Prepoceros

For the next twenty-nine days, I will abstain from fast food.

The rationale? I eat fast food nearly every day. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s tasty. On my way from school to work in the middle of the day, coming home from teaching, or when I’m craving mozzarella sticks on a weekend afternoon, my default plan is to hit up the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A, Sonic, Taco Bell, or KFC (in rough frequency order) for something greasy.

I often make an attempt at healthy eating—a grilled chicken wrap, a fruit cup instead of fries, or anything-with-visible-veggies—but it doesn’t even begin to offset the nutritional imbalance and oversized portions that come standard with fast food.

Hence the resolution. Yesterday afternoon, over my chicken strips and waffle fries, I decided I was sick of it and made up my mind not to eat fast food at all for the next thirty days. Wham-bam.

To pretend that I could abstain forever would be setting myself up for failure. Besides, I don’t see any real harm in the occasional burger or beany-cheesy-thing; the point is that it shouldn’t be an everyday indulgence. Thirty days is short enough to be achievable, but long enough to (I hope) instill the good habits of going grocery shopping regularly, cooking at home, and packing lunches and snacks for school and work.

I am painfully aware that my level of self-discipline is pitiful, but I have every intention of following through with this resolution. Evidence? Well, I’m telling the internet, for one. I’ve had similar “secret” resolutions in the past, and none of them have lasted more than a few days. Not that most of you will be able to keep tabs on me, but breaking the resolution now would come with a good deal more guilt than if I’d kept it to myself.

Thanks to a 2.5-hour shopping spree* at SuperTarget last weekend, I have recently come into possession of a few items to help me on my quest: a crockpot, a toaster, a potato peeler, a pizza cutter, and various and sundry basic food items (like bread) that I usually don’t keep in the house because they’ll spoil before I get around to eating them. I currently have half a pot roast (yay crockpot!), several servings of vegetable soup, and the makings of fried rice in the fridge; half a loaf of bread and more soup in the freezer; and bananas and kiwis in the fruit bowl.

I made it through today with little trouble, but the real challenge begins tomorrow, when I’ll have to survive a full day away from home without resorting to the drive-thru. The plan is to bring snacks (baby carrots, trail mix, yogurt) to school and hold off on lunch until I get to the office (which has a microwave) at 3:00. If I’m not in danger of running late (ha!), I can even drop off lunch in the fridge at work on my way to school so it won’t get all bacteria-y in the meantime.

There is one exception that I should note. This fast food ban does NOT include Starbucks. Quitting Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks simultaneously would be . . . would be . . . I don’t know what I’d do with myself. Jump off a bridge or talk to pigeons or something. Besides, have you tried those new cupcakes they have? I had two today on my way to tutoring lessons. Is that better than snarfling down a hamburger? Jury’s still out. But the point is, yum. The vanilla kind are okay, if you like vanilla, but the chocolate are absolutely scrumptious. Way better than their cookies. My only complaint is that the boxes they use are much too big, so the cupcake ends up rolling around and squandering its tastiness on the cardboard.

Anyway, we’re keeping the Starbucks. But only for the cupcakes and the coffee-things; no sandwiches or crap like that from Starbucks—that would be cheating. Do not question my arbitrary resolution parameters.

In composing this post, I have suddenly realized that this means I’ll also have to give up my precious Chick-n-Minis for thirty days. Hmmm. For now we’ll leave them in, but if the torture becomes unbearable, I may throw them in with the cupcakes as freebies. It’ll still be a resolution worth keeping, and that’s the important part—the keeping.

This may seem like a trivial (or just plain silly) resolution to some people, but if I can do this, maybe I can set my mind to bettering myself in other ways. I might clean the apartment, exercise regularly, or set and acheive reasonable goals for myself. The possibilities are endless!

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* I’m lazy and don’t usually buy day-to-day things (batteries, toasters, folders, dog treats) as I need them. Rather, I let the needs build up until I absolutely CANNOT get through another day without one of the missing items, at which point I’ll run out and pick up everything I’ve needed in the last month or two in a whirlwind of consumption. The same goes for clothes. When I shop, I SHOP.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 27th, 2006 at 12:47 am and is filed under miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.