Mr. Achilles was less than impressed with my run yesterday and let me know it this morning :(
So for my lunch hour, it was back to walking and I decided that I would walk down to my favorite grocery store and get something for lunch. It is a short 1.5 mile walk down a main street to get there. But in that 1.5 miles, I passes the following:
- A local pizza joint
- McDonald's
- Taco Bell
- Arby's
- Jreck Sub's
- The Tilted Kilt
- Kentucky Fried Chicken
- Dunkin' Donuts
- Friendly's
- Denny's
- Burger King
- A Japanese Steakhouse
- A Chinese buffet
I have never eaten at a Taco Bell or Tilted Kilt. But with those exceptions, I would have LOVED to stop at Every. Single. One. of those places and stuffed my face with piles and piles of unhealthy foods.
Since 2010 I have stopped at Mickey D's a bunch of times for their $1 coffee. I have had a salad from them maybe twice and have gotten a salad from Wendy's 3-4 times.
Other than that, I have eliminated fast food from my life. I haven't eaten a fried French fry - not one! I haven't had a wonderfully processed burger. 5 years! And yet? Even having removed it from my life for this long and knowing how TERRIBLE those foods are - I wanted some badly!
As I walked back from the grocery store with my healthy lunch in the bag, I wondered how normal people - those that have a healthy relationship with food - how they handle fast food. Do they want it, too, and just choose to eat healthier? Do they see the signs and smell the delicious grease and it just doesn't effect them? Do they just not want it?
Because that idea is just so foreign to me. I seriously cannot conceive of not wanting foods like that. If I could eat whatever without consequences, I would eat at places like that every day. I know I "shouldn't" want to, but I do.
Maybe it's like the alcoholic who can't imagine having a couple of beers and walking away.
And I guess it doesn't matter, anyway. If it's been 5 years and I still want to eat shit, I probably always will.
But as I tell my clients, no one has to pay a price for their thoughts, only their behavior. And by eating what I did:
A "very veggie" Dole salad topped with scallops - total calories 230 - I felt good about my choices. And I won’t have to pay the price physically or feel the guilt mentally.
But, boy, I wish I hadn't even wanted a fucking cheeseburger...
I eat pretty healthy breakfasts and dinners (true credit goes to my dear wife), but my lunches are often nutritionally black holes. Chipotle is pretty good, I guess (I skip the sour cream and cheese), but I eat at more than my share of McDonald's, Burger King, Five Guys, etc. I think I don't *over*eat at those places, though, which may be why I've stayed lean with a good blood lipid profile.
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