No-Eating-Out Dealio - WE DID IT!

Woohoo! We did it - a whole month of no-restaurant!! It wasn't always easy but we stuck to it.

We had to get pretty creative at times :

• Pack a lunch - save time and money! If we had to go to Regina to run errands all day, instead of having lunch when we got there we packed a lunch and ate it on the drive there. We made it back home in time for dinner where our BBQ patiently awaited. Normally, we'd leave home around 11am and come back around 6 or 7pm. This time around, we left home at 12noon and we were back here by 5h30pm but we somehow accomplished more while we were there.
  
• Make plans that work. We would plan our entire day around having to be home for mealtimes and quite frankly, our days turned out way more productive and fun. We had more of a schedule than we normally do and it forced up to get up earlier and to limit our errand trips. We saved a ton on gas and on random spending money or impulse buys.
• Friends don't let friends eat out. Our friends were well aware of our challenge and quite understanding. They didn't ask us to meet them for dinner somewhere, they didn't tempt us with some take-out while we were at their house and they encouraged us to stick to it! I think it's important, when you attempt something like this to let your friends know so they don't lead you to your demise. We'd eat home and then meet them later for drinks or simply bring something we made at home as our contribution to the take-out food.
• Free food is good food. Let's face it now, this whole challenge had some health benefits but the main thing was financial. Free donuts at a little work party - BRING IT! We satisfied our cravings with food we got for free. We didn't crash any wedding buffets or anything but it made us enjoy the free-ness even more. Not only was it free but it was also a thousand times more delicious to us than it really was!
  

...but we managed to learn a couple lessons along the way :

1. Eating out costs a shwack load of money!!
   Well, I think we already knew that but we never really stopped to figure out exactly how much money it cost! ...and it's not always worth it. I haven't received any income or compensation (arg! but that's for another post) over the last month and a bit yet we were still able to save up as we normally do and haven't dug into our savings nearly as much as we anticipated. We're counting on some sick leave benefits to come in soon so it'll put our savings account right back on track for wedding expenses.
   
2. Eating at home is just as fun!
   We realized that eating out had become a hobby for us. Therefore, it's not a necessity - we have a ton more hobbies to choose from to occupy our Saturday nights. Yes, it might be a bit lame to play Scrabble but have you met us!? We thrive on lame. It's also inspired me to try new recipes and stock up on frozen-left-overs. So in the long run our efforts will keep saving us even more money - who doesn't like that?!
3. Doing something together!
   Yes, it was fun cooking together more and spending more time at home together. Most fun though was actually doing a challenge together. Working at something, putting our heads together to come up with solutions or ideas and accomplishing something together. Hurray!!
4. Good health starts at home.
   It's insane how large restaurant portions are and I don't think we notice exactly how that affects our food intake in a week. I feel super healthy and I have much better portion-control-skills now than I've ever had my entire life. Eating only at home helped me kick the habit of stuffing my face until I explode. We also normally buy the "light" version of things when available and not disgusting (aka PC Blue Menu Butter Chicken Sauce *vom*) so we cut back on lots of calories, sugar, fat and a ton of that kind of stuff.
   

All that being sad, today, June 1st - we are having Burger King for dinner. As a reward and because we've been talking about it for the entire month.

Moving forward, we've decided to limit our restaurant outings to twice a month. Once from the 1st to the 15th and then one more time from the 15th until the end of the month. We definitely will be doing the no-eating-out dealio again - it won't have as much of a huge impact but maybe we can cut back on coffee purchases or something like that again next time.

I definitely recommend giving this a try to anyone who's trying to save a bit of money, anyone who wants to get some good eating habits back on track or anyone who simply wonders if they could do it.

Bran Misrepresentation

I can't take bran-promoting commercials anymore! I just can't. I refuse to watch them. Period.

This past year, companies have been trying really hard to promote bran products. Is it because it's cheap to produce? I don't know and I don't care for the research... but it got me wondering why it got so important to be regular all of a sudden.

Years ago, you had the occasional Metamucil commercial every once in a while during soap operas and day time television. They were mostly well targeted, bland and very technical campaigns. Then All-Bran decided to explode (pun intended!) everywhere and make bran the latest trend in dieting. It makes me want to hurl. I'm sure they were hoping for the opposite effect, too bad!

(You can't imagine the efforts I'm putting in censoring all the bad jokes. Gratuitous poo-humor amuses me to no end!)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying bran isn't good for you or necessary to a well balanced diet and personally, I really like the taste of All-Bran cereal because I'm weird like that... but I'm also aware that marketing bran as a way to loose weight is just wrong! Some commercials are presenting their product as a preventive, healthy dietary option. Some are presenting it as a way to fit into your jeans. I searched everywhere on YouTube to find a clip of that commercial but I got nothing... Basically the one I'm referring to goes something like this :

*Woman1 tries to button up size 6 pants*
*Creepywoman2 is quietly sitting on a couch behind her, watching the struggle. (Creepy!) Then chimes in and says "I can't let that happen to my friend, so I recommend this brand of cereal" which irks me... see Rant #1*
*Cue the typical white screen and shots of fluffy giant flakes in a bowl and pouring milk*
*Woman1 can finally button up her pants, everyone is happy, I set myself on fire, the end.*

Rant #1 : When my friend is having a bloated day, I'm A) Certainly not watching her dress quietly from the couch in her living room and B) Certainly not going to tell her "You need to lose weight, here, purge yourself by eating some bran and you'll fit in your pants within the next 30 seconds!" I mean, come ON! I'd slap her if I could! As a good friend you are supposed to say "Here, try these looser fitting pants. The bloating will go away in a couple of days, wanna go for coffee?!" No? What about the "Can't let that happen to my friend..." part... I'm pretty sure, my friends are well aware of their body and if I start telling them what to eat and when, I don't think that would go over very well. At least not with me! It's just a common situation, totally blown out of proportion by bad marketing and it just makes me want to scream.

Rant #2 : When the crap *snicker* did it become okay to tell your friends they need to poo more?!

Rant #3 : Eating disorders are not a thing to be fooled around with. This commercial is pretty much saying "Poo more and you'll loose enough weight to fit in your pants!" It doesn't say anything about healthy eating or any other benefit of adding an appropriate portion of bran to your diet. According to SomethingFishy.org, it is not uncommon for a man or woman suffering with Bulimia to take diet pills in an attempt to keep from binging, or to use diuretics to try to lose weight. Sound familiar?! Thought so.

Sure, I may be overreacting, but having studied advertising and having been submersed in branding and consumer behavior, I know how this kind of advertising can affect vulnerable people's habits and alter their perception of reality. Someone suffering from Bulimia who's been trying to dig themselves out of the hole can easily see this as a guilt free way of purging. It's wrong and for a company that wants to promote healthy eating habits, I don't think they are being very considerate.

We always accuse the news and the information media of bending the truth to their advantage, I think we should start digging a bit deeper...