Monday, July 20, 2009

The Price We Pay

There are two things on my mind this morning, Exercise and Food.

On the Exercise front, I have a new goal to get 60 minutes of exercise per day. I made this goal on Saturday because I walked for 60 minutes and went 3.5 miles. Yes it took a long time, but I felt good afterwards, physically and mentally. I only burned 360 or so calories, but I figure that as I add some running in to that hour long workout the calories I burn will increase and I will see some good weight loss and health benefits.

On the food front I have another issue. We have a food budget of $190 per month for our family of three. Of that, $50 is specifically for my 16-month-old son, so that leaves $140 per month for the two adults in the house. It seems like a ton but we spend it each month easily and this month we spent it way too fast, so fast in fact that last week and this week I am not buying any food for my husband and I. We have and will continue to eat, we have a freezer full of meats, freezer meals and frozen soups that I have made over the past 4-6 months and I will be making some bread today, so we are not starving by any means. But I am amazed at how quickly that $140 goes. We buy mostly produce, as it is healthy and we have been trying to eat more vegetables over the past 3 months. I also have been doing my best to only buy the produce that is on sale, so it is not like I am paying astronomical prices for produce, but still where does all the money go? I miss my produce, I didn’t have any tomatoes last week, and I really did miss them. There is a light at the end of the food tunnel this week, on Saturday I get to go pick up our Utah Food Co-Op purchase, YEAH! Fresh produce again, and then in two weeks the food budget starts all over again, and I will be able to go shopping. I am glad that we have a stocked pantry, freezer, and some food storage, even though it may not be the healthiest food, I feel blessed that we have it, and we know where our next meal is coming from.

Why does this pertain to a blog about weight loss? Well, it is because it got me wondering about how easy or hard it will be for me to buy the types of food that will help me lose weight. I have also been thinking about something I heard recently about the cost of food and the Health of Americans in general. I don’t think I caught the whole news story, but I did catch a part about of a news program about how the cost of food is going up, and especially the cost of healthy foods, they spoke to a family who basically at fast food hamburgers because it was cheaper than anything else they could find. That is just sad. Then this morning when I realized that we had $16 left in our food budget this month I started thinking about all the weight loss programs that provide food for you, some of them even claim that you spend less on their food than you would if you were buying and preparing your own food, I am sure that for some people this might be true, and I am also sure that many people lose weight this way. But what happens after you stop their program. Do they teach you how to cook better foods for yourself? Should it be this hard to try to get healthy? I guess this is the price I pay for becoming unhealthy in the first place.19

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