Junk Food

   January is the traditional month for making resolutions for the new year. Many of these resolutions center around diet and lifestyle changes.
   I'm not a believer in the new year resolutions because I tend to forget about them after a few weeks. This past holiday season I noticed that I/we were eating a lot of junk food, mostly chips of various kinds. I know this stems from the kinds of food we eat during the holidays. There are cookies, dips, a cheese ball, chili and sandwiches.
  I decided that enough was enough. Time to cut out this junk food. The last time we went grocery shopping we did not buy any chips. That's a good start.
  I am coming to realise that getting off of junk food is not that easy. I made chili a few nights ago. Normally I eat corn chips with chili. I like to use the chili as a dip for the chips. It's not very healthy even if I'm eating chipotle bean chili. I resisted the urge to send C to the store to get a bag of corn chips. Instead, I made a small pan of cornbread. It tasted fine, although I missed the crunch of the chips. Sophie 1 junk food 0.
  Part of the challenge of getting off junk food is being at work. When I worked at my old store, the pharmacy faced the ice cream freezers. Ice cream isn't a temptation for me. The real temptation was out of sight and could be easily avoided. My current store has a small inventory of chips, nuts and other snacks. It's much harder, especially because we stock Cheetos.
  Next to Gardettos, Cheetos are my favourite junk food. It doesn't matter that the orange fake cheese powder gets on your hands and is almost impossible to wash off. I know that they are not healthy and potentially cancer-causing. However, they taste good especially with a turkey sandwich and they have a nice crunch.
  I've heard one way to help yourself avoid something is to replace the thing you're trying to avoid with a healthier option. This week when I brought my sandwich to work, I also brought some carrot sticks. Carrot sticks are orange and crunchy just like Cheetos, but healthier. Right?
  Well... not really. As much as I like carrot sticks, they are just not as good as Cheetos. I am determined though. As a healthcare provider, I do have to do my best to practice what I preach. If I'm going to tell people to eat healthily and avoid junk food then I have to try to avoid them myself.
  I did have one minor setback this week. I bought a small bag of Poppables. (That's the other hard part about avoiding junk food at work. We carry mostly small bags of snacks.) I was curious and a little hungry. They are a kind of potato-based snack that are somehow puffed up. They were not bad. They were light, crunchy and not over salty. Before I knew it I had almost consumed the entire bag.
   Then I came to myself. This was still junk food. I rolled up the top of the bag and put it away. OK, I fell off the wagon, but that's all right. I can still get right back on.
  I think I'll finish the rest of the bag of Poppables first........