Jackie: the Wastefulness of Modern Eating

Amazing how much weight a person can gain by eating maybe a plate of salad at Fresh Choice. The stuff must be painted with sodium, that's all I can say. I think I gained 2 lbs at Fresh Choice on about 600 calories, which is obviously not possible, so...come on guys, what do you put in that stuff? Anybody who thinks they are doing great by eating there...NOT. I bet the average person eats about 1500 calories there in one meal, and lots more if they really tuck in. I think I'm basically going to be removing Fresh Choice from my list because even if I AM very careful, I puff up. Bad. And Dawn, do you have any idea how much sodium there is in bread, tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni? Outrageous. You ate like a thousand mg of sodium in that one meal.

But that's no big, if it's just one meal. I've been pretty good besides that and the half-piece of cheesecake, which did NOT make my scales go up--not enough salt, probably!

It just really makes me think about restaurants. They have to keep the foods salty and fatty, or they won't be addictive enough.

This is going to sound really odd, but here goes. There's a premise in pornography (which I studied in Law Enforcement): viewers can't just keep watching the same level; the thrill wears off and they have to keep upping the ante. Well, it's the same with food. You eat one bite of brownie today, you are going to need two bites to satisfy you tomorrow, and then after a year of office birthday parties, you are grabbing seconds on cake, just to feel as satisfied as you once did on a single bite. That's how addiction works. We all know that heroin addicts have to keep doing more and more and more just to stay somewhat normal. And that's almost EXACTLY the formula that keeps people in fast food restaurants, and good luck getting second and third generation fast food junkies off the habit. I doubt it's possible; they are doomed to stroke and diabetes because their minds and bodies need garbage to feel normal.

Luckily I could never bring myself to eat in any of them except sub sandwich places, which at least have whole grain bread options and a bunch of veggies. I don't imagine any of it is the highest quality, of course, but at least it isn't french fried.

I have written out a shopping list. Not one of the items on my list has any ingredients listed; they are all basic staples, not processed foods. Well, maybe tofu is a little processed, but please, it's still just beans and water. I was going to buy hummus, but I've decided to buy the ingredients instead and make it. Less garbage that way, too.

This world I live in is phenomenally wasteful, and I want off the wasteful boat! This morning I put about 50 pieces of clothing that is too big for me on my front porch, and freecyclers have been coming by to rummage through it. It's 90 minutes later now and about half of it is gone. From now on, I don't want 4 green blouses when one will do; don't want 10 pairs of jeans when four will do. I am changing my ways.

And today is the first day in a month I've used my dishwasher. During the entire food strike, I just used it as a giant draining rack. Must be some energy saved there, too.