Thursday, June 22, 2006

Eating on the Go

Everything I read and hear says to stay away from processed foods, and after looking at the sodium content of my weight watchers dinners, that makes sense. However, yesterday reminded me why American's eat so many processed foods. We are always on the go.

Yesterday I had to go somewhere that I knew would take some time, so I brought a bottle of water and a bag of 100 calorie crackers. I figured we'd be gone 3 hours. Sure, I'm into the fruit, fruit, fruit thing now, but unless I packed a lunch, you really can't take fruit with you in Florida unless you want to eat a baked apple later.

Of course, my trip was more like 5 hours, so when I got home I was starving and ended eating one of my leftover WW dinners. (I'm not buying them any more, but I have a few left in the freezer.)

Luckily, as a freelancer, I can work from home a lot, but if I didn't, it would make things 100xs harder. Any time you leave the house for any extended period of time, there is the oh-so-convenient drive through or shop down the street you can just pop into.

When I leave to work away from home, I pack up food like I'm running away from home. I'm glad later that I do this, but it is a real effort to stop and think about what I'll need to munch on throughout the day. And that's one of things that always bugged me about dieting or just eating well. You have to think about it just about all the time. You can't just eat whatever is convenient at the time. Who knows what I'll want to eat 6 hours from now?

So, that's why I pack enough food to feed me for a few days. I rarely eat it all, but it is much better to have it nearby rather than slip into the convenience of the office snack machine or drive through. Now, if I can just fight off the urge to go to Pizzoodles, which seems to be a constant battle!

No comments: