Day 5 - Food & the Super Bowl

Day 5 - Ok!  Why does it seem just when you are ready to start  anew, because the previous day did not go as planned, the day you want to regroup and refresh ends up on a holiday or special event?

Satan!  You diabolical, sneaky pork chop!  I curse you!

On Saturday, I complained and whined about the fat, salt, and sugar trifecta and the all powerful god of desire for them.  As my old pastor use to say, "You gotta name it and claim it!"

All right. I named them the Trifecta.

What I did not do is plan for the Super Bowl.  I had not really thought about what to do and how to prepare, which was problem number one.  Then, on the radio, I heard about the millions of hot wings that were to be consumed during the Super Bowl.  The chili cook offs, pizza, and all the delicious fixins.  Maybe it should have been a warning.  It was an invitation.

What the hell was a brother gonna do?  I have an idea.  But, this is what happened.

I went to pick up 40 teriyaki wings from my spot in East Austin.  My son and I were pretty hungry, especially since he finished a hard fought basketball game in a losing endeavor against an evenly matched team.  He also had a friend coming over to hang out.  Since I already had hot wings on the mind, I suggested them along with the fries and a very nutritious side of carrots and celery sticks with ranch dressing.

Yeah, I know.  Carrot and celery sticks were no where enough.  But, I told myself that I would get a nice salad to go with it.  Unfortunately, I started with the wings instead of the salad.  I loaded up on the wings and a handful of fries dipped in some left over queso I made with homemade salsa.  I could not let the queso go to waste, right?

When it was all said and done, it was about two o'clock in the afternoon and the game had not even started.  I was busted and promised myself that I'd eat that salad, leafy green, fibrous food to help the wings go down.

The salad never came, and! . . . I did eat the carrots and celery without the ranch dressing.

I couldn't eat much more for the rest of day.  After the Super Bowl, which was kind of exciting with the last minute touch down by the New York Giants, I watched a movie and contemplated my next move.  I drank the rest of my water for the day.  When I had a hunkering from something sweet, I had a piece of fruit, which seemed to do the trick.

So, today is the day.  I'm going to call that life coach I stood up months ago to help get on track as well.

Thank God for health benefits!

Day 4 - Fat, Sugar, and Salt, Oh, My!

It's only been the fourth day.  As I cut out sweets and cut down on the junk that comes with it, I am experiencing a powerful god in three persons: fat, salt, and sugar.

I am not trying to disrespect the Trinitarians found in Christianity or the concept of Trimurti in Hinduism. However, it seems perfectly descriptive of what the makers of  fast and junk foods alike attempt to inject in everything they create.

As I attempt to avoid and cut out sweets, I find my desire to eat fatty and salty foods increases.  I'm not sure if it is any more than before or maybe I am more acutely aware of it in the absence of high sugar intake.

Think of any of your favorite, guilty pleasures related to food.  I can almost guarantee whatever your top ten foods are they probably include more than half or all high quantities of fat, salt, and/or sugar.  I'm not mad at you.  It is part of our shared biology.

I know that I'm no better than that dim witted Pavlovian dog salivating after a treat. Our brains get activated and stimulated by catchy phrases and music, bright colors, and a charismatic spokesperson for the thousands of products found in any store, restaurant, food truck and dispensing machine around every corner, found in nearly every kitchen, tucked away in our schools and colleges, and paraded across TVs and during movie previews - not to mention throughout the internet.

Even in the no carb, no fat, no trans fat, low sodium, and sugar free foods include a contrary intention to maximize the cooresponding aspect. For example, seek out the nutritional information of any of your top five healthier treats with any of the aforementioned nutritional phrases.  You may already be a savvy consumer and aware of this, but I am continually left with my mouth wide open in response to how they replace the sugar and fat with higher amounts of salt.  As they cut the fat, they instead up the sugar.  All of this food engineering is done to add flavor and respond to most consumers want to eat healthier while maintaining good taste.

Think about ten or twenty year ago and consider those foods that were part of the wave of diet foods.  They tasted pretty much like shit, cardboard, and tasteless waste. They simply did not appeal to our biological response to any one of the fat, sugar, and salt trifecta. Currently, food companies seemed to have perfected  the trifecta science to allow us to find these "diet" foods tastier and perceive them as healthier, better than other junk foods.

Today, I found myself talking and damn near dreaming of salt and fat foods during the day.  Add to the fold a weekend fraught with a bit more unplanned time.  Although I've stayed with drinking my water, I did not get started until around late morning.  Instead of having a taste for something sweet, I wanted to have water since I could feel my throat getting dry.  I ate plenty of fruit and vegetables, but it was not during typical times of eating.  Even after eating a highly nutritious dinner, I desired a bit more fat and salt.

It did not take much time to find a food that would satisfy me even though I had dinner and a full stomach.

Yes, it was Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to the rescue.  I could have helped it, but I did not want to find a reason.

So, I drove the five minutes it took to purchase a four piece dark meat, thighs and legs, meal with sweet corn and slaw.  After the second piece of chicken, I think I found myself coming out of the food coma.  All was not clear until I finished the amazingly small pieces of non-organic chicken pieces and began feeding the bones to my two labs.

I noticed I was a bit annoyed with myself, but I slowly began to laugh about it all.  I tricked myself and allowed myself to be vulnerable during the predictably unorganized weekend.  The wonderful thing about it all is that I feel good about my plan to deal with this glorious fat, salt, and sugar dilemma.

I won't cut fat and salt.  However, I will keep watch on those foods with high fat and salt.  Generally, I do a pretty good job of managing it. Actually, no I don't. So, I will need to take care and be mindful. I also need to avoid the fast foods and junk.  I'll make certain to have a balanced amount of fat and find foods that provide the fat and salt needed along with the other nutrients.

The trifecta is quite powerful.  I also know there are plenty of other options available to manage its influence on my life.