Food and Temptation

It amazes me how difficult the deliciousness of food makes it to make healthy decisions. My office falls within the confines of the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District in DC. At the north end of the triangle is Dupont Circle which is a hot bed of activity all on its own. I typically keep my lunchtime walks within this area so I can keep up with what's going on in the neighborhood. About a month or so ago the famed Shake Shack opened. The line has been out the door pretty much every day I've gone past it which has been part of my hesitation for going. My main hesitation though is my mental struggle over the taste of those greasy cheeseburgers on buttered buns. Why does everything that tastes so good have to be so bad for you? My motto lately has been "everything in moderation" but knowing what I know about myself, going up there and just having a burger, no fries or shake, will not be satisfying. So for now I'm avoiding it.

Yesterday I walked past a sign for a new place opening on I (Eye) Street, the Wicked Waffle. After checking out their proposed menu I'm definitely intrigued but again am concerned about what I would be eating. The amount of sugar used in their sweet waffles is probably ridiculous. That heavy of a lunch makes for a pretty tough afternoon.

I've come up with some portion control strategies for myself. They aren't anything that anyone else hasn't already heard of but hopefully they'll work for me. If I know I'm going for something that isn't as healthy as my meal should be I try to plan ahead. For example if I decided to go to Shake Shack for lunch I would likely eat an extra snack of fruit or veggies during the morning so that I wouldn't be starving when I got there. Not being overly hungry would definitely keep me from over-ordering (burger plus shake plus fries) and then feeling miserable all afternoon. Recently when we tried Red Rocks pizza in Old Town for the first time. I knew going into it that my calzone would be sized such that I could devour the entire thing but my goal was to take at least half of it home. I reminded myself how nice it would be to enjoy that meal again the next day. As it happened I split the calzone into three parts, having dinner and two lunches. I also try to drink a bunch of water right before a heavy meal to help my stomach feel full more quickly. This works for me, surprisingly. Carefully reviewing menus online beforehand if they are available has been a great strategy for me. If I choose a healthier dinner option before we arrive I am more likely to stick with that decision if I don't even have to look over the menu once we're there, smelling the smells and seeing other peoples' plates.

I am not always successful. A lot of times, with food, my brain reverts to an "all or nothing" state. On days like this, if I snack on even one M&M from my coworker's candy jar, something gets flipped on and I can't seem to stop eating them after that. I'm better off just not even starting. It can be really hard particularly when it's half an hour before lunch, I'm hungry and the candy is just staring at me from her desk.

Without even taking my weight into consideration though I've definitely been more cognisant of what Jake and I are eating. As we get older I realize that we can't sustain on the same pre-packaged crap that we ate in our 20's. Hopefully we can continue to build healthy eating habits that we can then pass on to our kids.