Drum Roll Please...

One of my favorites things to eat is cheesecake. According to the Nutrition Data website, one serving size (which is equal to one slice) contains 257 calories.... 257 calories of PURE DELICIOUSNESS! Cheesecake is high in saturated fat containing 40% of the recommended daily value. There are 44mg of cholesterol (15% DV), 166mg sodium (7% DV), and 20g of carbs (7% DV). It contains small amounts of protein, calcium, and iron, each less than 5% of the recommended daily value and has a slightly larger amount of vitamin A. Also, 158 of the total calories are calories from fat. With that said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that cheesecake isn't the best food to throw into your shopping cart at WalMart but do I feel guilty about eating it? Absolutely not. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go turn on an episode of the Golden Girls and grab myself a slice of cheesecake.

"I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol." -Author Unknown

Air Forced Diet

I recently joined the Air Force and with comes the task of getting into shape. I've never been one to eat many fruits and very rarely would I even touch a vegetable but in order to survive boot camp, I have to make some major changes with my diet. When I get to boot camp, there won't be sweets (well, there will be plenty of sweets there but it would be pretty hard to get away with eating them without being saddled with an extra 20 pushups). So, in order to prepare my sugar-filled body to go 2 months without cookies or ice cream, I'm slowly replacing those delicious foods with the dreaded green stuff. I need to be able to pack a huge amount of nutrients into as little foods as possible because meals happen fast at boot camp.
Now, I wouldn't call what I'm doing a "diet". I hate that word. It just sounds terrible. No. What I'm doing is just what I should have done a long time ago.. what everyone should do. Instead of reaching for a BigMac, I'm opting for a spinach salad and grilled chicken. And now, being on campus and having a huge salad bar to available, I don't have an excuse not to eat it. It's right there, every meal. In the past, I wouldn't eat healthy because that means spending more money. When I was in my own apartment spending my own money on food, I wasn't about to shell out extra cash to eat healthy. But here in campus center the food is already paid for so I might as well take advantage of it. No excuses!

"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon." -Doug Larson

Why Do I Eat What I Eat?

I think the main reason I eat the food that I do stems from my childhood. I was the youngest of three children and the only girl so I got to eat whatever my little heart desired. If I wanted ice cream before dinner, I got ice cream before dinner. If I wanted candy for breakfast, I got candy for breakfast. As a child, I had a terrible diet and even as an adult, I still have trouble choosing healthy food over junk... and I blame my parents. :) Also, the other reason I eat what I eat is because I have an issue with textures. If a food feels weird, I don't eat it. Bananas, pudding, jello, peaches, oranges, mushrooms, strawberries... they all gross me out. I just don't like the way they feel in my mouth and even writing about them is making me cringe. Throughout my life, I haven't had much variety in my diet. I'm content eating the same thing day after day. Lately, however, I've tried to branch out a eat more things... but I just don't think I'll ever get over my texture issue.