veggie problems.

Its summertime. In summertime, I get hot, so I wear shorts. I do not like myself in shorts, (much like half of America, I'm sure...) Another side effect of it being hot, is that when I eat a lot of the foods I normally eat, I feel really heavy and gross. Which brings me to my daily eating problem, cost & convenience. I know its hard to complain about not being able to eat right without saying, "But I reeeeealllly like burriiiiiiitttttooooos!" And I do, I really like burritos, like REALLY REALLY. But, if I'm honest, the real problem isn't that I don't have the willpower to stay away from burritos, its that burritos are convenient and cheap. There's no prep involved, no thinking ahead of time, no chopping of vegetables, or grilling of chicken. It comes all wrapped up with all of the ingredients and condiments that I could ever desire, all for roughly $5.50 (give or take guacamole.)

I can apply this theory to just about anything. Pizza, cheeseburgers, etc, its all cheap & easy. The fact of the matter is, that more often than not, it isn't cheap, or convenient to run out and grab something healthy for you. I could go to the supermarket and get sushi, but that will run me at least $7.50. I fall into this trap particularly often around lunchtime. If I haven't thought ahead and packed myself a nice, healthy lunch, then I'm left with carting kids to the supermarket salad bar, or...eating my favorite favorite, and most often cheaper food, burritos.

At dinnertime I have the opposite problem. I LOVE to cook. All the preparation, looking for recipes, going to the supermarket, chopping vegetables, etc, etc, is really fun for me, and I often cook a big meal just to relax at the end of the day. BUT, cooking a big meal is expensive. Its not very often you can buy the exact amount of something that you need, so I wind up spending more money than I would necessarily need to to feed two people. "But Andrea", you say, "then you make more food and have leftovers." Sure, sure. However, the more food I make, the more food I eat, which is not helping me eat better or control myself. I have portion control issues people. I cannot not have that second helping of whatever delicious treat I decided to whip up for dinner. I just can't. Sorry. Maybe I just need to start making gross food.

So, the moral here is, I guess, that I just have to get over myself and give in to the fact that eating healthy isn't easy, for me, or anybody. Do any of you have healthy eating thoughts or recommendations? (BTW, in the middle of writing this post, I got up, put the girls in the stroller and went to Anna's. The shame.)

Next challenge: forcing myself to exercise.

photo via jenn cuisine