5 Foods That I'm Ashamed to Eat
The lovely (I’m extrapolating from eyes and ears) and talented Anna tagged me for this meme. Officially it is "Five Foods That I’m Ashamed to Love". But I've been thinking about this and with the possible exception of sweets, I'm not really ashamed of any foods that I love. So I'm just going to focus on the "shame" aspect. These are kind of more of a "I eat them because I have to eat something but I'm not proud of it" deal. Or somesuch.
1. Boxed macaroni & cheese
Yep, the stuff that comes with that little packet of Day Glo powdered “cheese”. A few years ago I switched to the kind that at least comes with the liquid cheese mixture, and it was much better. Once I had some of the powdered stuff in the middle of that stretch and I could hardly stand to eat it. Then I got really sick of mac & cheese and just stopped eating it for a while. By the time I was ready to eat it again I was unemployed, and the idea of a 33 cent meal sounded pretty damn good. It’s also a matter of convenience since I can be chowing down within about 10 minutes.
The thing that I hate the most about this stuff is that it’s so emblematic of the pre-prepared crap churned out by giant industrial agribusinesses. I think these companies are ruining agriculture and I would really like to get to a place where I am eating more non-processed stuff that is as local as possible. I have made some improvements in my fruit and vegetable consumption this year, so I’m hoping to build from there.
2. Spaghetti sauce from a jar
I have never made spaghetti sauce from scratch. Never! Can you believe it? I recall my parents doing it a couple of times when I was a kid, but a lot of the time it was bottled. Obviously we’re not Italian. I do want to try it someday. Again it comes down to the convenience issue. When I get home from work I’m usually ready to eat fairly quickly. The only way to do that? Buy pre-prepared crap. Although maybe I can make some up one weekend and freeze it for use later in the week.
3. Candy
I definitely have a sweet tooth. If there’s candy around, I’ll eat it. That’s why I don’t have candy around my house. However, at work people like to leave big bags of candy lying around. Sometimes I find them impossible to ignore during those long stretches between lunch and quitting time. I think I have a sugar addiction, which is probably not surprising for someone who grew up with a typical American diet. I’m trying to cut back on sugar because it just doesn’t have anything of nutritional value to offer. I also believe that refined sugar is something that our bodies haven’t evolved to process very well. All this processed crap, evolutionarily speaking, has come along in the blink of an eye and our bodies just don’t do well with handling it.
I’ve tried to eat bananas, dried fruit, grapes, or raisins instead, but I haven’t been entirely successful. The only thing that seems to work (and temporarily at that) is that I’ll notice that my pants seem to be fitting a bit snugly some mornings and I’ll swear off the candy so my clothes will fit better. Then once that’s been accomplished I think “Well, I seem to have lost a couple of pounds, I can have a treat”. Vicious, meet cycle.
Yesterday I saw this article, which basically affirms that if food is around people are going to eat it. Maybe I’ll leave a copy under the bag of candy at work.
OK, here's one candy that I can legitimately say that I love that grosses some people out - those candy circus peanuts! Although seeing as how I just found out that the gelatin they use is made from pork skin, I'm not sure I can eat them anymore!
4. Frozen burritos
These used to be much more of a staple for me, but I will still eat one every now and then. I used to eat those Patio beef & bean burritos all the time. More recently I have tried some of the healthier ones, like the Amy’s or some of the ones they carry at Whole Foods (I’m not a fan of the Whole Foods brand ones though). But really, can it get any lazier than this? How hard is it to make a fresh burrito with decent ingredients? Not very.
5. Taco Bell
I’ve pretty much sworn off most forms of fast food. I’ve been fairly burger and fry free since watching Super Size Me and reading Fast Food Nation, with one rare exception (I'm definitely not ashamed of liking In N Out Burger). There’s still one place that I may end up going if I need something quick and cheap to fill my gut, and that’s Taco Bell. I think it’s because I feel like as crappy as it is, it’s still healthier than a burger and fries. And it is a pretty rare occurrence, I think it may have been 6 months or more since I’ve eaten there. I always feel so dirty afterward.
OK, I know I’m supposed to tag people for this. I usually don’t because I feel bad about taking so long when people tag me. Deb, you like to do memes, so put this one in your rainy day file. If anyone else wants to do this one, knock yourself out!
1. Boxed macaroni & cheese
Yep, the stuff that comes with that little packet of Day Glo powdered “cheese”. A few years ago I switched to the kind that at least comes with the liquid cheese mixture, and it was much better. Once I had some of the powdered stuff in the middle of that stretch and I could hardly stand to eat it. Then I got really sick of mac & cheese and just stopped eating it for a while. By the time I was ready to eat it again I was unemployed, and the idea of a 33 cent meal sounded pretty damn good. It’s also a matter of convenience since I can be chowing down within about 10 minutes.
The thing that I hate the most about this stuff is that it’s so emblematic of the pre-prepared crap churned out by giant industrial agribusinesses. I think these companies are ruining agriculture and I would really like to get to a place where I am eating more non-processed stuff that is as local as possible. I have made some improvements in my fruit and vegetable consumption this year, so I’m hoping to build from there.
2. Spaghetti sauce from a jar
I have never made spaghetti sauce from scratch. Never! Can you believe it? I recall my parents doing it a couple of times when I was a kid, but a lot of the time it was bottled. Obviously we’re not Italian. I do want to try it someday. Again it comes down to the convenience issue. When I get home from work I’m usually ready to eat fairly quickly. The only way to do that? Buy pre-prepared crap. Although maybe I can make some up one weekend and freeze it for use later in the week.
3. Candy
I definitely have a sweet tooth. If there’s candy around, I’ll eat it. That’s why I don’t have candy around my house. However, at work people like to leave big bags of candy lying around. Sometimes I find them impossible to ignore during those long stretches between lunch and quitting time. I think I have a sugar addiction, which is probably not surprising for someone who grew up with a typical American diet. I’m trying to cut back on sugar because it just doesn’t have anything of nutritional value to offer. I also believe that refined sugar is something that our bodies haven’t evolved to process very well. All this processed crap, evolutionarily speaking, has come along in the blink of an eye and our bodies just don’t do well with handling it.
I’ve tried to eat bananas, dried fruit, grapes, or raisins instead, but I haven’t been entirely successful. The only thing that seems to work (and temporarily at that) is that I’ll notice that my pants seem to be fitting a bit snugly some mornings and I’ll swear off the candy so my clothes will fit better. Then once that’s been accomplished I think “Well, I seem to have lost a couple of pounds, I can have a treat”. Vicious, meet cycle.
Yesterday I saw this article, which basically affirms that if food is around people are going to eat it. Maybe I’ll leave a copy under the bag of candy at work.
OK, here's one candy that I can legitimately say that I love that grosses some people out - those candy circus peanuts! Although seeing as how I just found out that the gelatin they use is made from pork skin, I'm not sure I can eat them anymore!
4. Frozen burritos
These used to be much more of a staple for me, but I will still eat one every now and then. I used to eat those Patio beef & bean burritos all the time. More recently I have tried some of the healthier ones, like the Amy’s or some of the ones they carry at Whole Foods (I’m not a fan of the Whole Foods brand ones though). But really, can it get any lazier than this? How hard is it to make a fresh burrito with decent ingredients? Not very.
5. Taco Bell
I’ve pretty much sworn off most forms of fast food. I’ve been fairly burger and fry free since watching Super Size Me and reading Fast Food Nation, with one rare exception (I'm definitely not ashamed of liking In N Out Burger). There’s still one place that I may end up going if I need something quick and cheap to fill my gut, and that’s Taco Bell. I think it’s because I feel like as crappy as it is, it’s still healthier than a burger and fries. And it is a pretty rare occurrence, I think it may have been 6 months or more since I’ve eaten there. I always feel so dirty afterward.
OK, I know I’m supposed to tag people for this. I usually don’t because I feel bad about taking so long when people tag me. Deb, you like to do memes, so put this one in your rainy day file. If anyone else wants to do this one, knock yourself out!
Labels: Memes
posted by JC at 7:44 PM
6 Comments:
I totally know what you mean. Most times when I get home, I want to eat, not cook. The prepared foods come in mighty handy. I used to loooove the mac and cheese with the liquid pouch cheese. I haven't had it in years. Now I want some. Good going, JC.
Oh, and the circus peanuts? I had never seen those before, but eww.
JC - I love this post! It made me laugh many time.....because I can totally relate. Also, when I got to the circus peanuts....it really cracked me up. I had these as a child...my kids had these a few times.....but some of the people I work with, think that I would be insane to ever have eaten them! Why, I ask? They are seriously not that bad and will certainly feed the need for something sweet.
Fun reading!
Faith would be heartbroken, as boxed mac and cheese ranks in her top 3 foods - she won't eat any other variety.
Holli's famous spaghetti??
Love circus peanuts - thank you for destroying that for me.
mmmmm - frozen burritos.. only topped by the fried ones you can get at gas stations or convenience stores. They used to have them at Sonic. I was devastated when they stopped selling them.
I'm not sure I'm ashamed of anything I eat - hell, I used to melt half a block of cheese a day and eat it - grease and all, like a bowl of cheesy grease soup. Of course I had a mother who ate butter sticks like candy bars. We're very focused on health.
Oh my, this could get embarrassing, but I'm game! I'll probably post my answers next weekend. The sad things is, I could list soooo many more than five!
I love, love, love mac n cheese with the liquid pouch. Does anyone really make their own spaghetti sauce...who has time? Circus peanuts are ummm how do I put this really scary!
Taco Bell rocks!
Here's a sad story. I work for a dried fruit company, and so I have bags of the stuff sitting all over my house and ITS JUST LIKE CANDY. As you say, if there is a bag of it lying around, I'm gonna eat it.
That said, there are worse ways to eat than by snacking on natural dried pineapple and mango and cranberries. I would highly recommend that you look for dried fruits that give you whatever candy sensation you like so much (be it sour or tart or sweet or berryish or appley or whatever) and invest in a dried fruit that satisfies that craving. It's definitely healthier and a bit more filling.
Check out our stuff - www.nutsonline.com and see if it doesn't hit your sweet spot. And oh yeah - we have fresh circus peanuts too - really soft amazing ones, not like at the store! (Sorry but I couldn't resist sharing that!)
Post a Comment
<< Home