What about thinking *inside* the box?

It's funny how the English language, and presumably all languages, actually evolve. Business lingo is all around us. One of my favorites is "Think outside the box".

We use that statement to evoke creativity. Intellectual enterprise. Usually while brainstorming. Brainstorming sessions that take place around a big conference table, sometimes. People sit around those tables, conversing about how to make things better. Sometimes those discussions are so vital we skip meals, and instead do "business lunches", a masqueraded way to get the most out of people by bribing them to stay and work longer.

Usually, those meals are the most bang for the lowest buck, certainly not a splurge but rather how to feed the most people with the least amount of money to maximize their input, and subsequently output, by having them skip a break to conduct more business in the work day.

How much really goes into those meals? How much effort and creativity actually gets exerted to put together a healthy, quality meal to provide for those who drive creativity in a brainstorming session?

In this day and age, you can bet a whole lot less goes into thinking inside the box to get outside the box with regards to the lunchbox.

It occurred to me the other day when I had my first cafeteria style lunch in a very, very long time. In fact, it was the very same cafeteria at which I dined the last time I had a cafeteria lunch. Same office building complex. Same long line. Same plastic tray. Same processed foods.

The one difference? Four years later my diet is significantly different. My veg*n diet is considerably more out of the box than they put inside the box: Processed, canned tomato sauce on white flour noodles with oversteamed mixed frozen veggies on the side, and a bowl of commercially prepared and canned lentil soup that they warmed up and called the Chef's Special Soup Of The Day.

Amongst the selection of pizza combinations, veal and chicken cutlets, unidentifiable beef stew bits, that was the best thing I could get to accommodate my lactose-intolerant, animal- and dairy-free diet needs. It's a common occurrance. Simply put, no one has the time or margin in their bottom line to produce fresh foods AND offer them at affordable pricing, apparently.

It's simply cheaper to have a McCheeseburger. Or a coffee and a donut.

 The important part is that I'm an adult. As an adult, I get to make choices. Choices like what I eat and what nourishment I fuel my body with. The key though, is that I am educated enough to know what I'm eating. Now, anyhow. A few years ago, it wasn't the same, but now I am enlightened and self-aware. I can choose what to put into my body, and the bodies of my loved ones (read: kids or dependents for whom I am responsible).

But what about the rest of the kids in the world? What do they know? They're being raised in a world where fast food is a way of life, and cooking skills are something that are rarely taught, if at all.

In fact, its a society based on "want now, pay later" about everything from cars to toys to vehicles to food, and ultimately, our health.

Don't believe me? Ask Joe Cross. Joe was a richie rich on the stock marketing in Australia who created a life in the fast lane. And then he found himself in a state of being Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. So he made a movie about it. You should watch it.

Whether you decide to Juice, or not juice... Whether you go vegetarian, or even vegan.... it's your life. You can do whatever you choose: carnivore, omnivore, herbivore. But think inside the box.