Always Be Prepared

I had the pleasure of going to lunch with one of my good friends today. However, because of that I did something I have never done before. I made here decide where we were going the day before. Why? So I could look up the nutritional information for the restaurant, decide what I wanted the night before and log it into my food diary for the next day. She gave me the choice of Applebee's, sushi or a sandwich and tea shop. I picked Applebee's, which was not actually my first choice, but it was the easiest for me to find information for.  What is great is that they recently started including a section of the menu that is entrees under 550 calories. I had the grilled Dijon chicken and portobellos. YUMMY!

Bet you wish you ate this today! It was superb!

Here's the great news though...it was only 450 calories and delicious. It was also very filling and I almost couldn't finish it. But I had to because that is how my diet works. I gotta meet my goals. 

Anyways, the moral of the story is that while it may be embarrassing the best way to ensure that you stick to your healthy lifestyle is to plan ahead. Be prepared for anything. I have also taken to carrying around snacks with me so if I get super hungry and I am not somewhere I can eat I have a back up plan.

Of course I am not perfect and if you have been viewing my food diary you will know I am a big fan of fast food (subway, turkey burgers from Carl's Jr., salads from sonic) I just try and make healthy choices about the fast food I eat. What I really need to start doing and will do once I have a budget and a steady income is buy my food for the week and prepare my meals beforehand so they are heat and eat or require very little preparation at all. I hope to one day only eat the food I cook and save the food made by others for special occasions not an everyday occurrence. One step at a time....

In the meantime, I would love to know some of your healthy fast food finds. Please share what you have found to be healthy at your fav fast food place for me and the other readers in the comments section.

BTW: We also went to see the remake of  "Arthur", starring Russell Brand. I actually liked it and I thought it was sweet and funny.  I found myself laughing and even crying a wee bit and I did not walk away with any sense of disappointment.  Not the best movie ever made but still fun to watch.

The McDonald's Conspiracy

So yesterday, I caved. That's right, I failed in my calorie goals. Why? McDonald's, that's why. I am so disappointed in myself. Where the heck is my willpower? I went down the drain after a 2 hour long test for my assessment course at UTEP. It was late, I was hungry, and the golden arches were looming ahead of me. Talk about poor impulse control. Even worse I could have gotten a salad or a fruit smoothie, but no I had to have a big mac and large fries, and...two wraps. OMG! There is nothing I can do about yesterday, but there is something I can do about today and tomorrow and next week....NO FAST FOOD!!!. I swear that fast food restaurants have a conspiracy to create food addicts in order to turn a greater profit. They even make their straws bigger in circumference in comparison to straws you buy in the store. Why? So we can suck shakes and sugary sodas down our throats at an even faster rate and then we want a refill.

Did you guys know fat is addictive? It is...According to an article by Stephen Daniells (2010)

Over eating may be driven by the same neurobiological mechanism in the brain as drug addiction, says a new study from the US that adds clout to the theory of ‘food addiction’.

Data from a study with laboratory rats indicated that the development of obesity was accompanied by a break-down in brain chemistry linked to pleasure responses. According to findings published in Nature Neuroscience, the very same changes occur when rats over-consume heroin or cocaine.

"These findings confirm what we and many others have suspected that over-consumption of highly pleasurable food triggers addiction-like neuroadaptive responses in brain reward circuitry, driving the development of compulsive eating," said lead researcher Dr Paul Kenny, from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida.

"Common mechanisms may therefore underlie obesity and drug addiction,” he added.

The data appears to refocus attention on the formulation of foods, and the Western diet in particular – the researchers fed the rats easy-to-obtain high-calorie, high-fat foods like sausage, bacon, and cheesecake.

You see, there you have it....burgers are my heroine and McDonald's is my dealer. God help us all. I'm not giving up, but apparently this is a much harder battle that I thought. So let me start by saying, "Hello, my name is Sarah Woods and I am a foodaholic."

Here is the link to the rest of the article: Its a really interesting yet frightening read:

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Food-addiction-Fat-may-rewire-brain-like-hard-drugs

Don't forget to check out my food diary: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/sarahbear1981

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