OK, week two of taking food challenges.
After the failure that was last week (it was also fairly enlightening) we - me and a couple co-workers of mine - decided to go without fried food and candy this week. One of the co-workers decided to just go without chips for the week.
It wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. There is more than one option for food in the Student Union, or anywhere actually. I could eat baked chips, that was it. No french fries, no regular potato chips. That was my only struggle, trying to find a good side for my main dish. I didn't need a side but it was a habit to eat something along with a sandwich or whatever it was.
No fried chicken was tough. I ate ramen noodles, grilled chicken sandwiches and TGIF's hot wings (the frozen kind in a box).
I also ate a Lean Cuisine fettuccini alfredo plate. And more ramen. And more hot wings...
I told my dad about last week and his first question was "do you feel any better?" My answer was a simple, "no." It was most likely because I didn't cut out all bread and I cheated a few times. This week I'm asking myself that question. The answer I came up with is... sort of. It might be a mind thing but I feel better than I did before I started. I feel better after eating the "better" kind of chips and not eating fried chicken or french fries at least once a day.
Break down of my week without fried food and candy:
Monday
Lunch: Grilled chicken pesto sandwich with oven baked barbecue chips.
Dinner: Beef flavored ramen noodles.
Snacks: included - beef jerky, Chex mix (which are baked BTW), a chocolate chip brownie and a couple chocolate chip cookies. Obviously not healthy things but it was tasty.
Tuesday
Lunch: Chex mix and beef ramen noodles
Dinner: TGIF's hot wings and fettucini alfredo
Snacks: included - jalapeno cheddar cheese dip, Tostitos oven baked scoops, vanilla frozen yogurt with hot fudge and cookie dough bites (which I and my friends decided were not candy).
Wednesday
Lunch: Grilled chicken pesto sandwich with baked barbecue chips
Dinner: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a vanilla coke. So I accidentally cheated on this meal, my friend decided to make me dinner and I didn't know until she was making my plate that it was fried chicken. It was super tasty but I felt bad because I failed.
Snacks: included - a slice of chocolate cake
Thursday
Lunch: Teriyaki chicken ramen, Tostitos oven baked scoops, and jalapeno cheese dip
Dinner: TGIF's hot wings, baked barbecue chips and a cherry coke zero (it's all about that calorie count isn't it?).
Snacks: included - Chex mix, beef jerky, and chocolate cake
Friday
Lunch: corn dog (nuked in a microwave) and mac and cheese
Dinner: grilled chicken tacos with rice, chips, and salsa. I also failed today... the chips were fried and I loved every crunch. I also had sweet tea. And I had a second dinner five hours later that consisted of McDonald's french fries and chicken nuggets. I concluded that my "week" was done.
So I failed again, but not as bad as last week. I'm still proud because I thought it was technically easy and I didn't really miss fried food. Except Friday, I craved McDonald's.
My Conclusion
I'm going to try and make this a normal habit in my everyday life. It wasn't difficult to find alternatives to a meal that is fried and it would be OK to have a "cheat meal" once a week or once every other week.
Fried food isn't good for you (duh) and I know that if I keep it up it would change me a lot for the better.
