The Theory of Evolution, as applied to my eating habits

Creationists, fear not!

I am not writing today to talk about Darwin's Theory of Evolution. I am actually going to enlighten you all on how one's eating habits evolve over the course of 5 months abroad, along with my predictions for the 10-month mark.

What I have compiled here may shock you. I did not sugar-coat (nor did I exaggerate) any of the figures you are about to read.

With this in mind, I give you my Theory on the Evolution of my eating habits.

Before coming to France, I did not cook most of my meals. This should come as no shock to many of you. This also meant I only paid for meals consumed outside my home.
The amount of pasta considered acceptable for 1 serving was between 100 and 120 grams.
The appropriate number of sausages for a meal (which included sausages) was 2-3.
The appropriate tasty beverage was generally water.
Since the average cost of a meal was around 0, the quality of food was always high.
The appropriate spices to use when cooking the meal were to be matched with the recipe, or at least the culture from which the recipe was taken.
For dessert, 2 large scoops of ice cream were often the choice, while sometimes a small amount of chocolate (around 20 - 30 grams) could also be acceptable.

Upon arriving in France, my expenses didn't really seem to matter, and I now had the freedom to eat as much as a wanted.
The average amount of pasta consumed per meal went to 115 - 130 grams.
The appropriate number of sausages sat at exactly 3.
Water was still the beverage of choice, though the odd iced tea or Orangina was also quite good.
The quality of food remained generally high, and mostly depended on my ability to actually cook.
The appropriate spices were pretty much salt an pepper. For the first few months, I also had the wonderful contributions of Nitin and Gurutej to my culinary experience, so I generally felt no need to be overly creative.
For dessert, with ice cream and chocolate being expensive, I still limited myself to the same 2 scoops, though the amount of chocolate consumed at a time (always 70% with either pistachios or orange by the way) was at 50 grams.

As of February 1st, 2010, my habits have changed again.
Average amount of pasta consumed per meal: 125 - 150 grams
# of sausages per meal: 6
The only beverage is once again water, due to cost.
Quality of food: can be sacrificed for cost.
Appropriate spices: Salt, Pepper, Thyme
Dessert: 2 scoops of ice cream or a full 100-gram bar of 70% chocolate. Also, a quarter of a pie or cake ; 4 - 8 cookies ; a whole bag of chips. (never more than one of these at a time though, that would be piggish)

As you can see, living alone and spending your own money can take its toll on one's eating habits. Now that I have completed this study, I can move on to other topics.

Some time in the next 2 weeks, I will be posting my full approach to taking down Wal-Mart in Brazil. My project was greenlit (greenlighted?) today by my profs, who were both impressed and can't wait for us to sell our idea abroad.

Also, I will be heading to Geneva, Switzerland in mid-February. My reason for choosing Switzerland is mainly because I want to watch the CAN vs. SUI men's hockey game, which I cannot do from my apartment. Expensive for a hockey game? Yes, but I will be in Geneva, at a 4-star hotel in the city centre. And, I get to take the train through the mountains on the way there. So let's not kid anyone, this is going to be sweet. Hopefully I'm in town for the Convention...

Anyway, that's enough from me for today. Hope you're all getting through the winter OK.

Have a great weekend!