We all know how tempting it is to grab something to eat on your way home. After a long day, it's hard to find the energy to cook something from scratch or run to the grocery store to grab healthy ingredients. Or maybe you don't know how to cook, which - if you are a UCF student - you can fix that right now. If you are not a UCF student, you can still access all of these wonderful and healthy recipes.
  1. It is not good for you.
It's 2018. You've seen the documentaries, read the books, heard the research: The food you buy at drive-thrus or chain restaurants is bad for your body. They can be calorically dense, greasy, high in sodium, low in nutrients, and the more you eat out the more addicted you get to the food combos offered. Then you decide you could really use a cold drink to chase that high-in-sodium meal and ope! Now you're addicted to drinking soda—more empty calories and oh wow! Tooth decay!
2. It is not helping your figure.
photo from flickr
Not only does the food offered at eateries usually contain more calories, but they usually also leave you feeling tired. You know when you eat a giant turkey feast on Thanksgiving and feel the need to take a nap about a half hour later? It's like that. So as you get stuck in the habit of eating food that's high in carbs and fat and spending the rest of the day fatigued and lethargic, you don't feel motivated to go out and exercise or even just take a quick walk around the block.
Oftentimes, people might go to the gym and do hours of cardio but not lose the weight they think they should be. The solution more often than not lies with your diet. What you eat is so much more important than how many miles you run.
 3. You are not doing your wallet any favors.
photo from flickr
So you can spend on average about $20-40 a week on groceries for one and that will get you through a whole week - 21 meals worth of food. Now on average, getting a meal at a restaurant we will say costs between $8-10, which comes to about $168-210 a week. Wow, want an easy way to cut your food expenses down to a tenth of what they are now! Stop eating out! Think about what you could do with all that extra money each week!
 4. It is wasteful.
photo from flickr
Okay, so you are running late in the morning and hop in the drive-thru and order some McBreakfast. Your flapjacks come in a plastic container with plastic utensils with a plastic syrup container, a fistful of paper napkins in a paper bag with either a to-go cup and a plastic straw or a plastic water bottle. All the while, your car engine is idling spewing out gas emissions.
If you really want to eat out at your favorite fast food place, park your car and go inside. Surprisingly, it tends to actually be faster than driving through anyway. It also gives you more control over how much plastic you use because you can refuse plastic utensils and straws before they go in the bag. Some restaurants will even give you dishware for your meal instead of plastic alternatives.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the consumer is the one who is being wasteful here. It is 100% the corporations, but you can choose to support them or not based on how you spend your dollars. I'm not saying you have to go to your local farmer's market on the weekend—if you can, you go, hon!—just try to be a more mindful and ethical consumer. You'll be saving so much by not eating out that you can afford to splurge that extra dollar on more ethical grocery options.
