August's Food Challenge Was a Dismal Failure. Good Thing There are More Months.

August was supposed to be this month of BIG changes to our food life. Oh, we were going to eat simply and only eat out once per week and volunteer at food justice organizations and pray and fast and I totally expected that by early September, I'd be able to announce on the blog that Oh My Gosh, Our Food Life is Totally Overhauled! We are "more with less" rockstars! You can TOTALLY do it, because we love food and eat too much and go out too much, so if we can make it work, then you can totally do it.

Well, we failed. Miserably.

We didn't do any of those things. In fact, we spent more money on groceries in August than most months in recent memory. AND we bought lunch and dinners outside of the house more times than I can imagine as well.

I talk a good game, friends, but when it's time to put down the aged English cheddar and walk away from the third Panera salad of the week, I failed. I blogged and talked and thought about food much more than usual, but I didn't actually change anything. I am a fraud.

Or, to be more charitable with my wobblings, I could say that I am in the "Preparation" stage of one of my favorite Social Work models, the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change. The TTM, as it is called, outlines 6 stages of change that people go through in order to make dramatic life changes.

Here it is, copied and pasted from good old Wikipedia:

Stages of Change

• Precontemplation (Not Ready)-"People are not intending to take action in the foreseeable future, and can be unaware that their behaviour is problematic"

• Contemplation (Getting Ready)-"People are beginning to recognize that their behaviour is problematic, and start to look at the pros and cons of their continued actions"

• Preparation (Ready)-"People are intending to take action in the immediate future, and may begin taking small steps toward behaviour change"

• Action – "People have made specific overt modifications in modifying their problem behaviour or in acquiring new healthy behaviours"

• Maintenance – "People have been able to sustain action for awhile and are working to prevent relapse"

• Termination – "Individuals have zero temptation and they are sure they will not return to their old unhealthy habit as a way of coping"

Ok, so we still have some significant work to do before I could say that we have made specific overt modifications in modifying our problem behavior (eating like we own the world) or acquiring new healthy behaviors (mindful, simple, grateful eating habits and food advocacy activities). 

Just wanted you all to know that. Because I read a lot of blogs, and I see the sheen of the bloggers awesome self-transformations, or Gold Star Parenting or Garden of the Millennium badges or whatever, and I feel bummed that I am not that awesome. So I just wanted to go on record with the admission that I am Not That Awesome about food. It is difficult. It involves a lot of psychological, emotional, and practical junk upon which I have clearly not yet gotten a handle.

So we're still trying. Still trying to take those overt modifications. Still working on our food budget, our menus, and our lifestyle to see some progress and lasting change. When it finally starts working, you'll be the first to know. In the mean time, I'll keep writing about our aspirations, flops, and successes. Because I'm sure we'll eventually have some of those too.

Message me if you have had any grand success in overhauling your food life. I'd love to hear from you! And if you'd like to guest-blog, that would be awesome too.