I can’t seem to eat salad without hummus these days.

Normally I try to spare you the daily salad shenanigans unless it’s something new or remarkable – and at first glance this salad is neither new or remarkable.

But Wait!

Today’s Hummus on Salad story has a moral to it.

It starts with the sad fact that our car died last week.  We found out today that the cost of repairs are going to be more than we’d prefer to sink into this car, so we’re done with it. Eight years and 150,000 miles later, the Honda Civic is off to car heaven.

*insert dramatic moment of silence here*

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on the blog – but when Ava was a baby, Zak was the stay at home parent. His car kicked the bucket just before I went back to work and we decided to get by with one car (the Civic!) for a while. It wasn’t easy, but we managed.

And then Maxine was born and I became the stay at home parent.  I survived one and a half years at home with two small children before I was ready to plead “insanity” when we finally bought a second car.

So here we are, once again faced with the choice to go the one car route.  Admittedly, it’s a bit easier this time.  We live in the city now, so that means mass transit is an option for Zak to get to work.  Not ideal – but certainly do-able, and definitely cheap!  There will also be days where he takes the car and we simply stay home.

One car means more planning when it comes to grocery shopping, among other things.  It means fewer sporadic trips to the store for “three things” that inevitably turns into “ten things” by the time I get to the register.

This is where in with Hummus on Salad comes into play.  We’re running low on meal supplies here, hummus included.  There wasn’t much to put on a lunch time salad today, but I had ingredients to make my own (super creamy!) hummus, so that’s what I did.

More Options, More Calories

The shortage of salad toppings reminded me of an article I read once about people eating more calories when there are more options to choose from.  i.e., buffets, holiday meals – this urge to “sample” or take another piece or a bite of something simply because it’s there.  You’re a lot more likely to eat three pieces of pie when there are three different pies to choose from. (Or at least I’m more likely!)  The same is true for me at home. If I have lots of yummy options to load onto my salads – I load up!

The parallel I see is that fewer options often means less spending, in any myriad of ways.

Only one car? Money will be saved (in theory!) because there will be less options/less opportunity for spending.

Fewer salad toppings today?  Fewer were calories spent.  They would have been healthy options, sure. But even healthy foods have calories, and calories add up!  I was most certainly nourished and satisfied from today’s meal, rest assured.  If more options were there, I very well would have thrown them on there without giving it a second thought and spent more calories on lunch than I needed to.  (One more way food journaling brings awareness, I might add.)

The Moral of the Story, Finally

The “mindless calorie saving trick”?  If you want to save yourself some calories without really noticing, just give yourself fewer options.

Love ice cream or cookies or chocolate for a weekend treat? (Raising my hand high!) Buy one of those, not two or all three.  (Totally guilty.)

Going to a party where there’s already going to be a ton of food?  Bring something besides food. Like flowers! Or a game? Maybe a friend who likes to eat! (pick me!)

Love avocado and hummus on salad?  Wait to buy (or make) more hummus until the avocado is gone.  (But I love them both!!)

If it’s not there, you can’t eat it, and you probably won’t even miss it – especially if you give yourself permission to buy it “next time”.  And if you haven’t tried hummus on salad yet, get on it.