I’ve kept food diaries before, so I’m used to retracing everything I ate and the occasional shock that comes along with the process. But going public—posting a photo of every meal for a month on Instagram—seemed like a better way to use this information to keep myself in line. It would be much tougher to cheat, and, in theory, easier to realize my goals of eating only at the restaurants I’d be writing about (to save money) and eating lighter in general, with few fried foods and carb loads and more lean meats and fresh veggies (to save my soul).
So what happened in my #EveryMealMonth September? A whole lotta tasty fail.
I posted 65 meals over 29 days, a normal number considering I typically skip breakfast for vegetable and/or fruit juice. Forty-two of those were restaurant meals, including takeout and eating leftovers. That’s way too many; I cooked something to eat at home only six times.
I ate pizza seven times. I love pizza—don’t you?—but that seems excessive. Considering I consumed frozen pizza twice, French bread pizza twice, pizza from two different restaurants in one night, and one tasting dinner that included seven different slices, it appears I’ve reached certifiable pizza freak status. (Also, one of my favorite bites all month long was a Buffalo chicken and blue cheese-topped pizza at the Roadrunner Saloon, a sublime sample of spicy-creamy bar food at its best.)
I had hot dogs and tacos four times each; that’s way too many dogs and not nearly enough tacos. Right?
I enjoyed rightfully awesome meals at great local restaurants you really should visit, like Nosh & Swig, Japanese Cuisine by Omae, Monta Chaya, Argana, Lao Sze Chuan, Ku Noodle, Nem Nuong Bistro and Julian Serrano. I ate at Taco Bell twice and In-N-Out once. I had a phenomenal meal at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut despite being sick. And I had birthday doughnuts, which taste better than regular doughnuts because hey, you’re old.
I didn’t eat healthier and I spent way too much money, but I got to work on my iPhone food photography skills and picked up a few new followers and lots of likes on IG. There's nothing like the senseless gratification of social media to make you feel better about gorging on a pastrami sandwich for lunch.
One friend suggested I keep the posting streak going, but I’d prefer to see what his #EveryMealMonth looks like, and yours, too. You don’t even have to use the hashtag, but it would make things a whole lot easier. Maybe you’ll learn something about how you eat, why you make the food choices you do, and how deeply you appreciate French bread pizza.
