dear internet,
my body was once a temple but it's become a dump. ever since the busy season at work started, i only have time to get myself crap food in the evenings. the past two weeks, without exaggeration, have involved: KFC, Pizza Hut, Spam n' rice (fried), chocolate, KFC again and beef dumplings in various combinations. i'm a skinny, quick-food-burning piggy but am afraid of soon matching the name far too well.
erm.
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don't eat spam ever. it'll kill you faster than any of that other crap. but seriously -- can you make time once a week to get some fresh vegetables at a real store?
p.s., i'm actually eating bacon, egg, & cheese on an english muffin right now.
maybe stock some frozen veggies if you have a freezer? or buy portions of salad, too, at those junkfood chains?
I suggest taking one day a week and making a huge soup or casserole or something, with lots of veg and healthy protein.
Another thing that might help is taking a little time to learn some basic principles of cooking, like "this is how you roast something", "this is how you make a soup", that sort of things. Once you've got a few of those down, you can do pretty much whatever you want. Think Iron Chef.
Although what you are eating isn't healthy, don't lose too much sleep over this trend. Eating habits go in cycles along with diets, exercise, and, in relation with those, physical appearance. Most people are under the impression that once they get into a consistent diet and exercise routine that it will never change. It always does. Human lives are too inconsistent to keep any habit stable. Either you move, get married, have kids, start a new job, or any other uncountable lifestyle changes happen.
So, you'll very rarely find a person who can stick to a diet or set pattern of health. However, some people are more adept to change than others. I'm a person who likes to eat healthy and exercise on a daily basis. When I lived in Minnesota and at home I had a great routine going. Once I moved to Arizona I started eating out more, eating sweets every day (mmm... chocolate), and never exercising. This trend continued for about a month. I just had too many other things to think about when I first moved. It wasn't until recently that I was able to find a routine that worked for me here and be able to adjust my budget to my dietary wants and needs. Most people just need time to adjust to their new surroundings and situations.
This is a common thing. Don't let two weeks get you down. You just need to adjust to your new lifestyle with work. If you are a person who naturally exercises, or eats healthier than you normally do, you will find that place again where you are in a healthier lifestyle. You need to get back into a healthy routine. The routine you figure out now will be different than the one you had before, but you need to be adaptable to figure out what works for you with the time you have now. You may need to start packing your own food and bringing it with you, or waiting longer to eat so you can get home and fix something proper.
Just don't get into the mindset that eating like you have been is the way it has to be. There is always a way to adjust to be healthier, so just find the way that works for you.
fast food does strange things to people - like cars do too. Once you get into the habit, a life without seems impossible. But it isn't. True, just worrying about it won't help your balance, but try and do something about it, however stressful work is. It's your life, and as far as I know, it's your only one.
There's a quote from Amy Pascal (head of Sony Pictures) above my desk at work: "Work will take everything you give it. It's up to you to work out what you want to give it."
Because I used to work up to 60 hours a week for a few months - and ate crap, of course. It's not worth it!!!
Like I said in another questio some time ago - is there no way to arrange with friends a round-robin where everyone cooks once a week?
My French friends never eat alone, they always share, and have so much fun too!!
thanks you guys. next time i actually have a weekend i'll try to make a huge goulash or something (beans!) which will last me the whole week. living in mainland china means everything is either foreign fast food chains or greasy food after a certain hour. but i will try! really want to be healthy.
Good - you'll feel so much better.
Go hungry one night. It will compell you to dash out and grab a few handfulls of produce and some nuts on break for the next day.
Make sure that even though things are crazy at work, you are still able to eat relatively regularly to keep your energy up - bananas and apples are really good for that if lunchtime is too chaotic. If you can do fruit smoothies with oatmeal in the morning, it should keep you going (healthily) for a good long time too.
The large amounts of goulash or chili is a great idea, you can even put individual portions in tupperware containers and freeze them because a whole week of the same dinner might get a touch trying - and discourage you from doing it again. Again if you need snack options you could bake a batch of health muffins (bran, oats, wheat germ, carrots, apples, raisins, flax etc) and freeze them.