CHALLENGE ALERT: MOVING DAY!

From time to time I’m going to post about unique challenges that pose an obstacle to remaining fast food-free for one year. Today I’m going to talk about something that popped up and I hadn’t really thought about it as being a challenge: moving day.

So this past week I moved to a new residence. We’ve all been there… the boxes, crates, carefully packing (or just randomly throwing stuff into containers with the hope that we’ll be able to find it all later), dusty tops of shelves, wishing that we did not keep so much useless crap, etc etc. It’s a dirty job, but sometimes we all have to do it. So, why would this be a challenge to me regarding not eating fast food? Well, it’s simple.

At some point during the day when the Uhaul is about half full and we’re starting to get tired, we realize that it’s time to grab something to eat. Well, given that most of the kitchen is secured away inside cardboard containers, it really doesn’t make sense to try to cook something at home. Also, who wants to have to clean up a kitchen right in the middle of a move?

So then, the food options start floating through our head. The ol’ tried and true pizza delivery seems to be the favorite for movers and their unfortunate friends who volunteered to help instead of going to the baseball game that Saturday, but alas, that was not an option for me given this project. So, how about a nice bucket of chicken with all the wonderful processed side items for everyone? Oops… can’t do that either. So, what to do? I can’t cook at home because home is a transitory thing at that moment, and all of the usual quick and easy food options are out given that most of them fall into the fast food category.

So, who came to the rescue to feed me and my valiant moving crew? The ever-reliable family diner! A short distance from the new house was a landmark café in Tulsa and I suggested that we all load up, travel a few blocks, and use the opportunity to avoid fast food to relax and be waited on for a couple of hours. So we headed on down to the corner diner and enjoyed a great meal and a friendly waitress. And, in the middle of it, I learned how much better it is in the middle of a tiring moving day to not have to speak into a speaker to get something to eat. The enjoyment of relaxing in a booth and being taken care of was such a wonderful, welcome break from the day. Plus, the overall tab for our group was cheaper than if we had ordered pizza or fast food. That was the icing on the cake!

I want my... I want my... I want my CherryBerry! (yea you know you want to read this title to that tune)

Week two is complete, and again so far so good. I guess this week I was a bit more aware of what options I had when I got hungry and I wasn’t so quick to think about fast food. But, as this is an ever-evolving project, I did realize that there are still questions about what exactly will qualify as fast food.

As I continue to consider this question, I’ve realized that there is another trait of fast food places that I failed to include in my initial definition. It’s something that ties all of them together, and for a good reason. Fast food places are set up and intended to be “complete meal” establishments.

When you think about it, the goal of a fast food restaurant is to provide the total package, from the beginning of the meal to the desserts, to the drinks that come with it. You see it in their commercials: entire families (skinny ones, surprisingly) all happily sitting around the table at McDonalds, enjoying their family meal together. Ah, what a glorious thought… the fast food industry bringing families back together into the tradition of eating as a cohesive group; children sharing their school stories with their parents as they gobble down charming chicken nuggets, dad instilling wisdom into his younglings as he eats the fatherly item, the Big-Mac. Mom, of course, is so happy to be free of the horrific burden (because of course it would naturally be her job, wink wink) of cooking for the entire family. The entire family meal experience gladly provided to you by a clown standing under a giant yellow M!

It’s a nice thought, but what usually happens is the lone person is sitting in the drive thru, shoveling hot fries into their mouth before they pull back into traffic. The hamburger may or may not make it a few blocks before disappearing and the massive coke will quickly be on its way to becoming a stop at QT later on down the road.

Fast food places are set up to provide whole meals. So what about other types of convenience or quick food? Let me get to the point: what about my CherryBerry?

Ok, so for those of you who know me, you know that CherryBerry and me have a thing. And, I mean, it’s not just a summer fling. It’s a long-term relationship. I absolutely love the stuff. For those who don’t know or haven’t had the opportunity to have your community blessed with one of these houses of frozen worship, CherryBerry is a self-serve frozen yogurt (the best one ever) shop. But, as heart-wrenching as it may be to “go there” for me, I do have to be fair and ask the question whether CherryBerry should be considered fast food.

