Christmas day I weighed a svelte 160lbs. I had just gotten back from a 17-day hike around Mt. Everest.
By March I was feeling about as svelte as the Baron Harkonnen.
I blame this guy.
Do you know Jack?
The “founder, CEO, and ad spokesman, … a savvy, no-nonsense businessman”.
Though I’d likely never entered any of his fast food joints in my life, on a one month driving trip in March, my parents and I were in them constantly.
Jack in the Box is the best of the McDonalds clones, in my opinion.
For one thing, the newer franchises list the caloric content of each item prominently. It could not be more transparent.
My go to meal there is the Chicken Teriyaki Bowl, not the combo. That’s less than $5 and a satisfying lunch or dinner.
I know what you’re thinking: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
I’ve never worried much about nutrition in my lifetime. What I eat seems to make very little difference. But, perhaps, getting older, I’ll experiment with nutrition.
Instead of eating Werther’s (100cal for 3 candies) while driving, I’ll snack on baby carrots. Or Craisens. (Can you buy craisens without added sugar?)
Instead of the tasty, fairly nutritious, fast, inexpensive Chicken Teriyaki Bowl, I’ll shop for unprocessed goods at Whole Foods Market.
Leave a comment if you’ve healthy fast food to recommend. Thanks.
Their business model is to buy the same stuff as Costco, repackaged with old fashioned green labels. And, conspicuously, the catch word “Organic”.
That way they can charge twice the price.
I’d avoided grocery stores like Whole Foods in the past. But picked up some Organic granola. (Is it really any better than regular granola?)
By the way, If you’re ever looking for pretentious California superwomen, look for them at Whole Foods. By the pained expression on their faces, you know they’re disappointed by everything in the Universe.
Rick McCharles 
Trader Joes. Much cheaper, much friendlier, and great options. I love this store. You can get many nutritionally sound goodies there to snack, including no sugar added craisins. See ya soon!
We call it “Whole Paycheck Market,” for obvious reasons, but still love to go occoasionally… much of it has to do with the “vibe,” I guess, and they really do have top quality stuff.
One of the only real issues I have with them (besides the price!) is you just can’t get a good diet soft drink! Fairly anti-American, and everything we stand for, when you can’t get Nutrasweet or Splenda at will!
Interesting topic today, though…
This past month (slightly more, now) I’ve been experimenting with a primarily vegetarian (more precisely Pescatarian)menu, in part due to the fact that both my racing girl/partners are vegan/pescatarian, and partly because I’ve always had a thing about factory farming, and the HUGE carbon footprint of the industry. Now, I was a member of PETA for years: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals, and I thought vegetarian cuisine was best when accompanied by a good steak, but have changed my opinion as of late…
In short, just to kick it off, I’ve gone basically the entire month with essentially no animal (or even fish) protein, except a little salmon and shrimp at Easter. Have to say that except for restaurants, where it’s hard not to order my favorite carne dishes, I haven’t really missed the meat, and have lost about 5 pounds, doing nothing different.
No, I’m not ever going to be one of the fanatic vegans, as I beleive that almost everything in life is better in moderation, and since there are several alternatives to factory farmed meat/chicken, I’ll still have a lamb chop every now and then for special occasions.
Bottom line is that I feel better, am much more “regular,” if you know what I mean, and if we can cut back from meat even a couple of meals a week, it will be equivalent to taking MILLIONS of cars off the road every year. My goal is to cut meat/fish back to two meals per week, instead of the 12 – 16 it was. Also, reading the book “Eating Animals” was pretty disturbing – the factory farming thing just made more real, I guess.
Even Keith – Montana rancher/farmer is shopping at Whole Foods, eating way less meat and feeling beter, and he was poster boy for the American Cattlemen’s Association!
Other healthy snack foods I’m enjoying are the Baked snap peas from the salad section, lots more nuts, Reduced fat wheat thin crackers, apples, and fruit bars, like the Sunkist ones.
Even most fast food places have veggie alternatives, like the 7 layer burrito at Taco Bell, which I get with less beans and more rice.
One of our new favorite meals is a crockpot full of potatoes, veggies (anything I’ve got), pasta, rice, beans and spinach on top. Cook it up for a day, and you’ve got snacks, lunches and dinners for 4 – 5 days, and it can be put on top of salad or cous cous as well, to mix things up.
Have to say the healthier eating/working out over the past couple of years has paid off: weight is down over 30 pounds, cholesterol is down 120 points, all blood work is normal, and the Life Insurance companies are offering me MORE insurance for less money!
Thanks for the advice.
Dave, you and Keith had better move to some granola town in California.
You’ll be run over by over-sized trucks in North Idaho Montana State talking like that.
What’s next? Voting for Obama?
By the way Rick, there is a Trader Joe’s two minutes from chez Niehaus….
Pingback: addicted to green grapes … « RickMcCharles.com