First of all, Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe New Year's Eve celebration, and you're ready to come along with Kerryn and I as we start this project... tomorrow! For today we shall eat cake!
Mmm... sour cream coffee cake, still warm from the oven. A heavy dose of simple carbohydrates with a side of fat.
So this is how I plan to spend my last day before trying this $3 diet thing. I have to confess, I think I went a little nuts after I proposed it to Kerryn. As you can see from the graph below, I've packed on a few pounds in the last two weeks. In fact, I'm now the heaviest I've ever been.
The graph above is from an app called "loseit", available for iPhone or android for free. Also works as a web page (www.loseit.com), which is how I used it for the first several months before I got a smart phone. It's a terrific program for tracking your intake, exercise, and weight. It has some neat reports you can look at that estimate nutritional values, but more importantly, if you are faithful to it, it will tell you honestly how often and how much you exercise, as well as how much and what you are eating. I'm a bit embarrassed to post my favorite food list, but let's say that there are certain liquids that feature high on the list and probably need to go lower - I drink a remarkably high percentage of my calories, which I wouldn't really have noticed had I not been using an app like loseit. I'm not specifically endorsing loseit - there are a bunch of apps like this - I just happen to use this one - on and off. Lately more off than on.
Initially when I first conceived of this concept, I thought I would try to continue to eat badly on $3/day as kind of a joke. But I have to admit, as I've thought about it over the last two weeks since Kerryn agreed to participate, I've realized I have a unique opportunity to try to make some real changes in my life style. Most people don't ever get 30 days of focused attention from a professional dietitian.
I'm calling this post "first world problems" because I think a large part of my problem is related to my (very relative) wealth. Relative to most of the world's population, I am a filthy rich individual. By US standards, I'm pretty well off, not bad for a middle-aged professional, but nothing to get excited about. We don't live extravagantly - I drive my wife's old minivan - a 2004 Honda Odyssey. We just replaced our 13 year old television this Christmas with a television that actually cost less than the one we got rid of. Anyone breaking into my house would be sorely disappointed. The one extravagance my wife and I, and often the whole family indulge in is eating out. Now when I say eating out, I don't mean 5 star restaurants. What I mean is a fair amount of fast food, coupled with once or twice a week going to a sit down restaurant. This is how my wife and I spend time together. Date night is usually a trip to one of the chain restaurants near by - Macaroni Grill, Cheddars, Chili's, etc. - or one of the local mom and pop places, like Garcia's. Ever since we were in college together, eating out was one of the ways we enjoyed time together. It's remarkably easy to consume a days worth of calories (1,500 calories or more) in one meal at one of these places.
Eating out is something I will not be able to do on $3/day, so it will be an opportunity to potentially modify my behavior. Kandie and I will have to think about how to find alternative ways to spend quality time together. The other thing I consume a lot of is craft beer. I'm a bit of a beer snob - no Bud Light for me. Not only is craft beer pricey - on average about $1.25/bottle - it has about 160 calories per bottle as well. A couple of those each night is a meal replacement. Except I eat the meal and drink the beer, I don't replace anything. At $3/day, beer will be out, along with eating out.
Obesity is a crisis in most developed countries today, but especially in the US. Obesity is a first world problem. Developing countries can't afford to be obese. I don't consider myself obese - even though I am heavier than I would like to be. At this point, I figure I need to lose about 22 pounds to be where I would like to be. I've done it before, but as you can see, I haven't been able to hang on to the gains (or losses, as the case is here). I'd like to do that. And I'd like to do it by eating healthier.
I have a first world problem: I'm overweight. Given the way I eat, I'm on my way to other first world problems as well - diabetes, cardiovascular issues, perhaps diet-related cancer.
A $3 diet might preclude access to some of the fancier, good foods - but that restriction will also preclude access to some of the foods that are part of my unhealthy lifestyle.
It's a new year - I'm curious to see how this goes.
Mmm... sour cream coffee cake, still warm from the oven. A heavy dose of simple carbohydrates with a side of fat.
