A month of reduced food options

As I mentioned in my previous post I am doing a book group with a bunch of cool ladies and we are currently going through "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker. We are attempting to follow along with some of the experiments she discusses in her book. The first chapter is about food where she goes down to only 7 foods she can eat during the whole month. Several of the ladies in our group are sticking to the 7 rule. I am following it a little more loosely, mainly because I want my whole family to be able to participate, and I want to be able to do something that might be sustainable. So, what my husband and I decided to do is to reduce our grocery list down to 12 items for the month: brown rice, bread, yogurt, eggs, carrots, broccoli, apples, bananas, chicken, black beans, milk, and tea. We will use whatever condiments, spices, leftover, etc that we currently have in the house, but once we are out of those items we aren't replacing them until the month is over. On top of that, I am trying to only drink water and when we go out to eat we are trying to limit ourselves to ordering only the items on the list. We will have two exceptions: 1) my daughter's birthday is smack in the middle of this month, so the morning we celebrate the rules are off. 2) If we are invited to eat at someone's house we will eat what is there, but try and limit ourselves, and I at least will stick with water to drink and no sweets or desserts. Beyond just focusing on reducing the amount and type of food that we consume, I also want this month to be about other areas of food consumption. I came up with a list of questions/areas that I want to answer and focus on during this month: 1. What are the ethical implications of what and how we eat? My hope is to take each item on our list and figure out what brand/type of that food is the most ethical (in terms of how it was produce, environmental impacts, etc) and where in Tulsa I can buy those items. 2. What are the social implications of reducing our food consumption (how will it impact the world around us)? 3. How will the 12 food choices simplify our live and thus hopefully leave room for other important things/relationships? 4. How will these changes affect our lives in other ways? 5. What are the health implications of how we are eating? 6. How can we incorporate the kids into this experiment and teach them about hunger in the world, and how our food choices impact others? We are on day two of this experiment, and so far I can tell that I am a wussy, privileged American. I don't like being limited in my choices. And it is really easy already to think up excuses as to how to hedge. I am especially having a hard time with the only drinking water. I think (or maybe rather hope?) that what I miss is the ritual involved. I am a big tea drinker, especially in the cold months. I usually have a cup of English Breakfast (with some milk and honey) in the morning which I usually have to reheat multiple times to finish due to the many interruptions provided by my children. Then in the afternoon when the kids are (supposedly) napping, I make a cup of chai tea with frothed milk (if I'm lucky my husband will have made his homemade chai tea which is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.) grab a snack (usually something sweet) and do some work on the computer (bills, answering emails, and ok, I admit it, pinterest). Last week when I made the decision to go to only water it was in the upper 70's and beautiful spring weather. So I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. The past two days have been cold, rainy, and perfect hot tea drinking weather. Ugh. So I have contented myself with hot water and soup. I am about to go heat up some water to cup my freezing hands around and get a piece of bread for my snack. I really feel like this bread is cheating though. My husband went out yesterday and bought two loaves of bread from a local bakery. Supper yummy (which they should be for the price) but they are not just plain bread. They have raisins, and nuts, and all sorts of yumminess. But since it is a bread, and he bought it and it is in the house, I will eat it. But I will forgo the delicious butter he also bought (not sure how that was considered ok to buy...oh well) and just eat it toasted and warm. And remind myself how very lucky and blessed I am to have even those options.