Thoughts for Food

This past week, I made a commitment to track what I was eating to see how sustainable my lifestyle is. I already knew my food lifestyle is the least sustainable thing about me. I literally leave my house before 8 AM every day and am running late for everything, so I resort to a lot of eating out. Since school started, I have been eating out at least once a day, sometimes three times in one day. Luckily for me, I was working forty hour weeks before I started school, so I have been able to sustain this unsustainable lifestyle. I have to eat and I don't always have time to pack food, so I do the best I can to survive. The past couple have days have been slightly better than my first three weeks back in school. Let's take a look:

Day 1: Definitely drove 3 miles out of my way to go to school to get Dunkin Donuts for my Iced Dark Roast Coffee and breakfast sandwich. I brought lunch that day (Chicken Stir Fry and Fried Rice from dinner the night before). After I got out of practice, I went to happy hour at Eureka with my friends and got a turkey burger and a beer (so goooood).

Day 2: I had a banana for breakfast as I was running out the door. For lunch, I grabbed a turkey cranberry sandwich from the restaurant in my office park (third one of the week). For a snack, I had pub cheese and crackers. For dinner, my dad brought home undercooked Little Caesar's pizza (ugh dad, really?).

Day 3: I did not have breakfast because I woke up and washed my car, then rushed to go play some water polo. When I got home, I think I had a quesadilla and then went to coffee with my mom and got a donut. Later, I made some nachos. For dinner, my dad brought home an italian sub (redemption for the night before).

Day 4: My mom made pumpkin bread and I went and got coffee. For lunch, I made the best gouda-sharp cheddar sandwich. For dinner, we had picking food which all revolved around different cheeses. (Probably my favorite day ever).

Day 5: For breakfast, I had a slice of the pumpkin bread my mom had made the day before. At lunch, I made some hot dogs right before leaving to go get coffee before school. My mom made lasagna and chicken sausage for dinner.

Well, the past five days were not the healthiest, but also not the worst I have eaten. I made an effort to eat at home when I could. My major downside that I hate to admit is my coffee addiction. I only drink Dunkin Donuts coffee because it is the best. But in order for me to get my fix, I have to drive six miles round trip, which is a lot. And then I don't even use a reusable cup! I am the worst! But thankfully, in a month or two, they will be opening a Dunkin Donuts that will not take me out of my way at all and will save me so many miles. I need to get a reusable cup so I can keep up my coffee habit. But then again, coffee is a water intensive crop, so maybe I need to reduce my coffee intake too to make this habit more sustainable.

Other than my coffee binging, I don't think that I had an excessively bad weekend. I was more aware of what I was eating and more conscious of what I was eating with and on. I used only one paper plate this weekend, when I usually use a couple a day. That in itself is a victory. Let's not get into my napkin needs, because its bad. I cannot eat anything without a napkin, and of course its a paper napkin. But I feel like I use napkins so well that it's not wasted. If a majority of my napkins were free of food residue, I think I would have a problem. I don't know.

I am a work in progress. I do my best and try to lead from example. Other aspects of my life are more sustainable, like my showering habits. I take 4-6 minute showers everyday. I only take water that I am going to drink. I recycle like crazy. But it is all about finding balance. I cannot force sustainability into my lifestyle, I have to adjust to it. Making the conscious effort is the hardest part. After I do that, it will all seem drastically easier. I don't think that I will continue to track my food, but rather take the extra moment to make better decisions. Tracking is good when you know you're not doing so well. Now that I have done that, I will make a better effort towards reducing my food impact on the world.