It's time to complain again!
It's been a while since I made a post about something that's been bothering me. For this round?...I'm gona take it to fast food or simply eating out in general.
Ever since I had disposable income (see: Junior year of college - present) I've been more inclined to eat a meal out. I can blame that on several things: my own laziness, my lack of cooking knowledge/skill, and the tendency of those around me to eat out often as well.
I don't eat as much fast food (as compared to restaurant food) as I did since graduating. This is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand eating fast food is worse for you...but eating in a "sit-down" restaurant is often 2-3 times more expensive.
The expense of eating out is what really started to get to me a few months ago. I was easily spending more money on that than I was on more important things...like gas. That being the case I've done my best to limit my meals out to the weekends as much as I can. Sometimes it's just not possible to skip out on going for food...unless you want to be anti-social or make a trip to the store.
I have been better about grocery shopping. I go once every two weeks or so and try to keep my spending between $65-$85. That let's me factor in most lunches and dinners save for those on the weekend (not to mention snacks like breakfast bars and fruit for in the morning).
Next to expense my most pressing concern involves my diet. Eating out coupled with my seeming inability to cook anything that requires something other that the microwave or oven...has lead to quite the pathetic collection of eating habits. I try to limit my intake of straight carbohydrates and meat but there's definitely not enough fruit and veggies going on.
This post could go on for ages so I think I'll single out something to talk about for the remainder of the entry: my recent trip to the BK Lounge. And by recent...I mean like 20 minutes ago.
There are a handful of places to eat out on the base but Jordan and I seem to always prefer hitting up Burger King. Everyone knows that fast food is bad for you. If you need a refresher just look at the nutritional info poster they're required to have up. There are single items on the menu that contain close to or more than 1000 calories. Scary huh? A half day's worth of caloric intake in one burger (not to mention almost 100 grams of fat…).
It's hard to beat the prices though. I can get a full meal (two cheeseburgers and a cup of water) for $2.00. Tax included. Jordan would argue with my definition of a "full meal". He's also a freak of nature so it's ok. =P Who could eat two Angus burgers and still have room for fries?? (that isn't a 15 year old hormonal monster)
The thing that still shocks me the most are the sodas. The mediums are larges, the larges are at least 30oz, and the extra larges have to hold a “half gallon” of liquid. The most upsetting part of that?...the price difference between a medium and an extra large is less than $.50. Why would your average person order a medium when they could get a large for $.15 more?
I know why I try not to get larges anymore. I'm guessing your average soda product has between 130-160 calories per 8oz. One of those extra larges is probably packing close to 600 calories (depending on how much ice you use).
Where do all those calories come from? My guess would be from ingredient #2 that falls in right after carbonated water: high fructose corn syrup. That shit is public enemy number one as far as I'm concerned. You see that garbage in so many products...especially beverages.
Hell...I got a V8 Splash Strawberry Kiwi drink yesterday because I thought "Hey its V8...they make all those healthy vegetable drinks". When I took a look at the ingredients? Water, high fructose corn syrup, carrot juice,...wait! Corn syrup is still #2? Really?! Ugh. The same thing goes for the cranberry juice I had been buying for a couple weeks. It's like you can't drink anything but water if you want to get something without corn syrup in it.
It really does creep into so much of what we eat regularly. I have a hard time escaping it even when I give up soft drinks. Why? Because I'm a sauce junky and almost every condiment out there has this stuff in it to sweeten it up. What can I say? I like sweet sauces like BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Ketchup.
I don't really care to get into the battle over whether HFCS is worse than regular sugar...just because I think it's obvious that sugar in excess in any form is going to have negative health effects. You're pretty much always going to be better off eating foods without additives and drinking water.
There are worse tragedies though. Take the item I purchased today to satisfy my sweet tooth: the BK Sundae Shake. It's at least 16oz of ice cream topped with crumbled Oreo cookies, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. To suck this calorie truck down they give you the most fucked up straw I've ever seen. It has to be a half inch in diameter. I suppose the logic is that it's supposed to allow you to suck up everything (cookie bits included) without the use of a spoon. To me it just represents our steadily declining food culture. Obviously I'm not having it my way unless I can hold a full fluid ounce inside my straw. >_>
You know I'm half tempted to go vegetarian for Lent this year...but I don't think I could pull it off. Meat is simply too delicious. *lol* I am however going to continue my quest to cut down on sugar, fried food, and fat. It bothers me that so many of my close friends are so out of shape. Maybe by setting a better example around them they'll be less tempted.
Although when it comes down to taking care of your body I don't think you can rely on anyone but yourself.
