Eating Light On The Road vs. Wasting Food

Fire Pit Grilling

I depart in a few hours, flying from Austin, Texas to Raleigh, North Carolina. The last few weeks I have been rigorously watching my food intake, weighing and measuring food to ascertain the calories I have consumed. However, the next 36 hours will involve eating at airport eateries and restaurants where one typically finds excessive food portions (and high cost). Having grown up in a "clean your plate" family, I find it difficult to leave quantities of food on my plate.

I saw recent Reuters article about studies that report we Americans waste 50% of our food which further elevates my consternation at throwing away food. However, from a health perspective, I must, "get over it" and leave the food on the plate. Better the food waste on my plate than accumulate in my waist. I wish there was a way to turn our food waste into food products to help the people in countries where starvation and food shortages persist.

During the financial crisis of 2008 I read "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. I read it because it was a classic available for free on my Kindle. But it turns out to have been a book that could be written today because the same bank overreaching and excess that destroyed people's lives during the great depression was occurring as I read the book in late 2008. Additionally, "Grapes of Wrath" described piles of food left to rot in fields to preserve profits, even as the depression era migrants suffered hunger. Thus learning of today's 50% food waste ties today's events to another historical description of waste and excess from the Great Depression.

To conclude - a boring exercise report - I walked Penny 20 very brisk minutes, followed by the 16 session KB strength regimen, followed by 60 non-stop KB swings. I feel pretty good today! (The previous blog's photo showed us building a fire pit - this photo shows me cooking over the resulting pit.)