Are you addicted to fast food?

[Naked Apple]

It is a continuing struggle for me to eat healthy. I am usually on the run and it's so easy for me to grab a coffee and bagel or flatbread or drive through Mc Donalds and grab a burger and soda. I make stabs at eating healthy by occasionally cooking at home and bringing in the leftovers for my lunch at work. I am now trying to go vegetarian for health and moral reasons, but it is a struggle. Even when I make healthy food at home, I still dream of a treat (iced latte from Dunkin or iced coffee at Mc Donalds) for later. It's come to the point where I feel like I am actually addicted to fast food - as silly as it sounds.

What are your eating habits, and is it a regional thing? Every day on my way to work I pass by several Burger Kings, Subways, Popeye's Chicken, Mc Donalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Even the delis don't offer much in the way of healthy options- sandwiches with processed meats and cheeses, salads with tons of mayonaise, fried knishes, hot dogs, soda, Hostess type cakes, etc. I think if I lived in a more rural area, my fast food options would be more limited, or is it the same all over the country?

 

[Debi]

We don't eat fast food at all. First, it's a 20 mile round trip into town to get it. Second, my son absolutely refuses to eat fast food...period. Why? Because he's worked in fast food places and knows what goes on with people messing with that food. He has horror stories that would deter anyone from taking the chance!

We will grab some coffee on the road when we travel or stop at a Cracker Barrel to eat, but no Micky D's, no Whoppers, etc. As far as being rural, there are fast food places in any town, Nekki. In our little burg of a town, we have all the regulars and then some, but it makes you think twice if you have to drive "into town." When we travel, we actually load a cooler here at home and travel with the cooler with pre-prepped stuff from home.

 

[Naked Apple]

We don't eat fast food at all. First, it's a 20 mile round trip into town to get it. Second, my son absolutely refuses to eat fast food...period. Why? Because he's worked in fast food places and knows what goes on with people messing with that food. He has horror stories that would deter anyone from taking the chance!

We will grab some coffee on the road when we travel or stop at a Cracker Barrel to eat, but no Micky D's, no Whoppers, etc. As far as being rural, there are fast food places in any town, Nekki. In our little burg of a town, we have all the regulars and then some, but it makes you think twice if you have to drive "into town." When we travel, we actually load a cooler here at home and travel with the cooler with pre-prepped stuff from home.

You're lucky that you have to drive into town. That serves as a deterent. I live in a neighborhood, but a few blocks away, I am already on either a highway or a main road, depending on which way I go. Once I leave for work, within 5 or 6 minutes from home I am already tempted by Dunkin Donuts (I have 3 within 6 minutes driving distance from me), tempted by 1 Mc Donalds about 7 or 8 minutes from me, several delicatesens with their egg/bacon/cheese/butter cholesterol fest breakfast specials in the morning, a Panera Bread, a Starbucks, Subway, UNO Pizzeria, etc. These are all within 15-20 minutes from home, so it is hard not to grab a bite either for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I actually have to go out of my way to try to eat healthy. I go to Trader Joes a lot. Fortunately, this is also on the way to work. I have been getting their frozen steel cut oatmeal with Quinoa for breakfast ( I nuke it at work) and a salad for lunch. Trader Joes has 25 different types of salads. I just get whatever salad grabs my fancy that morning. I buy Trader Joe's frozen fruit and organic bananas and make smoothies to take to work. It all seems like such a process.

 

[Naked Apple]

The fast food is like crack.

It is. The sad thing is it's designed that way to keep you coming back for more.

 

[Debi]

You're lucky that you have to drive into town. That serves as a deterent. I live in a neighborhood, but a few blocks away, I am already on either a highway or a main road, depending on which way I go. Once I leave for work, within 5 or 6 minutes from home I am already tempted by Dunkin Donuts (I have 3 within 6 minutes driving distance from me), tempted by 1 Mc Donalds about 7 or 8 minutes from me, several delicatesens with their egg/bacon/cheese/butter cholesterol fest breakfast specials in the morning, a Panera Bread, a Starbucks, Subway, UNO Pizzeria, etc. These are all within 15-20 minutes from home, so it is hard not to grab a bite either for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I actually have to go out of my way to try to eat healthy. I go to Trader Joes a lot. Fortunately, this is also on the way to work. I have been getting their frozen steel cut oatmeal with Quinoa for breakfast ( I nuke it at work) and a salad for lunch. Trader Joes has 25 different types of salads. I just get whatever salad grabs my fancy that morning. I buy Trader Joe's frozen fruit and organic bananas and make smoothies to take to work. It all seems like such a process.

I learned when I was working that it takes a bit of determination and advanced work at home to make a change. I always allowed myself the coffee as my treat item and then stayed away from the food. Salads can actually have more calories in them than a sandwich, in some cases! I would pre-make tortilla wraps and put them in baggies for an instant grab and go. I got a two sided container to put cottage cheese in one side and fruit on the other...got the huge cottage cheese from GFS and two types of berries or tomatoes and that was an instant lunch. Since I have never been a big breakfast person, I would just grab a cookie for breakfast to go with my coffee! Knew I would want a sweet at some point in the day so just threw it in at the beginning of the day! lol One cookie = 50 calories. Left room for my latte or cappuccino. Oh, and those smoothies? Yeah...check the calorie count on those suckers. Eat a banana.

I guess what I'm telling you, hon, is that to avoid the fast food stuff, it takes a little organizing. Eating healthy doesn't mean just granola and yogurt, either. All of us need room in the diet plan for the treats or special foods we love. To beat the fast food blues, ya just gotta think ahead and plan. Trust me, you'll save money and calories!

 

[Speedbird]

Nekki , you must have missed the article about fast food joints , not all of them are bad or have bad employees , problem is that you just do not know which ones are safe . Documented evidence of employees rubbing the buns with their private parts , licking the buns before placing your order on it and some will spit into the mayo and mix it in , these are just some examples ! They are paid minimum wage and are pissed at the treatment they get from the owners , so the above examples are considered payback . Then you have the staff that are just nuts and think it is a hoot to do these things . If you can get a hold of a smoothie blender or a juicer which is also a blender , just buy fresh fruit and vegetables and rinse them then blend , they are delicious and quite filling . I eat a lot of pasta when I am hungry , no meat just sauce with it .

 

[Debi]

Nekki , you must have missed the article about fast food joints , not all of them are bad or have bad employees , problem is that you just do not know which ones are safe . Documented evidence of employees rubbing the buns with their private parts , licking the buns before placing your order on it and some will spit into the mayo and mix it in , these are just some examples ! They are paid minimum wage and are pissed at the treatment they get from the owners , so the above examples are considered payback . Then you have the staff that are just nuts and think it is a hoot to do these things . If you can get a hold of a smoothie blender or a juicer which is also a blender , just buy fresh fruit and vegetables and rinse them then blend , they are delicious and quite filling . I eat a lot of pasta when I am hungry , no meat just sauce with it .

Yup, that's exactly why my son won't eat fast food, Dog. He's actually seen this stuff happen from pissed off employees, or just bored idiots, as he calls them. This stuff happens in my little town, so I KNOW it's happening all over the place. If you ever need a thought to keep you out of fast food joints, just picture someone spitting in your salad, Nekki, or licking the buns! That outta do it!