Some foods are truly evil
All the diet experts will tell you that you that you can “eat any food in moderation.” Right? I say that’s crap. If that were true, I wouldn’t have been fat. I cannot eat my trigger foods in moderation! My list of trigger foods is so long it alone could fill the pages of a book, but I know what they are and I have found ways to eliminate them from my environment, from my diet and from my life. Oh, they still exist of course, but because I control their presence in my life and because I now see them for what they are, they don’t have the same power over me that they once did.
Before I committed to losing weight and improving my health my faith in my ability to resist temptation and my resolve to do so were weak so I constantly caved. The more I caved the more I felt that resistance was futile. And when you feel that resistance is futile and you don’t trust yourself, guess what you do? You get in line behind the chubby guy at Cinnabon and get the giant cinnamon roll! And you tell yourself, “What difference is it going to make in the long run if I eat this one treat on this one day?” But of course, it does make a difference because you’re likely not just doing it once. You’re probably letting yourself off the hook all the time. It’s the giant cinnamon roll today, yesterday it was the venti chocolate caramel blast mochaccino with a gargantuan blob of whipped topping and syrup drizzled all over the top, and last Friday night it was the Macho-Nachos appetizer and the 12-gallon strawberry kiwi margarita. Ugh, I think I’m gonna be sick! Okay, I’m exaggerating to make a point. And here’s the point: this stuff, this “food” is just evil. You should not, you must not, under any circumstances, eat it. Any food in moderation may sound reasonable, but this stuff was not created for moderation. As we’ve discussed the portions are ridiculous, and who drinks one-third of a venti chocolate caramel mocha-whatever coffee drink anyway? You buy it because you want the whole darn thing! You order the Macho-Nachos and tell yourself you’re going to share with your girlfriends, but even if you only eat one-quarter of it you likely consumed 500+ calories! And the margarita’s not doing you any favors either. It’s almost impossible to control your portions of these giant, hyper-palatable indulgences, so for me it’s better to just steer clear of them altogether.
And truthfully it’s not just about the foods; it’s the frame of mind that you’re in when you’re confronted with them. My resolve to eat healthy and honor myself by making healthful choices is so much stronger now because I exercise that “muscle” every day. I keep my promises to myself and every time I do that when I’m confronted with a challenging food situation I trust myself just a little bit more. But I’m not stupid; I still avoid this stuff like the plague because I know how malicious it is and how my resolve can melt just as quickly as that Krispy Kreme glazed donut can melt in my mouth.
For me, this has been a complete paradigm shift. The pledge that I’ve made to myself and my family, to keep us healthy and well, means that I no longer view these “treats” as anything that we indulge in on a regular basis. And while I can’t always control what my 17-year-old chooses to eat when he’s at the mall with his friends I know he eats a lot less garbage food than most American teens. So let’s raise our collective awareness about what this stuff really is – vile, nasty, wicked, pick your favorite adjective – and what we need to do to protect ourselves and our families from it. Maybe we’ll drive a few of those cinnamon roll places out of business! Now that would be sweet!