The first time I failed was St. Patrick's Day. I had my healthy bangers and mash (or as I refer to them Chicki- Chicki, Bang- Bang)and my all green breakfast. For dinner though I folded and went to a place known for their Irish Pub authenticity, Applebee's. I semi-hate myself too, but I had a gift card and I'm in school. I didn't see the option for fresh fruit for a side on their menu, only on their website. Honestly though, how good is a reuben without fries? I ate that sandwich, mounded with corned beef and grilled rye coated with some sort of liquid butter product making my hands a little too lubricated. The first half was decent and I couldn't let the other half go to waste. In the end I sat on my stool feeling Thanksgiving full and in need of a wheelchair to take me to my car.
The majority of the times I failed Mr. Naughty Nutrition was in town. Not that I blame him, we're just more likely to go out to eat making it more difficult to get all the food groups in. Twice we ended up getting loaded fries. "Loaded" shockingly does not equate to a fruit compote or relish on top. We got the loaded fries at the Blackbird in Norman as a no-so-needed late night snack (tell me you can deny the combination of the words "gorgonzola, bacon, and scallions" and the adjectives "melted, crispy, and cool." Didn't think so.) and the other was with our sliders at S&B burger joint (please note, if not in moderation Thunder Fries (spicy thousand island, ham, and swiss cheese)= Thunder Thighs).
S&B Burger Joint is known for their radical combination of toppings on burgers, which you can get in slider (AKA Cathy Size) or regular (AKA Normal Human Size). The best part about sliders is you can try numerous kinds of burgers without having to commit to the full-sized version. Normally I only get one, but with a little arm twisting from Mr. NN I opted for two, the Columbian (sea salt and coffee bean encrusted burger with avocado and bacon) and the Elvis (a bacon cheeseburger with, get this, peanut butter). I didn't see one burger on the menu with fruit on it but that might be in part because my blinders went up after I saw the words "peanut butter." Which I know many of you are disgusted by this thought, but as a PB-phile my knees went weak when the creamy, roasted peanut butter melted on a perfectly cooked burger hit my tongue.
For two of my meals I had cupcakes. In fact, this last month I have had three cupcakes but only one was between actual meals. The first was the Sir Elton John that I wrote about earlier. That was just grain, dairy, and tasty, fruit flavor. My final MyPlate meal count would be 70 though if I count the Cowboy cupcake from Sara Sara. The Cowboy is a carrot cake base (with real shredded carrots and raisins) topped with cream cheese frosting (dairy) and walnuts (protein). The naughty side is coming out... I'm finalizing my official meal count at 70.
While doing this little experiment I began to wonder, how does the average American eat? I got to doing a little research and found this info-graph to be very interesting: http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/food-consumption-in-america_2010-07-12/
I was shocked to see that the average American drinks a gallon of soda a week. An entire gallon... in a week! The average person doesn't even drink a half a gallon of milk in a single week. Then it started to make sense on how this was possible after talking to a couple fellow dietetic interns and born-and-raised Okies. In Wisconsin it's common to drink milk with meals growing up. In Oklahoma, however, it is more common to have soda with meals than milk. This blew my mind. I can't remember sitting down to a dinner as kid and having soda unless it was a pizza night.
I was also surprised to see how much fruit and veggies are consumed. If you break it down, the average american has 5.3 pounds of fruit and 8 pounds of vegetables in a week. That doesn't make sense to me. In class yesterday I learned that Oklahoma is number one in low fruit consumption. The average person in Oklahoma has one fruit a day. One. You also have to take into account that fruit and vegetables in dry and juice form also count. Reading the info-graph a little more closely, you'll notice that this graph counts food bought and served but not eaten. Think about all the times you bought produce with every intent on eating it only to find it a couple weeks later starting to grow fur. People are more likely to finish their fries than they are a salad.
You often hear people say, "I started a low carb/ gluten free/ all juice/ tree bark and apple seed/ etc. diet and I feel great! Everyone should do this!" To be honest, I feel good when I eat well. Going gluten-free for a week last year didn't make me feel like I could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Veganism made me want to naw on someone's arm.
Now that National Nutrition Month is over, I'm going in different direction. For the first couple weeks in April I am going to eat like an average American. That's right, I'm eating for convenience. I'm not thinking about the nutrition aspect of it (not when I'm eating it that is).
To start this experiment I had a few staples already. Skim milk, pasta sauce, pre-made turkey meatballs, a frozen pizza (spicy chicken supreme), natural peanut butter, light thousand island salad dressing, and a healthy choice frozen meal. These are all probably healthier than what the average American would have selected, but they are what I had on hand and I didn't feel the need to pick up additional convenience foods. Below is a picture of what I got when I went to the store:
Admittedly, I had to call my sister for her input. She's also a grad student and she generally eats healthy but we were raised in the same household and our parents buy products like the average American. I also know most people have a tendency to mirror their parents food choices. With her assistance I added to the supplies for the week juice cocktail (only 20% actual fruit juice), diet soda (I can't do regular, too sweet), off brand granola bars (I saw them before the Little Debbie Starcrunch and they were cheaper by 20 cents. But the average American would have gotten them so I'll probably get those next time), iceberg salad mix, baby carrots, a few bananas and pears, store brand wheat bread, spaghetti, cheese sticks, canned ravioli, yogurt, ice cream, strawberry preserves, ramen cups, pad thai cup (it was almost triple the price of the ramen at 99 cents but I had to try it), and the thing I am most excited about... the Dulce de Leche Cheerios. Another fellow dietetic intern gave a this cereal a rave review last night. I am a Cheerios fan and it should be noted that a lot of people are. Cheerios is the most popular cereal with over 12% of the cold cereal market share. In any case, this is a new flavor (they also have peanut butter in their multi-grain Cheerios) and it was 56 cents less than a smaller box of regular Cheerios.
Please note: I had Oreos in my cart as well. Unlike the average American I couldn't justify purchasing ice cream AND cookies. I don't eat sweets or desserts daily and adding one a day is already a lot. I may change my mind mid-week though and go back for them. Now that I finished a glass of "juice cocktail", let the average American diet commence!
No comments:
Post a Comment