When I was a child, we ate pretty healthy in our household. For the most part, we had well-balanced meals that included vegetables, fruit, grains and lean protein. However, we also had our indulgences.
Although all of us enjoyed each others’ guilty pleasures, each of us had our personal favorites. If you were to ask my mom, her weakness was Lay’s Potato Chips. By nature, she always craved savory foods over sweet foods. If you were to ask my dad, he probably would have said chocolate ice cream, as he craved sweets. And although I loved chocolate ice cream and potato chips (especially dipped in ketchup – don’t ask), I had a terrible weakness for Double Stuf Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies with a big glass of milk.
Back then, I could down a whole sleeve of Chips Ahoy cookies (that was 6 1/2 servings of the little devils!) or 1/2 a package of Double Stuf, without much thought. Today, however, those moments of eating a few of these cookies, let alone a half a package, comes few and far between. Here’s why:
- Metabolism and Calories Burned: My metabolism was cranking and my activity levels were much higher when I was younger. Unfortunately, this holds true for all of us. Is a matter of fact the average adult sees a 2% – 5% reduction in metabolic rate every 10 years. This means that we metabolize the calories we ingest at a slower rate. A sleeve of cookies might look great on a 12 year old, but not so much on a 50 year old!
- New Perspective: Just the idea of eating these cookies isn’t really that appealing. The less you eat junk food, the less you crave it. The more healthy you eat, the easier it is to avoid these types of foods. And frankly, when you DO indulge in crappy food, you often end up feeling like crap. It just isn’t worth it.
- Quality of Ingredients: As I’ve become more aware of the ingredients I eat, it is absolutely clear to me that Nabisco, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t really use ingredients of which I’m a huge fan. Both Double Stuf and Chips Ahoy contain tons of refined sugar and flour, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors, while Chips Ahoy can additionally contain partially hydrogenated oils. If I’m going to indulge in something tasty, I’d much rather have higher quality ingredients that are less processed. Not only will the treat taste better, but it won’t be nearly as bad for you, AND you won’t need as much to feel satisfied.
Now, you may think I’m a health freak, but in reality, I LOVE to indulge. I just rather indulge in things that are REALLY satisfying.
What junk food did you over indulge in as a kid? Do you still eat it? How have you changed as you’ve gotten older?
Related Topics:
- 5 Ingredients to Avoid
- Your Solution Guide to HFCS
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- 8 Shocking Facts about Sugar
- Eat Like Crap = Feel Like Crap
- What Makes a Healthy Diet?
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It’s really hard to beat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. But really, I was into every candy bar except Payday. Those were stupid. Special shoutouts to Watchamacallit, O Henry, and lik-m-aid (which was, in reflection, totally disgusting, but I like it at the time).
Hey Brett, I’m glad I found this post today.
I went on a ‘tasting tour’ for work last night and figured, through FitDay, that I ate roughly 700 more calories than I burned. Yikes. Truffle oil and bites of salmon and Fume Blanc, it adds up.
So, I have a question. Since I work out every day (except yesterday bc I worked a double) and burn roughly 300-700 calories more than I eat every day, is a day like yesterday very damaging? How fast can we burn off calories that we’ve recently eaten?
I have about 2 or 3 ‘cheat meals a week, a ‘meal’ could be movie popcorn, or pancakes at breakfast or a frozen yogurt, sometimes all in one day if I’m feeling crazy (5’6 124 lbs)
If I’m, more often, eating at a calorie deficet, will days like yesterday simply get absorbed into the math?
I’m not even bloated today and was hungry at normal times. It’s all so mysterious.
Elizabeth,
Weight and how we metabolize our calories can be really unscientific sometimes. Our bodies sometimes will surprise us with random weight gain and random weight loss with no explanation. That said, if you are really as good as you say, a day like yesterday shouldn’t really affect you in the grand scheme of things. For instance, I just had a reunion this last weekend. Between the alcohol and the cheese and whatever else I indulged in, I gained a couple of pounds, but I’ve already lost most of it and it is only Wednesday. The trick is to not OBSESS over this stuff. If you maintain a healthy lifestyle the majority of the time, you really shouldn’t be affected too much when you do indulge. Hope that helps!
Nestle Crunches and Butterfingers from the vending machine outside the school gym. OMG! We were all so stick-thin! Could it be we burned THAT many calories. Now am pushin’ 60 and it all sticks! So not fair!!!!!