People often ask me about healthy eating, and I mention several different options. Sometimes people balk about the expense, or time, or inconvenience. It’s hard to find a way to explain to them that it’s actually way less expensive, way more convenient, and way more green than their normal eating patterns.

Last time I was driving home from skating at the rink and encountered the usual Provo/Orem lunch rush traffic, it hit me. like a brick in the face. These people were all sitting in traffic, spending their lunch hours idling at stop lights, heading to some fast food destination, to grab lunch, and hurry back to their office, most likely eating at the stoplights on the return trip.

Wow. Talk about stress. Talk about wasted time. wasted resources. wasted health. How long would it take to toss a few boiled eggs in a bag with a bagel and cheese, a handful of sprouts and some carrot sticks? Really? compared to sitting at 6 stop lights on the way to the grease pit? If you add up all the hours spent in one week in the mad dash to grab a burger or taco, add up all the stomach acid from the stress of it all, and the antacids you’re more likely to take later as a result, and the gas and wear and tear on your vehicle, and the carbon footprint of all that idling, you’re so far in debt, you may never escape and become free.

On the other hand, you can boil up eggs before the week, make a pot of chili and containerate it ahead, bag up some carrot slices. Even if it took a whole hour, that’s less time than the 5x/week fast food driving. You might have to toss some containers in the dishwasher, or rinse out some bags to reuse – but that’s less stress on the environment than the car creates, and only a few seconds of your time each day.

So do it. Do it now. Baby steps. Take food you like maybe one or two days a week. I think rather quickly you’ll find yourself enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, the extra time to play, read a book, or talk to your coworkers. Eventually you can become free, do your health a big favor, save money and time, and do something good for the environment. Think what would happen if everyone did it 😀

I prefer to sneak up on healthy eating whenever possible. This is one of the best ways I know.