The "Chippy"

Driving around and running errands in my next of the woods I notice that in an empty parking lot near my home there is a Chip Truck with picnic tables set up for a comfortable setting. Rob and I always pass by and do a head count of the amount of people eating or lined up for “fries”. It is amazing to me as the weather has gotten colder I figured the business might close up for the season but NO it’s busier than ever. What is going on here….did I go into the wrong business? Why the Chip Truck exist at all it is beyond me? Stopping for fries would never enter into my mind as a meal or even a snack. My moto is “Don’t Leave Home Empty Handed”. I never leave my home without a healthy granola bar ie: Kashi bar or a Taste of Nature bar, a banana or an apple. I actually panic if I do not have healthy food with me. What I can guarantee you when you are out and about YOU will get HUNGRY. If you have healthy snacks with you your chances of having to go to Tim Horton’s is gone. Just for the record the food at Tim’s is laden with salt.

Speaking of Tim’s…Sunday morning Rob and I were embarking on a trip to my dear friends Ainsley & Steve’s in Beeton, Ontario. We stopped to get gas first and I ran inside to get coffee’s (we had both had our breakfast at home). I noticed the gentleman in front of me had on pajama pants and his winter coat and was ordering what I guess was his breakfast. He ordered an extra large coffee, 3 creams, 3 sugars, two bagels (white) cream cheese…he had no idea that the “Food Fun Sucker” was in line right behind him. I felt the little hairs on my back go up….I can’t tell you how desperately I wanted to tell him not to have that and make some better suggestions for him. But of course I couldn’t…I had to bite my lip yet again. I know it’s not much fun hanging out with me but can you imagine how hard it is to be me and watch people poison their bodies!

Later that evening Rob and I were going to a local restaurant where my girlfriend Leeann was singing with her jazz band. Now it always makes me very nervous going out to restaurants and as we walked in I was smacked upside the head with the smell of a basket of wings and fries going by. Don’t think I never ate that food, in fact Wings were my favourite bar food back in the day. But what I didn’t know then was that a typical order of wings (8- 9) have about 102 grams of saturated fat (remember your daily intake is 20 grams..and this is the stuff that clogs your arteries) 2900+ mg of sodium (daily intake 1500 mg) and about 1500 calories. This should be enough to hopefully make you all stop eating Wings!

The room was filled with her family and friends…mostly Toronto Police. There was a table in front of me with about 15 people at it. All the men were Obese…not overweight, Obese which means that they have a BMI (Body Mass Index…which is a series of calculations related to height and weight) of 40 or more. The healthy range is 18.9 – 24.9. They all ordered …..you guessed it WINGS! I managed to find a chicken dish that came with nice steamed veggies….but when I looked around it was either wings or burgers and pountine at each table!!!

Finally made it home to watch some Christmas movies with my Rob…as the commercials played one came on for the new “KFC” CHICKEN BOWL. What the heck is this? I had to go to the internet right away and look it up. The bottom layer is KFC mashed potatoes, then a good helping of kernel corn, then bite size pieces of chicken followed by their home-style white pepper gravy and then all topped off with a 3 layer cheese blend. 860 calories with 44 grams of fat. 11 grams of Saturated fat and 4.5 grams of Trans fat. Yikes! It gets better. 2430 grams of sodium. I have to say “how come we are a loud to sell this stuff? It didn’t end there…the next round of commercials…we were told not to forget about Wendy’s BACCONATOR. 6 strips of bacon…guess I don’t have to say anything more about that one.

Well I’ll be back with more …everyday something else about our food and what people put in their bodies and their children’s bodies blows my mind. It is nice to have a place to share these experiences.

I had originally planned to better at this "Blogging" thing but it looks like I dropped the ball.  I did however, finally met with Marlene (who is my ghost writer and partner on a book venture) (and yes, it is about Nutrtition... but also the journey that I go on each day with my clients.)  Hopefully, women and men will be able to identify with the characters and learn a little something about their own behaviour with food.

I really do have to be more consistent with writing this blog as each and everyday I am floored with some other bad food product that I stumble over.  This weekend was a perfect example...after my meeting with Marlene, Rob and I headed down to the St. Lawrence Market for some organic vegetables.  As we cruised threw the market it bothered me how much meat was being sold...from beef to chicken, pork...Camel burgers, Kangaroo burgers...it was freaking me out!  I wanted to tell everyone not to eat it and get on my soap box and tell them the dangers to their bodies with all these grain fed animals.   Rob got tired of listening to me and told me he would have to come to the market by himself next time.  I guess I'm not really that much fun to hang around with afterall.  I guess I really am the Food Fun Sucker!

Rob and I did get some wonderful sprout salads.  (My next blog will outline the benefits of eatings sprouts).  We picked up all kinds of fresh organic vegetables.  When I cooked my dinner later that day I was actually floored by the colour and the amazing flavour of the organic sweet potato vs. the one's I get at my local grocery store. 

Evening came and Rob and I had Christmas parties to attend.  We did eat dinner at home first which was terrific it kept us from eating all the real calorie dense treats that come out at this festive time of year.  Most people gain up to 6 pounds over the holiday season so becareful...if you have a function in the evening make sure you still eat properly all day long.  Do not think that you should cut back during the day to have your calories in the evening  1.) you will overeat in the evening as you will now be ravinous   2.) your body requires nutrients and calories all day long ...every two hours at least!  3.) If you do not give your body calories you will store fat and your body will live off your muscle which is something we never want to attack.  If you give your body "0" calories your body will actually store fat!!  So remember to eat healthy snacks between meals.

Okay, enough preaching...the moral of this story..eat often, low calorie nutrient dense food and move around a lot!