It doesn’t sound particularly original or adventurous. It sounds like a silly way of saying “going on a diet” or “got to lose weight”.
Granted, some weight loss would be a good outcome. At 88kg, I’m technically just over the obese line, by a smidgen. I’ve tried focusing on weight loss before but it hasn’t worked. Well, sometimes it does but only if I get rather depressed, completely give up chocolate and walk for two hours every day. I don’t have time for that anymore.
The Year of Efficient Eating is a development on last year’s theme of Limited Purchases. I noticed I hadn’t successfully tackled wastage and overspending in the kitchen. Plus, I did not stop indulging in processed and take-away foods.
Some indulgence in life is necessary. Happiness activities are worth encouraging. Creating or appreciating a beautifully prepared meal with intricate and balanced flavours is a worthwhile activity – occasionally. The trend on TV at the moment makes it look like we should be doing that every day in order to be happy. I remember when the indulgence was the Sunday roast, that once-a-week meal of substance that created simple left-over fare for meals during the week. I remember when the indulgence was linked to occasions, such as birthdays and special holidays.
The reality is that I cannot afford to be as indulgent as I have become. I think this is a situation in which many have also found themselves.
The aim, then, for this year is to find ways of efficiently meeting my nutrition needs. To start, I need to find out the minimum requirements of particular foodstuffs and nutrients for my gender, age and activity level. Then, I need to work out how to meet those minimum requirements as cheaply as possible where I live.
I suspect that identifying minimum requirements will be easy because much has been written on the topic. Although, there is bound to be some controversy to sort through. I saw a chap on TV recently saying we should not add sugar to our diet or eat fruit because of the way fructose affects appetite. That’s not something I’d ever expect nutritionists funded by cereal companies to say.
I don’t yet know what criteria I will use to decide what is and isn’t efficient. For example, will I be able to afford organic or farmer’s market produce even though the free-range chicken may meet some nutrition needs that the alternative does not? Again, something I saw on TV recently.
This is my third Year Of. Based on my past experiences, I look forward to lots of interesting twists and turns over the next 12 months.
Cherrie Zell 