Last weekend, after buying our tuxedos for Prom, Edward and I stopped by McDonald’s to buy some food. While he got some McNuggets and medium fries, I got a double cheeseburger and fries. It was a long time since I actually ate food at McDonald’s. As I was eating this food at home, I had forgotten how great McDonald’s tasted. At the same time,I started to ask myself: what exactly drove me away from eating McDonald’s and other fast food?
When I was kid, I remember I used to eat so much fast food. While my dad took me to eat a snack at McDonald’s once a week before swimming practice, my mom often bought me an array of fast foods that ranged from McDonald’s to Taco Bell to Arby’s. I never paid attention to how unhealthy these foods were and just savored the wonderful taste that these foods had. Eating McChickens, spicy burritos, and curly fries was great to say the least.
Now when I hear the names of these foods or fast food restaurants in general, I feel disgusted. As we all have become so aware of, there is a health craze going on in the nation. People invest so much of their time and efforts into trying to not get overweight for numerous reasons ranging from personal good looks to preventing diseases from occurring such as diabetes and heart disease. Part of this health craze has included denouncing the fast food industry by deluging the public with horrifying facts on the fast food industry about how poorly food is prepared and the excessive amounts of fat, calories, sodium, and cholesterol in these foods. If you’ve read “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser or have seen “Supersieze Me” or have just seen anything related to nutrition in general, I’m sure you get the idea.
Ever since I came to Uni, I’ve become a lot more involved in the health craze. I hate eating fast food and junk food that everyone says that we shouldn’t go to, exercise as much as I can everyday to stay fit and not gain so many pounds, and watch out for what I eat whenever I am eating, making sure to get a good number of meats, vegetables, and fruits into my diet. I’m not criticizing anyone that follows such a lifestyle; personally I think it’s a great way to lead your life. At the same time, isn’t it also reasonable to say that this health craze is out of paranoia, out of the fear that we just don’t want to be deemed “fat”? What I mean to say is that we shouldn’t hate the fast food and junk food that is surrounding us. If you want to eat something unhealthy, then by all means eat it. And even if you don’t burn those calories off later via exercise, there probably won’t be any harm towards your body.
By all means am I not some nutritionist nor am I some health expert. There is a lot I haven’t considered in my talk towards such a lifestyle such as what it means to eat in moderation and how far people’s limits really are. All these things I will discuss in my next blog. As a skinny, athletic boy, all I want to say is this: if you love food, no matter how healthy it is, don’t suppress your inner desire. There is definitely some limit to which we can eat these foods, but eat at your heart’s content. In a way, that might not be as bad as you think.
