Monday, March 28, 2011
Fashion Salad
On Thursday night at 5:30pm, I was standing in line to get food at UDS (University Dinning Services). I was going to stand in the "comfort food" line because, let's be honest, by just calling it comfort food, you think of your grandma making her famous chicken soup and casserole. It's quite a nice feeling. Then, a group of my friends walk in and go straight for the salad buffet on the other side of the cafeteria. Knowing that I would be sitting with them, I chose to get a salad over the chicken pot pie that looked so gloriously rich and creamy that I could almost feel my fingers puffing from all the sodium. That's what I wanted. Salad doesn't do anything for me. I'm hungry again an hour later, and if I had been eating by myself, there would have been no question. Pot pie all the way. But because I was sitting in a group, I knew that I would feel guilty about not making the healthy choice. And I was right. Dinner was great at the time, and an hour later I was ready to kill someone for a big slab of meat. So why is that? Would my friends have judged me for my food choices? No. They're my friends, they couldn't care less, and I know that. But there is still that part of me that will always feel like a third grader on her first day at a new school. If you don't eat healthy, that means that there's something wrong with you. And honestly, I love eating unhealthy foods. I have to remind myself that I am full so as to not finish everything in sight! But I have a guilt about not wanting healthy foods, and a guilt about wanting bad ones. There's really no winning here.
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I definitely know what you're saying about the guilt for not eating healthy. I have similar feelings constantly, but unlike you (which is most likely the healthiest way to go), I end up choosing the unhealthy food and just feeling a little bit ridiculous. My diet consists of pizza, fast food, greasy foods, and cookies. My roommates constantly give me grief about my diet, but most of the time I can handle it because I get to use my fast metabolism as an excuse. Even saying that, I realize that my using that as an excuse for my inability to resist temptations of unhealthy food is just as bad as choosing meals based on guilt rather than want. I have a terrible time denying myself of the food I crave, no matter how unhealthy.
ReplyDeleteI may be in trouble once my metabolism slows.
Group pressure! Haha, I would do the same. Order the salad, just because you don't want to be the only one making the unhealthy decision. I feel like our generation has a lot of focus on healthy food, exercise etc. Sometimes it's too much.
ReplyDeleteI'd totally have picked the pot pie, but I've been told many times that I'm a total jerk.
ReplyDeleteHaha I dig the title.
ReplyDeleteI often feel guilt for not eating healthily, but, as a guy, the peer pressure that I feel most often pushes me away from healthy food all together. It's not uncommon for a guy to get made fun of for eating a salad, and it's pretty much guaranteed if he tries to eat anything labeled 'low fat'. I can confidently say that I've decided to not eat a salad simply because I didn't want to deal with the flak from who I was with.
It's an interesting and gendered alteration in peer group dynamics.