Home is Where the Health Is

So the last few days have been kind of frustrating.  Things are still going relatively well.  But there hasn't been much progress on the weight front.  I know people will say that I may still be losing size, but not weight this week.  But I don't feel smaller, and I don't feel like I'm making much progress.  I kind of am treading water.  Actually - I probably am holding water.  Haha.

I think the reason for this is the accursed eating out issue.  We have been very good at scaling back our trips to restaurants over the years.  But we all know that there are time where you just have to end up there. It may be travel or trying to grab something in between errands.  Either way, it seems just about impossible to avoid restaurants completely.  There are several problems with the whole restaurant experience.

WRONG OPTIONS

Face it.  There is never exactly what you want or need at a restaurant.  So you have to fit your diet into the menu you are staring at.  So, there are compromises.  I have been on a very regimented diet.  I have certain things that I eat - meat, veggies, fruit.  But I have to find ways to make that work.  So I negotiate with myself.  "Well, I guess that's okay, since it technically meat or veggies."  I do pretty good, but I can feel my resolve slipping.  This marinade is okay, then this sauce is okay, then this dressing is okay, then this side is okay.  Before long, I know that I will be back on the track to fatdom.  I know of places that work okay, but none of them are perfect.

Fast food places are the worst.  They claim to have healthy options.  But their options are horrible.  I have had to stop at fast food places a few times in the last month.  Each time, I end up having to put up with one of their pathetic attempts at a "salad."  The problems with these salads is that they usually are stuffed full with lettuce, sporting a wad of cheese on them and hardly any other vegetables.  They have usually one good dressing option.  And then they come with packs of stuff worse that what you are trying to avoid.  And the chicken they put on top is just one of the grilled patties off their sandwiches - complete with the caked on bullion mix.  Wendy's and BK both had this nasty stuff on the chicken patties.  I'm assuming it was "flavoring."  It looked like hair cream and tasted like salt.  Wendy's gives you packets of oriental noodles and croutons.  Chick Fil A at least didn't cake their chicken in goop.  But they gave me two bags of granola.  And the salad was not very filling.  The chicken itself - the thing that brings the substance to the salad - is usually three ounces at best.

There always seems to be something that doesn't work - even on good meals.  So you have to decide what to just deal with - which is the least bad compromise?  If that goes on, though, it becomes a constant way to undermine the effort.  

STINKING ADDITION

Even if you find a place, like Boston Market, that has some great options, they still do stupid stuff with their food.  The first and biggest trap is sodium.  There is tons more sodium in prepared food than in fresh food.  Just take a look some time at some labels.  Restaurants are especially bad about dumping in the sodium.  They have lots of prepared food to build from, which means there is more sodium in those.  The meats all have stuff injected into them - mostly broths with sodium.  That adds up.  What is the big idea about the sodium?  Well, aside from the minor annoyances like high blood pressure and heart issues, there is the water retention.  That throws off your weight loss and your slimming process.  It makes you crave more water, and then it turns your eight glasses into four, since half of it used to just deal with the salt influx.

Restaurants also use tons of stuff like butter, oil, sugar.  Even when you don't expect it, those things get snuck into your food.  Did you know that a lot of steak places put butter on their steaks after they are done?  Even the Boston Market good selections - like steamed vegetables and green beans - are doused with butter.  What use is it to go to the extent of ordering steamed or grilled vegetables, only to have them drenched in butter?  So, even when you think you are doing well by forfeiting the fries, you are still getting butter.  (Not a spritz either.  You know those things bathe in the stuff.)

CHEATING IS SO DARN EASY
Last night we went out with Heather's parents to celebrate her mom's birthday.  We went to Logan's Roadhouse - a steak place down the street.  It was good.  I've always like Logan's.  I ordered a New York Strip (my favorite steak), grilled vegetable skewer, and their "health nut side salad" with balsamic vinaigrette.  The steak was awesome.  The veggie skewer was great, and not too buttery.  Both of those things had a lot of salt, but that is normal for steak house seasonings.  The salad was pretty lame - too much dressing and it was nowhere near as good as stuff I have in my fridge.  Over all, I felt that my choices were sounds.  But....

The waiter brought out two baskets of yeast rolls, complete with mini butter tubs.  I didn't eat the rolls, but I had to sit there with the smell of those rolls tempting me for an hour.  After the meal, they brought out the dessert menu.  They have little desserts there - 3 for $5.  They were great for the kids and everyone, since we obviously didn't have birthday cake at the house.  But then I was sitting there watching everyone eat mini brownie sundaes, strawberry cheesecakes, and peanut butter fudge parfaits.  And Gabe didn't finish his, so it was just sitting there in front of me for ten minutes.  He also didn't finish his fries, which just sat there.  You know how hard it is to not snitch fries off a plate?  Or to not take a roll?  Or to ignore an uneaten dessert?  I don't have that stuff at home so I'm not tempted.  But when you are out to eat, there is a huge temptation everywhere you turn.

Every menu has minefields all over the place.  There are appetizers and bread and dessert trays.  I drove through the Zaxby's drive through yesterday.  It was almost 3pm and I hadn't eaten lunch thanks to a ridiculous wait at the doctor for the boys.  I was hoping they had grilled chicken tenderloins.  They didn't have them.  The only had a grilled sandwich or a salad.  Hard to eat a salad in the car, and the sandwich is just asking for trouble.  But they did have white cheddar nuggets - basically fried cheese.  That is one of my absolute trouble spots.  I have always had the hardest time turned down fried cheese sticks ever since I first tried them at Red Lobster so many moons ago.  I just drove away.  There are so many of those disasters available.


FATAL ATTRACTION
As I documented in an earlier post, my attraction to restaurants has led to many of my food issues.  Restaurants feel more fun than eating at home.  And the desire for more "fun food" will often push me towards a restaurant.  Even though my eating habits have changed, I can still feel this pull.  There are many times where I sit there and think I don't want to make dinner.  I don't want to make yet another chicken dish or another pile of spinach.  I want something more intriguing.  So I end up wanting to go out.  This is a big problem.  As I mentioned earlier, restaurants are places with lots of bad things added to food.  They are places to cheat and make mistakes.  You end up getting a bunch of stuff you don't want or need.  So the attraction to eating out means it is playing with fire.  I end up having to rationalize picking something.  When you get right down to it, there are only like four or five items that are okay to eat.  And, honestly, they aren't that much better than what you could make at home.  So, it ends up costing more money and messing up the food plan I worked so hard to establish.  But, that draw doesn't go away.

Heather and I discussed this on the way home today.  There are times where eating out is necessary.  And there are times when it is something to do for a special occasion.  But eating out for normal meals just is not good.  It introduces too many problems - additives, bad choices, chances to cheat, compromises.  But, beyond all that, there is also the basic problem that I have an unhealthy relationship with restaurants.  It draws me away from cooking food at home.  Even when I know that I can make food better and healthier, even when I know that it is damaging to me, I still am drawn to restaurants.  Sure, the food choices I am making at these places may be better.  But it still isn't the best thing for me.  I need to realize that my effort to change my eating habits needs to extend to where I eat as well.  I may order great stuff at Boston Market or Red Elephant, but I still may be hurting my addiction battle.  For that reason, I need to be more careful.  Yet another lesson learned.