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I think there's some sort of misconception that if you are busy, your only option is fast food/fast casual dining due to time constraints. It actually takes less time to make/eat a peanut butter sandwich, pouch/can of tuna with crackers, scramble a couple of eggs, grab a bag of baby carrots from the fridge, etc. than it does to wait in a drive-through line at a fast food place. In the time that you spend sitting in a fast-casual restaurant, you could be running into a grocery store and snagging any number of grab-and-go whole foods. It doesn't take any longer to fall asleep shoving a bagged, prewashed salad in your mouth while you half-doze on the couch than it does a bag of chips. Either way, you had to make time to go purchase the salad/chips, and either way, you had to go to your fridge or pantry and retrieve the salad or chips.
People get hung up on "making your own meals" meaning planning and executing elaborate feasts worthy of Bon Appetit nightly, when in reality, you can feed yourself very simply and nutritiously, instead of counting on fast food and carryout.
You mentioned Starbucks, if you want health food just grab a protein box and fruit cup. Problem solved. The box has a hard boiled egg, carrots and grilled chicken. There is even a snack box with Brie, apples and grapes. I eat pretty clean 90% of the time (no processed food, grains or sugar) and with a Starbucks on every corner it's easy.
I also keep food in my car. Grab some nuts from the health food store and real dried fruit or coconut with no added sugar. Better yet a banana.
I'm so sick and tired of how difficult it is to just be able to eat nutritious food!
I work long hours and am single, so naturally I dont keep a lot of food in my place to cook nutritious meals. I like to grab my food on the go, if possible.
Immediately in my neighborhood are the following food options:
2 mcdonalds
Bahama Breeze
Chilis
On the Border
Barnes and Noble Cafe
Macaroni Grill
Chipotle
Panera Bread
Starbucks
Moe' Southwestern Grill
The corner Bakery
Dunkin Donuts
"Cadillac Grill"-- American fried Cuisine
La Carreta- Cuban chain restaurant
Denny's
iHop
That's it.
As you can see it's all garbage. Every. Single. Place. Around me is garbage IMO.
All I want to be able to do is get some fresh veggies, a good carb, and a protein to eat. That's it. I dont want over-salted/seasoned meats. I hate fried foods. I don't want sweets. I. Just. Want. healthy food on the go. I'd pay extra for it!!!! But there is none.
So, I drive to Whole foods and pick out a few good foods to eat. But the nearest whole foods is far away from me and in rush hour traffic.... I can't do it it'll take two hours.
Can someone tell me why there is so so much garbage available!! I am bombarded with garbage. It's nearly impossible to get like some broccoli, chicken, and quinoa or brown rice! Nowhere serves veggies. No where serves food that isn't covered in shi!t!!
I'm becoming so frustrated. It should not be this difficult to eat a balanced diet without having to fire up the stove and oven for an hour and cook something! I just dont wanna do that. I work looong days and I do not wanna come home and start cooking and cleaning.
No wonder nearly half this country is overweight or diabetic. It's too easy to get crap. Crap is everywhere. One has to actively seek out non-crap. it's unbelieveable to me! It's almost impossible to get a healthy, nutritious meal where I live. I'd have to drive 10 miles to the nearest food vendor that doesn't serve you shi!iiit.
The only thing I'm reading is "help me I can't control my eating habits so I'm ranting about it" every single one of those places you listed has healthier options.
I have not been to most of those restaurants, but do know that you can generally find something healthy to eat at any restaurant, if you try. For example:
Denny's offers senor menu with smaller portion sizes, and at the one I go to you do not have to be a senor to order off that menu. They offer egg white omelets and you can choose fresh veggies to add to the omelet. They offer grilled chicken and fish, and several fresh veggies, including salad. They have fresh fruit or cottage cheese that can be sides instead of hash browns, etc.
McDonalds offers several salads with grilled chicken breast as the meat (or you can choose fried but you wanted healthy). The southwestern one also has corn and black beans. For about 60 cents you can add fresh guac or salsa.
The only thing I'm reading is "help me I can't control my eating habits so I'm ranting about it" every single one of those places you listed has healthier options.
excellent point!!
its like blaming stores that sell booze because they cant stop drinking
its like blaming stores that sell booze because they cant stop drinking
can't rep yo again.
