Ever since I started supporting myself and living off on my own after college, I was a major supporter for our economy's food industry. An amazing portion of my paycheck went to eating out at different venues and hole-in-the-wall restaurants all around Atlanta. I had my niche of favorite restaurants: Chipotle (best burritos), Penang (Tom Yum and Pad Thai), Cafe Wings (hole-in-the-wall chicken wings in Marietta), Blu Sushi (Yaki Udon), J. Alexander's (best Prime Rib), Gobawoo (best unlimited Korean BBQ), Cracker Barrel (best breakfast), and last but not least Chick-fil-a (best fast food). I literally ate out EVERYDAY! And with deals like Groupon and Scoutmob, things were getting even easier to try out new venues at half the cost. Fun and flavorful options were plentiful, and so were the calories in my diet and the numbers on my scale.
I always knew that the most important thing I'll have to integrate into my life to make lasting change is to start cooking at home. So I focused on that. Nothing fancy, just plain old home prepared meals. Since I'm sharing my refrigerator with two other roommates, things can get kind of ... confusing. So I try to keep my foods in a pile on a certain shelf where I can see easily. When I go grocery shopping, I immediately wash, chop, portion, bag, etc with every item I bought since there were too many times I threw away food that went bad just because I didn't get around to washing them to eat.
And grocery shopping has also become a whole new "fun & exciting" experience. Once or twice a week (depending on the supply level), I swing by the Buford Highway Farmer's Market on my way home from work/gym. This store is the size of Super Walmart, but with exotic fruits and vegetables (some I don't even recognize), large organic produce section, and international foods with products from Asia, Europe, South America, etc. I have a hay day in the store. I take a basket and go through the store looking for my usual products like spinach, cucumbers, apples, and carrots. I also look for juicy fruits that are in season (the other day I bought a pkg of amazing strawberries for $0.99) and new veggies I'd like to try (how I started enjoying zucchini and beets). Here's a batch I bought just the other day:
My breakfast is my All-Star meal. I make sure I have plenty of protein, two servings of vegetables, and a serving of complex carb to last me through the day. I have a serving of fruit while I cook, and a cup of coffee to get me up. It's become the thing I look forward to every morning, preparing my meal neatly on a plate, sitting and enjoying a legit meal at the beginning of the day. My days turn out so productive afterwards! Here's a picture of my breakfast yesterday:
All in all, I love the new diet I eat on a daily basis. There's this sense of accomplishment I feel knowing that I'm cooking at home, grocery shopping and making use of every single item I purchase. It has become an exciting part of my weekly routine to visit the farmer's market, and finding good deals on organic milk and other items at Kroger, too!
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