What’s missing?

March 10, 2010 at 7:49 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: addiction, fast food, If It Doesn't Have a Mama March, returner learner

Today’s Betcha Didn’t Know… tidbit: I am a “returner learner” ;).  I have a bachelor’s in journalism, but I graduated with an incomplete bachelor’s in Spanish.  I decided it was important to me to finish it up and so one class at a time, that’s just what I’m doing.  In fact, I have an online assignment to work on after this post. 😦 Booo.

Check out my eats for the day — lunch:

A salad with leftover chicken from last night, grapes, an apple and yummy yogurt and pumpkin flax granola.  Does everything there have a mama or grow from the ground?  Does it fit the “If It Doesn’t Have a Mama” March challenge?  I thought so ;).

Dinner:

Whole wheat pasta (which, thank God, fits the challenge guidelines), zucchini, onion, a dab of pesto and brussel sprouts.  Yum!

Here’s a suggestion for homemade pasta dishes: always try and find a way to add some veggies to it.  Use the veggies to bulk up the dish without adding extra pasta.  You’ll knock out a suggested serving of the veg and can even cut back a little on the pasta (I think we as Americans tend to be Fettucine fiends, serving up more than a realistic portion).  Double win!

So….If you’re a smarty pants, you may have noticed something has been seriously absent from my posts, especially during this month’s challenge of “If It Doesn’t Have a Mama”.

Can you guess what it is?

Want a clue?

Photo Courtesy of Sam

If you answered “fast food” give yourself a gold star!  That’s right — there’s been no mention of fast food during “If It Doesn’t Have a Mama” March.  No lament over lost french fries, burgers, tacos or chicken nuggets.  Why is that?

Glad you asked ;).  To answer with “because I don’t eat fast food” is too simplistic for this blogger.  Oh, no.  We have to dig deeper, tell a longer story, increase the word count a little!

Back in early December, in that caloric lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I noticed I was feeling more uncomfortable in my own skin.  My clothes were a little tighter, my mood towards my body image was a little poorer and I was disappointed in myself.  It came to me at lunchtime one day, as I was walking pick up my eats.  I had a tradition going — every Friday, I “treated” myself to lunch out.  I was packing my lunch every other day — and healthy things too–  I reasoned I needed a little break, a little rebellion, a little McSomething.

I had planned that day to get a deli sandwich from Subway, a healthier alternative…but as I walked, my thoughts were on a family member and a sad situation they were coping with.  I caught a whiff of fryer grease in the air, coming from the nearest fast food junction.  Without doing it consciously, I turned heel, abandoned my sub and made a beeline for the french fries I subconsciously thought would chase those sad thoughts away.

I realized then, I had a *slight* addiction to fast food.  Recent research may prove this is possible. I think it is possible to become too reliant on super-strong tastes (sugar, fat, salt) to provide you with what you think is satiety.  I think it is possible to rely on food for emotional comfort (although when was the last time a burger hugged you back?).  I think it is possible to be addicted to something and not realize it because your taste buds are so trained.

So I cut it out.  I challenged myself for the month of December to NOT eat any fast food.  I think we can all agree what “fast food” is, but for a point of clarification: I don’t really consider Chipotle and Subway truly fast food.  I will eat there on occasion.   I can see the ingredients in front of me, and in the case of Chipotle, I have read enough about the company mission and policy to be comfortable with their food.

It wasn’t even that hard to cut fast food from my diet.  I packed a little something special in my lunch on Friday to still “treat” myself.  If I caught a whiff of the fryer grease, I paused and remembered that wasting $5 or $6 on a Combo #whatever was only going to leave me hungry in a couple of hours with greasy fingertips.  Not worth it to me.

December stretched into January, which lapsed into February, which brings us to March.  Still no McNothings.

Will I never eat it again? No.  That’s unrealistic.  There might come a time where the choice is eat it out of necessity (wacky travel, emergencies, etc) or starve.  I’m always going to choose to feed myself — that much should be abundantly clear.

I’m just not going to feed myself fast food if I can avoid it. 😉

What are you thoughts on fast food?  Necessary evil, special treat or daily allowance?  Ever cut anything out of your diet because of “addiction”?