Supersize Yourself

For 12 of the last 24 months I have been on the road. I eat two of my meals a day from restaurants and company cafeterias. I usually skip breakfast. I work about 10-14 hours a day, so I don’t have much time for hitting the treadmill at the hotel after work, but I do what I can. Believe it or not, this is not necessarily the healthiest lifestyle.

I generally get sick of eating out so much after a few weeks. However, when I come back, within a few weeks (maybe even before) I am craving greasy, fatty, fast food! (I strike a balance by eating lunch out with my team at work and then having a home cooked dinner).

I watched Supersize Me today. I had seen a portion of it before, but I decided to watch the entire thing. Unlike the documentary on the Salem witch trials I also watched, nothing in this program surprised me. McDonald’s makes you fat. But this is a really famous documentary!

Although I think the method used was unscientific and the results obtained common sense, the movie was entertaining. However, instead of focusing on the “big bad fast food restaurants”, it should have focused on something it only hinted at: personal responsibility.

If Americans are overweight, it is not because there is some disease going around. Not anything we can catch, anyway. It’s called eating too much and not being active enough.

And, as I mentioned before, I’m an expert at this. Since I started my new job, I have put on weight (won’t tell you how much). However, I have also been monitoring my weight and trying to make choices that will help me to keep from gaining, as my lifestyle continues to be non-accepting of personal health.
1. Portion size – I order kid sized portions or save half of the meal for later. Both are cost effective as well as healthier.
2. Fish – I usually order fish if we are ordering dinner from a fancy restaurant. In addition to being a healthier option, it’s also brain food!
3. Calorie Monitoring – Although I cannot cook a full meal when I am on the road, I try to monitor my calories. I try to eat only one full meal out (which is usually enough to bust any diet anyway) and have healthy low-calorie snacks between meals. A second meal will be a low calorie, easy to prepare meal such as a peanut butter sandwich or a Cup-o-Soup.

I’m not an expert or dietician. These are just tricks I use. And I could probably follow more rules – I’m sure my dietician sister would prefer I track all calories consumed in a day, maybe even just shut off when I hit my limit. Or perhaps I should cut out the pop. Never!

The simple point is – fast food is not the enemy. We are our greatest enemy! By making poor food choices and poor exercise choices (which I think are probably worse) we get ourselves into a big fat mess.

The fast food restaurants responded to the attack of Supersize Me by adding healthy menu options. But I don’t go to McDonald’s for salad. I go for fries! If I want a salad I will go to Panera. Simple as that. And if I develop diabetes when I am older, or if I gain 100 pounds and have a heart problem and low self esteem, I will know it is because of my sugar and fat addiction that I have. On the other hand, if I can work out of town for a year and not have a triple-bypass at the end of it, it is also because I made good decisions.