In which we ponder...
Nov. 29th, 2007 07:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesshartleySeveral folks, both on and off line (including my boss at the realty company) have basically said "Oh, that sounds like a cool diet, but... I don't really like vegetables." or "I could never eat vegetables or salad with all my meals. I just don't like them that much."
While I understand that everyone has different tastes and that some folks can't (for food allergy/sensitivity reasons) eat certain foods, the whole "I don't really like vegetables" thing is kind of a weird topic.
Personally, I'd much rather sit down to a big chocolate shake and a hunk of pie for breakfast than a piece of crustless quiche or breakfast scramble. I'd honestly love to eat pizza, chicken strips, burgers or Jimmy's Chicaco Hot Dogs for lunch every day rather than a big salad with low fat cheese and lean meat sliced over the top. And who wouldn't rather have a big platter of lasagna, deep fried chicken chimichangas or sweet and sour chicken than a small piece of lean meat, and several servings of vegetables for dinner? I mean, it's really not that I'm choosing to eat better because these are the foods I'd really rather be chewing on at any given moment.
But what we put in our mouth is a choice (just like what comes out of it, but that's another topic.) And I've made the choice to eat things that are immediate satisfaction/long term detrimental for many many months now. I've grabbed a candy bar any time I wanted one. Bought into the convenience of pizza for dinner*, fast food for lunch and sugar coated cereals (or worse, the ones that look healthy, but are higher in calories than Calvin's Sugar Coated Cocoa Bombs) for breakfast. I've done it, because it's what I like. I've got a sweet tooth and from an immediate-satisfaction only standpoint, I'll always choose sweet/chewy/cheesy/greasy/buttery stuff over salad or veggies.
But at some point, I have to stop ignoring that life isn't (just) about immediate satisfaction. Making those daily choices has consequences. For me, I gain weight, I get even more sluggish (viscious cycle) I feel cruddy, I crave /more/ sweets & fats, and I build a habit of eating bad foods. Those are things that, at any given moment, may not weigh on me as heavily as the call of chocolate, but when I'm able to stand back and take a look at things, they're not a very good option, compared to just eating "good" (lots of veggies, lean meats, whole grains, lowfat dairy and good oils) with an occasional sweet treat.
So, please don't tell me (or yourself) that you can't eat well because you don't "much like" vegetables, whole grains, lowfat dairy, etc. Compare to the greasy, fatty, sugary, starchy convenience foods we've developed as the American "norm", of course you don't. Very few folks would look at a carrot and think "oh, this is my favorite" compared to, say chocolate, fries or chips.
I'm not eating this way because I love to do it. If I loved to do it, I'd have never put on all this weight in the first place. I'm doing it because it's a healthy choice for me to make, and that's more important to me than the instant-gratification/long-term detriment of things I "like" more.
And, strangely enough, the longer I am away from that "instant" food, the less appealing it becomes. So, do what you want and need to do about your eating, but don't justify eating crap to yourself by saying you don't "much like" healthy food. We're all big kids here, and there's more to our eating choices than instant gratification... or at least there should be. Make your choices where you will (gods knows I have) but don't justify them with the illusion that folks who eat healthy don't crave cheeseburgers too.
* - almost instant, almost no dishes or prep, cheap and everyone likes it... it's the perfect food - until you look at the calorie count/nutritional value and realize you're not eating one slice along with a salad and serving of veggies, you're eating 3 or 4 pieces with nothing to balance it, and you've just had more than your entire daily allotment of calories, fat and sodium in one meal.
While I understand that everyone has different tastes and that some folks can't (for food allergy/sensitivity reasons) eat certain foods, the whole "I don't really like vegetables" thing is kind of a weird topic.
Personally, I'd much rather sit down to a big chocolate shake and a hunk of pie for breakfast than a piece of crustless quiche or breakfast scramble. I'd honestly love to eat pizza, chicken strips, burgers or Jimmy's Chicaco Hot Dogs for lunch every day rather than a big salad with low fat cheese and lean meat sliced over the top. And who wouldn't rather have a big platter of lasagna, deep fried chicken chimichangas or sweet and sour chicken than a small piece of lean meat, and several servings of vegetables for dinner? I mean, it's really not that I'm choosing to eat better because these are the foods I'd really rather be chewing on at any given moment.
But what we put in our mouth is a choice (just like what comes out of it, but that's another topic.) And I've made the choice to eat things that are immediate satisfaction/long term detrimental for many many months now. I've grabbed a candy bar any time I wanted one. Bought into the convenience of pizza for dinner*, fast food for lunch and sugar coated cereals (or worse, the ones that look healthy, but are higher in calories than Calvin's Sugar Coated Cocoa Bombs) for breakfast. I've done it, because it's what I like. I've got a sweet tooth and from an immediate-satisfaction only standpoint, I'll always choose sweet/chewy/cheesy/greasy/buttery stuff over salad or veggies.
But at some point, I have to stop ignoring that life isn't (just) about immediate satisfaction. Making those daily choices has consequences. For me, I gain weight, I get even more sluggish (viscious cycle) I feel cruddy, I crave /more/ sweets & fats, and I build a habit of eating bad foods. Those are things that, at any given moment, may not weigh on me as heavily as the call of chocolate, but when I'm able to stand back and take a look at things, they're not a very good option, compared to just eating "good" (lots of veggies, lean meats, whole grains, lowfat dairy and good oils) with an occasional sweet treat.
So, please don't tell me (or yourself) that you can't eat well because you don't "much like" vegetables, whole grains, lowfat dairy, etc. Compare to the greasy, fatty, sugary, starchy convenience foods we've developed as the American "norm", of course you don't. Very few folks would look at a carrot and think "oh, this is my favorite" compared to, say chocolate, fries or chips.
I'm not eating this way because I love to do it. If I loved to do it, I'd have never put on all this weight in the first place. I'm doing it because it's a healthy choice for me to make, and that's more important to me than the instant-gratification/long-term detriment of things I "like" more.
And, strangely enough, the longer I am away from that "instant" food, the less appealing it becomes. So, do what you want and need to do about your eating, but don't justify eating crap to yourself by saying you don't "much like" healthy food. We're all big kids here, and there's more to our eating choices than instant gratification... or at least there should be. Make your choices where you will (gods knows I have) but don't justify them with the illusion that folks who eat healthy don't crave cheeseburgers too.
* - almost instant, almost no dishes or prep, cheap and everyone likes it... it's the perfect food - until you look at the calorie count/nutritional value and realize you're not eating one slice along with a salad and serving of veggies, you're eating 3 or 4 pieces with nothing to balance it, and you've just had more than your entire daily allotment of calories, fat and sodium in one meal.
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Date: 2007-11-29 10:31 pm (UTC)