Having a good sense of humor has helped a whole lot, and making sure that I really enjoy what I eat, since one of my diseases, IBD, had me starved and malnourished for the greater part of a decade.
Somedays, with the help of quite a few prescriptions, I have enough energy to do everything I want to. Some times, I have to pat myself on the back for taking a shower, or responding to emails, or even getting out of bed during the day. It is a crapshoot sometimes, and other times, I will know that I have over used my spoons and I will be paying for it the next day or two.
Sometimes, I just spell things wrong and can't remember words (which is incredibly frustrating for a writer, let me tell you), or burn myself (or food), because my attention is elsewhere as my brain is in a fibro fog.
You'll find that some of my recipes may seem decedent. Quite a few of them will use shortcuts. I will say now that I have no shame as far as food is concerned. I am not asking anyone else to be the same way. I don't believe in good or bad foods, or calling things "non-food" because, seriously, sometimes, a prepackaged item can really help things along when you know you're running out of spoons.
I am in no way suggesting that people eat these recipes everyday (I don't) or that everyone needs to take the shortcuts I do. If you like making things from scratch, please, feel free to modify my recipes to meet your needs. My goal is to live and enjoy the life I have, with the energy I can expend, and I want to share some of my better recipes with the world. My hope is that what I have to offer will bring some joy and happy nomming, because the world needs more of that!
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