I suppose that's about it from me. You people stay awesome and remember...the King is watching you.
Ever since I had disposable income (see: Junior year of college - present) I've been more inclined to eat a meal out. I can blame that on several things: my own laziness, my lack of cooking knowledge/skill, and the tendency of those around me to eat out often as well.
I don't eat as much fast food (as compared to restaurant food) as I did since graduating. This is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand eating fast food is worse for you...but eating in a "sit-down" restaurant is often 2-3 times more expensive.
The expense of eating out is what really started to get to me a few months ago. I was easily spending more money on that than I was on more important things...like gas. That being the case I've done my best to limit my meals out to the weekends as much as I can. Sometimes it's just not possible to skip out on going for food...unless you want to be anti-social or make a trip to the store.
I have been better about grocery shopping. I go once every two weeks or so and try to keep my spending between $65-$85. That let's me factor in most lunches and dinners save for those on the weekend (not to mention snacks like breakfast bars and fruit for in the morning).
Next to expense my most pressing concern involves my diet. Eating out coupled with my seeming inability to cook anything that requires something other that the microwave or oven...has lead to quite the pathetic collection of eating habits. I try to limit my intake of straight carbohydrates and meat but there's definitely not enough fruit and veggies going on.
This post could go on for ages so I think I'll single out something to talk about for the remainder of the entry: my recent trip to the BK Lounge. And by recent...I mean like 20 minutes ago.
There are a handful of places to eat out on the base but Jordan and I seem to always prefer hitting up Burger King. Everyone knows that fast food is bad for you. If you need a refresher just look at the nutritional info poster they're required to have up. There are single items on the menu that contain close to or more than 1000 calories. Scary huh? A half day's worth of caloric intake in one burger (not to mention almost 100 grams of fat…).
It's hard to beat the prices though. I can get a full meal (two cheeseburgers and a cup of water) for $2.00. Tax included. Jordan would argue with my definition of a "full meal". He's also a freak of nature so it's ok. =P Who could eat two Angus burgers and still have room for fries?? (that isn't a 15 year old hormonal monster)
The thing that still shocks me the most are the sodas. The mediums are larges, the larges are at least 30oz, and the extra larges have to hold a “half gallon” of liquid. The most upsetting part of that?...the price difference between a medium and an extra large is less than $.50. Why would your average person order a medium when they could get a large for $.15 more?
I know why I try not to get larges anymore. I'm guessing your average soda product has between 130-160 calories per 8oz. One of those extra larges is probably packing close to 600 calories (depending on how much ice you use).
Where do all those calories come from? My guess would be from ingredient #2 that falls in right after carbonated water: high fructose corn syrup. That shit is public enemy number one as far as I'm concerned. You see that garbage in so many products...especially beverages.
Hell...I got a V8 Splash Strawberry Kiwi drink yesterday because I thought "Hey its V8...they make all those healthy vegetable drinks". When I took a look at the ingredients? Water, high fructose corn syrup, carrot juice,...wait! Corn syrup is still #2? Really?! Ugh. The same thing goes for the cranberry juice I had been buying for a couple weeks. It's like you can't drink anything but water if you want to get something without corn syrup in it.
It really does creep into so much of what we eat regularly. I have a hard time escaping it even when I give up soft drinks. Why? Because I'm a sauce junky and almost every condiment out there has this stuff in it to sweeten it up. What can I say? I like sweet sauces like BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Ketchup.
I don't really care to get into the battle over whether HFCS is worse than regular sugar...just because I think it's obvious that sugar in excess in any form is going to have negative health effects. You're pretty much always going to be better off eating foods without additives and drinking water.
There are worse tragedies though. Take the item I purchased today to satisfy my sweet tooth: the BK Sundae Shake. It's at least 16oz of ice cream topped with crumbled Oreo cookies, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. To suck this calorie truck down they give you the most fucked up straw I've ever seen. It has to be a half inch in diameter. I suppose the logic is that it's supposed to allow you to suck up everything (cookie bits included) without the use of a spoon. To me it just represents our steadily declining food culture. Obviously I'm not having it my way unless I can hold a full fluid ounce inside my straw. >_>
You know I'm half tempted to go vegetarian for Lent this year...but I don't think I could pull it off. Meat is simply too delicious. *lol* I am however going to continue my quest to cut down on sugar, fried food, and fat. It bothers me that so many of my close friends are so out of shape. Maybe by setting a better example around them they'll be less tempted.
Although when it comes down to taking care of your body I don't think you can rely on anyone but yourself.
I suppose that's about it from me. You people stay awesome and remember...the King is watching you.