So this is how I plan to spend my last day before trying this $3 diet thing. I have to confess, I think I went a little nuts after I proposed it to Kerryn. As you can see from the graph below, I've packed on a few pounds in the last two weeks. In fact, I'm now the heaviest I've ever been.
Initially when I first conceived of this concept, I thought I would try to continue to eat badly on $3/day as kind of a joke. But I have to admit, as I've thought about it over the last two weeks since Kerryn agreed to participate, I've realized I have a unique opportunity to try to make some real changes in my life style. Most people don't ever get 30 days of focused attention from a professional dietitian.
I'm calling this post "first world problems" because I think a large part of my problem is related to my (very relative) wealth. Relative to most of the world's population, I am a filthy rich individual. By US standards, I'm pretty well off, not bad for a middle-aged professional, but nothing to get excited about. We don't live extravagantly - I drive my wife's old minivan - a 2004 Honda Odyssey. We just replaced our 13 year old television this Christmas with a television that actually cost less than the one we got rid of. Anyone breaking into my house would be sorely disappointed. The one extravagance my wife and I, and often the whole family indulge in is eating out. Now when I say eating out, I don't mean 5 star restaurants. What I mean is a fair amount of fast food, coupled with once or twice a week going to a sit down restaurant. This is how my wife and I spend time together. Date night is usually a trip to one of the chain restaurants near by - Macaroni Grill, Cheddars, Chili's, etc. - or one of the local mom and pop places, like Garcia's. Ever since we were in college together, eating out was one of the ways we enjoyed time together. It's remarkably easy to consume a days worth of calories (1,500 calories or more) in one meal at one of these places.
Eating out is something I will not be able to do on $3/day, so it will be an opportunity to potentially modify my behavior. Kandie and I will have to think about how to find alternative ways to spend quality time together. The other thing I consume a lot of is craft beer. I'm a bit of a beer snob - no Bud Light for me. Not only is craft beer pricey - on average about $1.25/bottle - it has about 160 calories per bottle as well. A couple of those each night is a meal replacement. Except I eat the meal and drink the beer, I don't replace anything. At $3/day, beer will be out, along with eating out.
Obesity is a crisis in most developed countries today, but especially in the US. Obesity is a first world problem. Developing countries can't afford to be obese. I don't consider myself obese - even though I am heavier than I would like to be. At this point, I figure I need to lose about 22 pounds to be where I would like to be. I've done it before, but as you can see, I haven't been able to hang on to the gains (or losses, as the case is here). I'd like to do that. And I'd like to do it by eating healthier.
I have a first world problem: I'm overweight. Given the way I eat, I'm on my way to other first world problems as well - diabetes, cardiovascular issues, perhaps diet-related cancer.
A $3 diet might preclude access to some of the fancier, good foods - but that restriction will also preclude access to some of the foods that are part of my unhealthy lifestyle.
It's a new year - I'm curious to see how this goes.
I realize you're a beer snob, but you don't drink at all if it isn't at least a little bit about the alcohol. Alcohol is actually pretty good for you, in moderate quantities, and it relaxes you and takes away some stress. Not a bad idea. You may turn up your nose at the thought, but you can get some pretty decent beers in six-packs of pounders for five bucks. You can probably make one last a week. A dollar a day for one beer? It's calories, and it's good for you. 75 cents a day — is it worth it? And how much more will you appreciate what it's like to be poor when you have to limit yourself to just one at the most?
ReplyDeleteOh, I recognize it's about the alcohol. But there are nasty ways to get the alcohol, and pleasing ways. Beer, in limited quantities as you suggest, is indeed good for us. Humans have been drinking it for thousands of years. I did consider pricing a Colt 40, and I also considered buying one of those gallon jugs of Julio Gallo "burgundy" that my dad used to drink. You know, the kind they carry in both the wine section, and in the auto parts and lubricant section. We'll see. Seventy five cents is a lot of money on $3/day.
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