I am going to say no. Here’s why: this new thought I’ve had about what the packaging goals of the fast food industry are have made me realize that while food may be good and convenient, it shouldn’t necessarily be considered fast food. Yes, while I can easily make an entire meal… aw hell…. every meal out of CherryBerry, it really is a treat and is not meant to replace total nourishment that a meal is supposed to provide. You don’t see CherryBerry being advertised as a “meal” type restaurant, and it seems that they are marketing to a different purpose.

Part of the push in fast food is to make it appear that their product can be a complete diet for you and provide everything your body needs. They may say, in tiny lightly-colored fine print on the back of some obscure sign in their lobby, that their fast food is only meant to be “a part” of a healthy diet, but let’s face it, they’d be happy to feed you three times a day, every day, for the rest of your life. And if they could do this realistically, they would advertise to make it happen.

Just because a food is from a restaurant and is quick, or even self-serve, doesn’t make it fast food. Something like CherryBerry is not meant to be a complete meal for you or replace a normal, healthy diet. This is a central goal of the fast food industry and part of why it is causing so many problems for us. CherryBerry just doesn’t fit this definition. And, the fact that (yea this is a bit of a plug) it is much healthier than regular ice cream and is a very good choice if you are wanting something sweet, makes it an even better option than a molten-lava processed pie from McD’s.

French Fries on the Brain

Is it impulse, instinct, or just plain ‘ol conditioning? Either way, I’ve come to realize that my draw towards fast food is something I’m going to have to keep in check every day.

Week one is finished, and so far so good. No fast food for me. But, it wasn’t nearly as easy as I thought it was going to be. I found myself often reverting to the old habits of automatically assuming that I had a variety of drive-thru joints to feed myself with. It would usually happen in the evening, after my workout. I’d stop and think of how hungry I was, and the thoughts of going to McDonalds, Wendy’s, or any other fast food place would just hit me without warning. I really had no idea how much of a “habit” eating fast food was to me until I tried to make a conscious decision to go without.

It really got me to thinking about how much we’ve trained ourselves to go straight for the fast food when we’re hungry. I had to catch myself several times this past week from “going there” in my mind; not as some type of temptation contemplation, but more of how my brain just automatically started flipping through the fast-food rolodex when my tummy started growling. It was as if I had been “programmed” to consider fast food as my first protocol when entering hunger mode.

Where does this instinct come from? Well, certainly a lot of it is just habit. I’ve eaten quite a bit of fast food in my life. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve talked into a speaker to get food, I’d just buy my own KFC and get it over with. I’m just used to eating fast food when I’m hungry, particularly when I’m on duty during graveyard shift. It’s easy, fast, convenient, and although barely considered nutrition and edible, it gets the job done. Suddenly choosing to remove the option from my diet has certainly left a void in my overall menu, so that will be a challenge for me to fill.

I also tend to think that we’ve been conditioned to a certain degree to automatically think of fast food when we’re hungry. Billions have been spent in advertising for the fast food industry, and the science and research behind the marketing is incredible. We’re not just being “advertised” to; we’re being conditioned to think. Habituated exposure to this industry is probably part of the reason that our brains like to “go there” when we are hungry. Most of us don’t like to think of it as such, but in reality we’re programmed to consider fast food as our first food option.

Another reason is that our entire food industry is completely saturated with fast food. Everywhere you go you can find fast food, and if you miss your turn to get into line at the McDonalds, you’ll find another one just a few blocks away. We can’t even go to the shopping mall, Wal-Mart, airport, Target, or any other retail establishment without being offered fast food. It’s amazing that traditional sit-down restaurants even have a chance in this market.

So, I guess the lesson for the first week is that I shouldn’t underestimate how socialized eating fast food is in our community. It’s all around me, and I even start to consider fast food as meal options without trying. It just pops into my mind. Abstaining from fast food will not only be a physiological feat for me, but it will clearly be a psychological one as well!