About a year ago I took a vow to stop eating “fast food” for a year. I think the blog entry is still up here with my reasoning behind it. Basically, I had eaten McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s or Taco Bell at least three times a week for years. It was more than a staple of my diet, at times it WAS my diet, and frankly, I wasn’t feeling the greatest in the world about it or because of it. I just wanted to see if I could do it and what would happen if I DID do it.
I quickly added a couple of asterisks to the vow. I wasn’t swearing off fast food entirely, I was swearing off mainly burgers and “taco bell” style food from those establishments. When in doubt, I could still have a burger at home if I cooked it or from a “sit down restaurant” and in a pinch, a burger from the SHEETZ gas station chain because I knew I wasn’t going to just be able to swear them off.
KFC and Arby’s were still in, but really, those weren’t big establishments for me and I limited my selections. Everything else, including Quiznos, Subway etc., were also fair game since I knew I’d still eat out and there was no way for me to cut everything completely.
It’s been a couple of days since the vow ended and I haven’t hit up McDonalds yet. I’m not sure what’s going on, really. I get cravings for their fries but I’m just blah on what they offer right now, especially when I’ve learned to make quarter pounders at home. SHEETZ has much better fries than any of the chain restaurants (get a cup and some HEINZ ketchup and it’s heaven), and right now I’m craving a sub either from Wegman’s or Sheetz. While “bad” for me, they just don’t leave me feeling sick afterwards as the generic burger from the big three of fast food burgers did or pretty much anything on the menu of Taco Bell.
It was hard to travel when my nephew Jesy was here. Explaining to a ten-year-old that no, we’re not stopping for McDonalds because Uncle has made a vow just gets you a blank stare. We did a lot of SHEETZ on that trip. I almost got sick of it, I know my mom did, and I hope I didn’t leave him with the impression that this state didn’t actually HAVE fast food. But that’s sort of a statement, isn’t it? It’s hard to travel without the option of stopping to get a quick bite at one of these places. I could have packed lunches and gone the route of old fashioned “picnics in the car” but uh, who really does that in this day and age?
The cravings did hit hard for the first couple of months and in times of stress, I admit I came THIS close to throwing the vow away and returning to comfort food. I’m glad I didn’t though. Because of it, for the first time in my life, I have absolutely no clue what burgers are on special. I can’t share the joy or disdain a certain burger has for people (Evil James and the B.K. BBQ burger that’s still lodged in his stomach is a story for the ages), and for the life of me, I’ve never had a Doritos taco… and I’m not sure if I’m going to.
The new year has started. Let’s see where this goes.
Jim