Small Steps to Health

Dim Sum and Income

October 14th, 2008 by asithi · 3 Comments

Tagged Dining Out, Friends, Family, and Food, Dining Out, Weight Issues

Photo by Fireflyxvi.

I am dim sum out. I never thought I would ever live to write those words. I do not want to eat another dim sum meal until 2009. Growing up, my family would only have dim sum 3 - 4 times a year and always on a pay week for my dad. The fact that I had it twice this weekend made me feel like I am upgrading my standard of eating. When I feel the alarm bells ringing like this, I know it is time for to do some cooking this week.

I notice that as incomes increase with my friends, the frequency of eating at restaurants also increases. It almost seems to be an inevitable conclusion, along with an expanding waistline. When you are a DINK (dual income no kids), most people assume that you eat out every meal. People are often surprise when I tell them 2 times each week is my maximum for eating at restaurants (and that includes take out).

According to the National Restaurant Association, “household income of $75,000 or more eat an average of 4.9 commercially prepared meals per week, compared with 3.2 meals for those with an income of less than $15,000.”

Assume that the typical restaurant meal is between 1,000 – 1,500 calories (and that is not including the calories in the drinks).

The typical calorie requirement in order to maintain your weight for a female is approximately 10 times your weight.

Photo by:  Jess Lander.

I need approximately 1400 calories a day (I weigh 140 pounds) in order to maintain my weight. That is 450 calories per meal if I have 3 meals a day.

So eating a 1000 calorie restaurant meal would cause me to have a surplus of 550 calories with each meal. If I eat at restaurants 5 times per week following the statistics for our income level, that is a surplus of 2,750 calories each week. This would translate to 3.5 pounds of weight gain each month. I cannot afford that. I am not sure anyone can afford this kind of weight gain on a regular basis.

I am sure my friends know that restaurant meals have more calories than is good for them. But as their incomes increase, we have more discussions about eating at YZ restaurant vs. XY restaurant. I often do not have much to contribute to restaurant discussions or to any TV shows discussions (I refuse to pay for TV!) which sometimes make me feel like such a bore.

Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.

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