Day 64: Thoughts About Junkfood

Day 64 Vitals:

Weight:  271 lbs.
Mood:  Exhausted
Water Consumed:  2 Nalgenes
Breakfast: 2 Oranges
Lunch: Rice Pudding, Tuna on Tortilla, Asparagus
Dinner: Pork Chop, Potatoes, and Mixed Veggies
Hangry Thought of the Day: How does my kid snore louder then me!

First off, apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of week.  Work required a lot of attention, and the weekends were just as busy.  Suffice to say I should be on track this week, and will be putting out more regular blog posts.  Before we get into Fresh Thyme grocery shopping I would like to take some time talking about the availability of junk food.  Part of this project's goal was to show that you can live off of food stamps without resorting to too much junk food.  But in our culture, you just can't avoid it...

Now I would like to preface this article by saying that I have no official degree in food science or nutrition.  These are strictly my observations as a consumer, a parent, and a member of society.  But it is still a VERY small window compared to the myopic realities of the rest of the world.  With that said junk food is just too dang accessible in this country.  So, do to the rules of this project I am able to accept food from others outside of my household, as well as samples from my work.  I can also utilize free offers from retail outlets.  This has led to several opportunities to eat junk food without paying a single dime!  Here are a few examples of how junk food became available to me on this project:

• Free burrito at Chipotle:  Yeah, Chipotle is a healthier options then a lot of other fast food vendors, but come one people!  Has anyone really felt great about themselves after finishing one of those behemoths?!?
• Free Sandwich from Milo's:  This mayo laden sandwich, while tasty, cannot be good for you in quantity.
• Multiple free medium beverages from Caribou:  I will admit, before the project, Caribou coffee received a fairly sizable chunk of my yearly income.  About three weeks after cutting them out for this project they must have noticed, as I have been getting offers for free medium sized drinks on my Caribou Perks card.
• Candy is laying around EVERYWHERE at work for people to snack on.  No I try to avoid the candy bowls as much as possible, but I have been visiting a little more often then normal.  There have also been samples of new Christmas and Valentines candy available pretty much once a week.

Junk food is everywhere!  And it is hard to resist, especially when you are hungry AND you have an addiction/cravings for it.  Also I have begun watching our influence start creeping into other countries.  On my first trip to Germany there was one McDonald's in town.  Now they have a Burger King, a Subway, and even a Taco Bell.  And for the first time I have seen a few local restaurants close down.  It goes to show, once you are hooked on this time of food, it is hard to quit it's greasy convenience.  

So what are your thoughts on junk food in our culture?

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