Real Food
I was watching a video of Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food (hat tip to Kristen), and he had a number of good quotes about whether something is "real food".
My favorite, and most relevant at the moment is:
"It's not food if it comes to you through a car window."
A few weeks back I made the decision that I only wanted to eat food that was lovingly prepared by a chef (I'm counting myself in that group). In a previous post, I outlined the Extreme Sausage Sandwich as the perfect low-carb on-the-go meal (minus the buns, of course), but I didn't feel good eating them. Turns out the sausage they use has both sugar and MSG in it. So, the main benefit of cooking myself is knowing what it is I'm actually eating. So, the big habit to break was getting fast food, especially coming home from rehearsal or the card room late at night.
It was really close a couple times. Once, I got my car in line, but there were enough cars there that I came to my senses before I was committed. The next time I drove by, I pulled a U-turn to head in, but came to my senses before I got in the driveway. I've driven right by ever since, and sometimes don't even consider it any more.
It's a little bit harder to take the time to prepare something myself, but my planning has only failed outright once, and I was able to just forgo that meal, instead of break down and get the fast food on the way to work.
Oh, and the other commitment I made to myself about real food is to avoid artificial sweeteners. I've been pretty good for the last couple of months on low-carb, but I'm finding it significantly easier now that I'm not drinking diet soda. I've heard a theory in the low-carb circles about the pavlovian response where even a non-caloric sweetener, because of the sweet taste, evokes a release of insulin from the pancreas. Insulin causes both fat deposition and increased hunger, neither of which are good news for someone trying to "right size".
So, good bye Diet Coke! Good bye, Jack in the Box! (I hope this leads to "Good bye, extra pounds.")
My favorite, and most relevant at the moment is:
"It's not food if it comes to you through a car window."
A few weeks back I made the decision that I only wanted to eat food that was lovingly prepared by a chef (I'm counting myself in that group). In a previous post, I outlined the Extreme Sausage Sandwich as the perfect low-carb on-the-go meal (minus the buns, of course), but I didn't feel good eating them. Turns out the sausage they use has both sugar and MSG in it. So, the main benefit of cooking myself is knowing what it is I'm actually eating. So, the big habit to break was getting fast food, especially coming home from rehearsal or the card room late at night.
It was really close a couple times. Once, I got my car in line, but there were enough cars there that I came to my senses before I was committed. The next time I drove by, I pulled a U-turn to head in, but came to my senses before I got in the driveway. I've driven right by ever since, and sometimes don't even consider it any more.
It's a little bit harder to take the time to prepare something myself, but my planning has only failed outright once, and I was able to just forgo that meal, instead of break down and get the fast food on the way to work.
Oh, and the other commitment I made to myself about real food is to avoid artificial sweeteners. I've been pretty good for the last couple of months on low-carb, but I'm finding it significantly easier now that I'm not drinking diet soda. I've heard a theory in the low-carb circles about the pavlovian response where even a non-caloric sweetener, because of the sweet taste, evokes a release of insulin from the pancreas. Insulin causes both fat deposition and increased hunger, neither of which are good news for someone trying to "right size".
So, good bye Diet Coke! Good bye, Jack in the Box! (I hope this leads to "Good bye, extra pounds.")