Seven Food Excesses

Having awakened from the reverie of turkey, cookies, cheesecake, chocolates, and all the food involved in Christmas cheer, it's apparently time to 'cut back.'  Not for dieting purposes, (pregnancy is not a good time for that), and not for our budget's sake (although that is most certainly important).  I've been asked to participate in an 'experiment.'  Back in the summer I read a book called Seven.  It challenges us to consider areas of excess in our life.  Jen Hatmaker, the author, embarked on 7 months of trimming back, slimming down, and reducing the excesses in her family's life.  She did a month on clothing, where she only wore 7 items of clothing.  She did a month on possessions- where she gave away 7 things every day for a month.  She did a month on food where she lived off of 7 foods (and that's it).  You get the point.

It was challenging.  Inspiring.  Exciting.  I attempted to spend no money for a month in my own kind of application of the book back in August, and it was eye-opening.

Now I've been asked to think about food.  Oh dear.  I'm barely awake from my food coma (otherwise known as the month of December) and this has been an area of challenge over the last months as we've been trying out gluten-free foods for Silas' sake and are still banned from dairy for Toby's sake.  Can we really afford to cut out anything else?  Good grief! I'm 6 months pregnant and a working Mama with Silas' birthday to plan and shifts to cram in before I go on maternity leave.  There is no time to mess with my diet.

But yet...

What if I could cut away some of the excess in my diet?  What foods are eaten out of sheer comfort, as a reckless sort of entitlement?  Oh, I know I could identify those, and maybe it's time to cut them out for a month.

So here's what I'm thinking...I want to try eliminating those foods that, let's face it, I don't really need.  They are not for nutrition, per say.  They are for comfort and convenience. What are those top 7 foods of mine?

1. Buying coffee.  Okay, let's be honest here.  I don't actually think I could cut coffee out entirely. So I will suffer with coffee at home.  Maybe that's not really a 'suffering' to most people, but let me tell you...this is a luxury for me.  I LOVE getting coffee from starbucks.  There is one that is 10 steps from my work, I get up at 5 am and work 12 hours a day, coffee is kinda like air.  But I don't need to buy it out, do I?  (Even though I have this wonderful coffee gift card that I got from Christmas...)

2. Sugar.  Yikes.  I am a sugar girl.  I mean, I really don't know how I'm going to function without it.  I put it in my coffee, I bake it in my cookies, I don't crave salt, I crave sugar.  So it's gotta go.  Although, I'm still not sure if things like jam should count.  Will have to think on that.  

3. Any other liquid besides water.  (See above....I like my juices, my milks, my liquid happiness).

4. Pre-packaged snacks.  Oh dear.  This is getting hard.  Unless it's a veggie, a fruit, or I've made it myself, I'm going to stay away from snacks that are packaged.

5. Cereal.  This has become my evening snack-go-to.  It's crammed with sugar and probably very few nutrients, despite what the boxes say.  In fact, I want to try and get the kids to cut back on it too.  They have like 3 bowls for breakfast and are hungry within 20 min.

6. Eating out.  We don't do this a lot, but the point is that we could.  Take that convenience away, and, well...it's gonna be a bit hard.

7. Chocolate.  I might. Not. Make. It.  I love me some dark chocolate.  But for now, it's out.

p.s. I went out with a bang last night:  [Why, oh why did I finally make cinnamon buns on the EVE of this big change.  They are calling to me from the fridge right now...]

What are some things you think you are wanting to cut back on?  New Years' Resolutions?