Courageous Cook - The Life of a Young Gourmet

Using a Balanced Diet to Your Budgeting Advantage

As a second time college student and now a soon to be bride (that’s right! I’m engaged) I have to stick to a budget as well as a balanced diet more than ever. With a basic understanding of what a balanced diet really is I was able to actually lose about 50 pounds while I was in college for my undergraduate degree and now I want to share that knowledge with you.

Maintaining a balanced diet on a budget may seem difficult, but it is completely within reach. Limiting your diet to foods that are high in nutritional value and avoiding empty calories is one of the best way to eat on a budget. A balanced diet packed with the essential nutrients your body needs to function will make your body feel satisfied more quickly. You will need to consume less and, in turn, buy less.

People who rush through the super market, blindly tossing food into their cart without thinking about how that food contributes to a balanced diet are usually spending way more than they need. They don’t weigh the benefits of each food, so in the end they buy more foods that have less nutritional value than if they were buying foods for the purpose of fueling their bodies.

Understanding the purpose of the foods you consume is the first step to maintaining a healthy diet on limited funding. (more…)

I know that I’m not a chef, or really even a cook yet. I don’t think that I’m capable of being thrown in on the line in a high capacity restaurant without any training or instruction and be able to function. I know that I need training and time to learn and increase my skills. Unfortunately I don’t have a money tree and I can’t volunteer 14 hours a day, six days a week of my time for eight months to build these skills. I need a job in which I’m able to learn and improve these skills and get paid. I’m not even asking to be paid much.

What I want to know is why a chef felt it necessary to show me that I’m not ready to work on the line in his restaurant. You may or may not know that a chef at a certain seafood and oyster bar on South Congress in Austin told me that he would “give me a chance” and bring me in on a shift to see how I do. After two weeks of me calling and asking when I can come in and getting brushed aside he finally says “I want you to come in Saturday at 5:00PM.” Obviously I was terrified, but I wasn’t going to say no. (more…)