Yesterday, I came home for lunch and dug a chicken parmesan Lean Pocket out of the freezer. After two minutes of radiation and one minute of cooling down, I had a compact bread-encrusted hot sandwich of 270 calories. It wasn't bad (which is a backhanded compliment), and my tummy was full.
So, lunch was a diet success.
Today, I got the same box out of the freezer, crammed the little sandwich into its weird crisping sleeve, and bombarded it with microwaves. Nom, nom, nom.
While I was eating it, I realized it looked different from yesterday's Lean Pocket. The chicken was in chunks and the sauce was actually a red parmesan-like sauce. The meat in yesterday's Lean Pocket was sort of shredded and the sauce was cheesier.
If I had a light bulb screwed into the top of my head, you would have seen it suddenly start glowing. I realized that yesterday's lunch had actually been a ham and cheese Lean Pocket. Someone (probably my box-compacting mother-in-law) had put two different Lean Pockets in the same box!
Here's the crazy, scary, stupid thing about it: yesterday, I thought I was eating chicken parmesan, but NEVER KNEW I WASN'T! That is either a reflection on the quality of food we eat, or it's a reflection of how unobservant I can be. Neither of those thoughts are good. What else do I cram into my mouth without really understanding what it is?
And, you know, it's all tied to processed food. Never, ever would I eat an apple, but think I'm eating an orange. Never would I eat a carrot, but think I'm eating a potato. Never would I eat an artichoke...okay, let's be real, that would never happen...
Processed foods are delicious, but they aren't our friends. I'm sure some processed foods provide us with nutrients, so I'm not going to label them all as bad, but this chicken parmesan/ham and cheese incident is a big glowing red warning sign. We need to fill our shopping carts with more foods from the Produce section of the supermarket and less from the freezer.
Yes, it's more difficult and time-consuming to peel and cook a potato or some carrots, but that's the better choice. Isn't that what dieting is really about? We must learn to make better choices.
Maybe, too, I should look at my food while I'm eating it.
So, lunch was a diet success.
Today, I got the same box out of the freezer, crammed the little sandwich into its weird crisping sleeve, and bombarded it with microwaves. Nom, nom, nom.
While I was eating it, I realized it looked different from yesterday's Lean Pocket. The chicken was in chunks and the sauce was actually a red parmesan-like sauce. The meat in yesterday's Lean Pocket was sort of shredded and the sauce was cheesier.
If I had a light bulb screwed into the top of my head, you would have seen it suddenly start glowing. I realized that yesterday's lunch had actually been a ham and cheese Lean Pocket. Someone (probably my box-compacting mother-in-law) had put two different Lean Pockets in the same box!
Here's the crazy, scary, stupid thing about it: yesterday, I thought I was eating chicken parmesan, but NEVER KNEW I WASN'T! That is either a reflection on the quality of food we eat, or it's a reflection of how unobservant I can be. Neither of those thoughts are good. What else do I cram into my mouth without really understanding what it is?
And, you know, it's all tied to processed food. Never, ever would I eat an apple, but think I'm eating an orange. Never would I eat a carrot, but think I'm eating a potato. Never would I eat an artichoke...okay, let's be real, that would never happen...
Processed foods are delicious, but they aren't our friends. I'm sure some processed foods provide us with nutrients, so I'm not going to label them all as bad, but this chicken parmesan/ham and cheese incident is a big glowing red warning sign. We need to fill our shopping carts with more foods from the Produce section of the supermarket and less from the freezer.
Yes, it's more difficult and time-consuming to peel and cook a potato or some carrots, but that's the better choice. Isn't that what dieting is really about? We must learn to make better choices.
Maybe, too, I should look at my food while I'm eating it.
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