Of course even the restaurants listed do offer somewhat healthy foods and even being single, there are still ways to eat healthy. It might be a little harder, but can be done. Lots of produce lasts for weeks and anyone can keep chicken breasts in the freezer. They don't take long to cook even if one is on the run all the time. How hard is it to make a pot of soup on the weekends and freeze part of it, keeping a coupe servings in the fridge? I could go on and on.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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You might also get cans of healthier foods by the case at Amazon, and flesh them out with fresh foods. For example I just bought a case of Amy's vegetarian organic refried black beans (reduced sodium) and some salsa - you can put them on soft tortillas to make quickie burritos and nuke a little to warm up .... or you can make a killer dip for the organic chips you also bought online .... or you can simply warm them up right out of the can (they're lightly flavored). Likewise you can buy organic breakfast cereals online and add some cut up fruit, or even more easily add some trail mix. Or you can buy cases of healthy canned meals such as vegetarian chili.
There is often free shipping if you order above a certain amount, such as $50 at walmart.com or whatever at Amazon.
For lunchtime sandwiches you might get a good local sliced bread and keep it in the freezer, pry off a coupla slices when you need them, and make a variety of sandwiches such as peanut butter with fruit, almond butter with honey, tomato avocado sprouts, and have some protein drink such as milk or almond milk with it.
Crock pot meals are great if you have time to get one started in the morning, and you can use fresh meat in it with the veggies. Or you can cook up some rice or quinoa (again bought online) at dinner time in a rice cooker along with chopped veggies and meat.
Cases of healthy shelf-stable foods bought online take up little space in a corner, or even under your bed.
Most of the crap you mentioned do offer salads with meat. Ask them to hold the junk dressing and you're good to go. Nobody is forcing you to eat the endless steak fries or drink their sodas.
Cuban food not healthy??? they have to have some nice black beans, grilled chicken, onions and bell peppers.
I'm so sick and tired of how difficult it is to just be able to eat nutritious food!
I work long hours and am single, so naturally I dont keep a lot of food in my place to cook nutritious meals. I like to grab my food on the go, if possible.
Immediately in my neighborhood are the following food options:
2 mcdonalds
Bahama Breeze
Chilis
On the Border
Barnes and Noble Cafe
Macaroni Grill
Chipotle
Panera Bread
Starbucks
Moe' Southwestern Grill
The corner Bakery
Dunkin Donuts
"Cadillac Grill"-- American fried Cuisine
La Carreta- Cuban chain restaurant
Denny's
iHop
That's it.
As you can see it's all garbage. Every. Single. Place. Around me is garbage IMO.
All I want to be able to do is get some fresh veggies, a good carb, and a protein to eat. That's it. I dont want over-salted/seasoned meats. I hate fried foods. I don't want sweets. I. Just. Want. healthy food on the go. I'd pay extra for it!!!! But there is none.
So, I drive to Whole foods and pick out a few good foods to eat. But the nearest whole foods is far away from me and in rush hour traffic.... I can't do it it'll take two hours.
Can someone tell me why there is so so much garbage available!! I am bombarded with garbage. It's nearly impossible to get like some broccoli, chicken, and quinoa or brown rice! Nowhere serves veggies. No where serves food that isn't covered in shi!t!!
I'm becoming so frustrated. It should not be this difficult to eat a balanced diet without having to fire up the stove and oven for an hour and cook something! I just dont wanna do that. I work looong days and I do not wanna come home and start cooking and cleaning.
No wonder nearly half this country is overweight or diabetic. It's too easy to get crap. Crap is everywhere. One has to actively seek out non-crap. it's unbelieveable to me! It's almost impossible to get a healthy, nutritious meal where I live. I'd have to drive 10 miles to the nearest food vendor that doesn't serve you shi!iiit.
Exactly how is Chipotle unhealthy? It is probably one of the healthiest fast food chains in this country. What is unhealthy about salad/rice with beans, salsa, grilled white meat or tofu, and guac? They also have very high standards when it comes to sourcing their meat.
Even the other options you have mentioned - sure most of the selection is probably unhealthy, but there are always good salad or sandwich or soup options.
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