Day 1: Scrambled Eggs Whole Wheat Toast Organic Peanut Butter Coffee with French Vanilla Cappuccino Protein Bar Protein Shake Colby Jake Cheese Grilled Chicken Chicken, Swiss Cheese, Spinach Wrap Go Lean Cereal with Milk
Day 2: Scrambled Eggs Whole Wheat Toast X2 Organic Peanut Butter X2 Coffee with Milk Chocolate Milk Grilled Chicken Spinach Brown Rice Fish
The task of avoiding processed food was surprisingly difficult for someone who considers herself a healthy eater. According to Laura Shapiro’s Something from the Oven, “decade by decade, as the proponents of packaged-food cuisine worked tirelessly to make it to the center of American cooking they met less resistance…”(79). Processed foods have crept into the American diet since the 50's and now make up a majority of our diets. Even a health conscious person such as myself still cannot seem to fully rid my diet of processed foods. There are several processed foods I consume on an everyday basis. I eat protein bars before workouts, drink a protein supplement after workouts and mix my coffee with the cappuccino machine french vanilla flavor. I often eat Go Lean cereal in addition to these daily habits. Which, while the cereal has a decent amount of protein and other nutrients, I’m sure is a food I would be better off without. Melanie Warner’s Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Foods Took Over the American Meal supports my suspicions about the cereal by pointing out how “products at the cereal aisles’ pinnacle- offer far fewer intrinsic vitamins than what you’d find in an equivalent amount of whole wheat flour.”(73). To fill the void of these eating habits, I ate more whole wheat bread to substitute for the cereal, which with the enlightenment of Pandora’s Lunchbox, is far better for my nutrition in the long run. In addition to this, I mixed my coffee with milk, drank chocolate milk after my workout and didn't have any snacks before my workout. I don't eat the Go Lean cereal every day, so I wasn't missing out by avoiding it. I felt odd not eating my protein bar before my workout, but didn't feel deprived of the snack. Other than the inconvenience of having to go to the cafeteria to get the chocolate milk after my workout, I also did not miss drinking my protein shake. The hardest thing for me was not mixing coffee with the cappuccino machine flavor. The overwhelming sweetness of the cappuccino mixture is something I crave each morning and it was greatly missed. In Michael Moss’s article, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, he points out how the food industry gets people hooked on its products: “the food industry knew something about making people happy-and it started with sugar.”(5). I have gone a while without sugary soda, but unfortunately I have turned to sugary cappuccino machine flavor as a substitute for my sugar cravings. After this experiment, I will likely try and drop the cappuccino machine flavor, but I will continue to eat the remaining foods.