Please Keep Trying!

Oh how I hate that term: “Everything in moderation.” What does that even mean? Isn’t that such an absolute statement, “Everything”? Does that mean I can snort coke off a toilet seat in Grand Central Station if I only do it once a year? Does it mean I can euthanize endangered species if I only cull the ugly animals? What the hell does that mean?

According to what I’ve been told my whole life, “everything in moderation” means I can smoke a cigarette a day (it’s only one cigarette, c’mon), I can eat fried chicken once a week, I can drink one soda per day and three beers in one go really aren’t that many. Yeah, about that, can I smack the first person who ever uttered that statement to me? If I only do it once, it’s done in moderation.

The reason I have this hateful attitude towards such a seemingly benign phrase is the way it can undermine a person. It lays in wait as you figure, “This Whooper™ is something I eat only once every two weeks. It can’t hurt. Everything in moderation.” You know what happens in reality? That Whopper™ gets eaten once a week. Then twice a week, then every other day. I would tell myself, it’s only once a _(insert time period here)__, when the sad fact was it wasn’t __(insert time period here)___ but much, much more often.

There really are some people who do partake of unhealthy foods only once in a great, great while. However, I challenge anyone to find a handful of people who strictly adhere to “Everything in moderation.” I bet folks will be hard pressed to gather concrete proof that such a practice is adhered to regularly by those who claim to do it. Saying, “I know someone who only does blah blah blah once in a great while,” doesn’t count. Talk is cheap.

This is why I started writing down everything I ate. Everything in moderation became a joke after I reviewed my eating habits.

If it’s one thing I’ve learned these past three years it’s: “Most things in moderation, many things seldom and some things never“. What are most things?

• Dairy (I’m lactose intolerant so this is a biggie for me)
• Eggs
• Grains which aren’t whole, including white rice

What’re seldom things?

• Fried foods (I eat fried foods twice a year; I’m bad that way)
• Sugar
• Wheat products
• Added oils

Never is a long list for me:

• Alcohol
• Processed meals, i.e., TV dinners
• Trans fats (even if the packaging does say 0%, if I see “Partially hydrogenated oil” it doesn’t get bought)
• Sulfates
• Nitrates
• Corn syrup
• Mammal and poultry meat
• Anything with an ingredient list done in 4 point font so it fits on the label

To this day, I’m still struggling with a few of these self-imposed no-nos. My main ones are wheat products, sugar and corn syrup. In other words, snacks. I’m hoping that over time I’ll break my subtle addiction to crackers, cookies and candy, all of which usually have at least two of the above.

Traditional Japanese desserts have become an alternate addiction to most snack foods. Since they’re made with beans, seaweed, chestnuts, fruit, sweet potatoes and rice flour instead of chocolate, cream, gelatin, butter, shortening, and bleached wheat flour, I don’t feel as guilty about being hooked on them then I would if I were hooked on Twinkies™. Japanese desserts do contain sugar, make no mistake about that, but if they’re made at home, the amount of sugar used can be controlled without loss of flavor or texture.

What I did was to slowly switch one unhealthy addiction to a slightly more healthy one, and then switch again later, and then again and again. Finally, I saw I’d given up more than I realized and had gained healthier habits.

Moderation for me began with changing how I perceived food. Then I changed what foods I ate. Beans for dessert is where it’s at! Screw chocolate! Anko forever!!!