Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Excuses

Recently, I've found a few excuses to not eat well. I'll be extremely transparent. Rather than you accusing me of being a hypocrite, I'd like to confess first.

1. I'm too busy. I'm in a new season of life. With this season has come a fully loaded schedule. I'm working long hours. When I get home, I don't have time to cook, let alone buy groceries. I have three squash sitting in my fridge that I bought at the market 3 weeks ago. It's a shame, I was going to stuff them with tomato and cheese, then bake them!

2. No one to eat with. Because time doesn't expand as my schedule expands, I've had less time to invest in relationships. Before, I was cooking for friends frequently. Now, I'd rather not go to great lengths to cook for myself. Give me left overs or a taco from the local tienda!

3. It's expensive. Not only does it take time, but it also takes money to eat well. I want to pay off my debt, I want to cut cost in whatever way possible. And because of this, I skip a meal here or there, or I go extremely meager in my eating.

These excuses are misdirected.

1. What if eating well made me a more efficient worker or a less cranky friend? Or, my mind could solve problems better when it had the proper sources of energy?

2. Relationships are the most important thing in the world. (In my opinion) Eating a meal is an amazing venue for a relationship. Serving a friend by cooking for them, gives me life. I'm recharged in these moments of fellowship over an awesome meal. (Much more than eating, quickly, leftovers, so I can move to the next task) On top of that, life should be balanced between work and play.

3. It's an investment not an expense. Invest in your health. Build a strong foundation now so that when your older you can live better for it. You can also impart on your children healthy eating so they can live happier lives.

I'd like to repent from my unhealthy eating. I've become my own target audience. I'll write more as I press on!

For now, may You, Me & Everyone In Between enjoy good food with good people.

1 comment:

Amy Leavengood said...

I felt like I was the one talking when I read your blog. But, I have found a few easy fixes that'll give you no excuse for those excuses!

1) You probably eat alone pretty consistently, or at least the same number of days per week. The solution - pre-prepared meals - just like leftovers only better. Take an hour to cook something that goes a long way, say if you're feeding a family with something, like vegetable chili or veggie lasagna. Then divide it up into however many meals, and seriously take the time to enjoy refueling your body after work. ... and the best part is, you can cook WITH a roomie or friend.

2) Don't make it a task but rather a part of something greater in your life, like a one-on-one evening conversation with Jesus; He's a GREAT dinner companion. Or maybe take time to read for fun, watch the news, or sit outside and enjoy the creation around you. It's quite refreshing.

3) There are a million different combinations of inexpensive meals. For starters, try Mexican food and Italian food. I'm pretty darn broke and sadly enough, more often than not, I end up grocery shopping for myself because I don't eat meat and my family doesn't eat vegetables. And honestly, I can make a weeks worth of dinners for under $10. [:


... Just sharing some stuff I've learned along the way. I struggle with food, and I still feel eating to be an inconvenience more often than not, but Brandon is teaching me to appreciate it. And your blogs give me encouragement.

You need to come flea marketing/farmer's marketing with Erin and me! [: