I had an idea the other day. It's a pretty big one. I mentioned it to my boyfriend in passing a few weeks ago. "We should eat out less". He absentmindedly agreed. The idea gestated for a few days and I dropped the fully formed bomb him for his birthday on March 3rd. "We should refrain from eating out for 100 days!" That's a long time. There is a big internet push for making that sort of commitment for only 10 days. I don't feel like 100 days is unreasonable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not any sort of chef or anything. Neither is Alex. I think about 40% of my diet is chipotle. I think it will be hard.
The pros will definately out-weigh the cons. These are the 6 reasons I resolved to do this.
1) This will definitely help me eat healthier. Restaurants use more salt, oil, butter, sugar, flour, and meat than I would ever decide to use myself.
As a committed vegetarian, I am always suspicious that some innocent portion of the meal has meat in it. I can taste chicken stock and fish sauce sometimes even in vegetarian meals. Even if you can't taste it, I can, and it turns my stomach.
2) We will establish regular eating patterns. We never had to plan out our food because we always had the option of eating out. Having regular meals at home takes work. You actually have to leave the house before you are hungry, before you ran out of food. It takes planning. I am sure that after a while it won't take so much work because our habits will be established, but for now, we are starting from scratch and its brutal.
3) This will save money. We calculated that we spend $84-$124 eating out about 6-7 times per week.
That averages out to be about $100/week. After 100 days, we can save about $1,400. Thats a lot! (for us at least!). As motivation we might decide to use that money for something. I'm rooting for a vacation to Portland to run the Portland Marathon, but that doesn't benefit Alex much.
4) This will improve our relationship with food. Eat to live not live to eat. People go to restaurants for more than just eating because they are hungry. It's a ritual. You go to a restaurant to see your friends, go on a date, relax. That mindset of the restaurant ritual being about fun and excitement and not sustenance that is reeking havoc on our bodies.
Going through the motion of buying, preparing, and contriving every aspect of our food will make us more connected with it, I'm sure of it.
5) Reduce stress. If we have everything planned out ahead of time, we won't worry so much about it come meal time. We won't get that emotional double whammy of being worrisome hungry and not having the physical energy to get up and take care of it.
6) Lose/Gain weight. I need to lose weight. I'm pretty sure I can't qualify for Boston at 140lbs. Alex, on the other hand, needs to gain weight. He went from a 30/32 pants size to 28/32. He hasn't bought new pants so his weight lot flaunts itself with loose fabric hanging from his suspenders. He looks like a character from the Grapes of Wrath. Sometimes he only eats once a day or only has a cup of coffee. I have to believe that if he learns how to prepare his own food, he'll be able to overcome the extreme adversity of walking to the kitchen easier than getting in the car to get to taco bell.
I think this sort of thing will line up with my Marathon training nicely. The training has been so difficult and all consuming that its made my entire life push for June 2nd. Its like I am holding my breath for my marathon. I had this feeling when I was obtaining my bachelors degree. I was so set on just getting through that everything else just waited. I found that by limiting my options, I do my best work. I could stay focused and achieve something I never thought I could.
This challenge will last from March 4th to June 11th, 2013.
The pros will definately out-weigh the cons. These are the 6 reasons I resolved to do this.
1) This will definitely help me eat healthier. Restaurants use more salt, oil, butter, sugar, flour, and meat than I would ever decide to use myself.
As a committed vegetarian, I am always suspicious that some innocent portion of the meal has meat in it. I can taste chicken stock and fish sauce sometimes even in vegetarian meals. Even if you can't taste it, I can, and it turns my stomach.
2) We will establish regular eating patterns. We never had to plan out our food because we always had the option of eating out. Having regular meals at home takes work. You actually have to leave the house before you are hungry, before you ran out of food. It takes planning. I am sure that after a while it won't take so much work because our habits will be established, but for now, we are starting from scratch and its brutal.
3) This will save money. We calculated that we spend $84-$124 eating out about 6-7 times per week.
That averages out to be about $100/week. After 100 days, we can save about $1,400. Thats a lot! (for us at least!). As motivation we might decide to use that money for something. I'm rooting for a vacation to Portland to run the Portland Marathon, but that doesn't benefit Alex much.
4) This will improve our relationship with food. Eat to live not live to eat. People go to restaurants for more than just eating because they are hungry. It's a ritual. You go to a restaurant to see your friends, go on a date, relax. That mindset of the restaurant ritual being about fun and excitement and not sustenance that is reeking havoc on our bodies.
Going through the motion of buying, preparing, and contriving every aspect of our food will make us more connected with it, I'm sure of it.
5) Reduce stress. If we have everything planned out ahead of time, we won't worry so much about it come meal time. We won't get that emotional double whammy of being worrisome hungry and not having the physical energy to get up and take care of it.
6) Lose/Gain weight. I need to lose weight. I'm pretty sure I can't qualify for Boston at 140lbs. Alex, on the other hand, needs to gain weight. He went from a 30/32 pants size to 28/32. He hasn't bought new pants so his weight lot flaunts itself with loose fabric hanging from his suspenders. He looks like a character from the Grapes of Wrath. Sometimes he only eats once a day or only has a cup of coffee. I have to believe that if he learns how to prepare his own food, he'll be able to overcome the extreme adversity of walking to the kitchen easier than getting in the car to get to taco bell.
I think this sort of thing will line up with my Marathon training nicely. The training has been so difficult and all consuming that its made my entire life push for June 2nd. Its like I am holding my breath for my marathon. I had this feeling when I was obtaining my bachelors degree. I was so set on just getting through that everything else just waited. I found that by limiting my options, I do my best work. I could stay focused and achieve something I never thought I could.
This challenge will last from March 4th to June 11th, 2013.