Does Buying a Chik-Fil-A Sandwich Really Support Free Speech?

Seriously! Have I gone insane and just don’t “get it”, or does anyone else think this is just dumb? Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, in support free speech by proclaiming August 1, 2012 as Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Day.

At what point is it not worth waiting over an hour for something served in a paper bag?

Right, because that’s what a nation with increasing obesity problems needs; just another excuse/reason to eat fast food. There are some pretty ridiculous days out there, but I can’t think of ones that are just randomly started on Facebook….and by former government officials….for a fast food restaurant! I don’t know how, but I feel Huckabee gained more than just respect from the business because “money talks!”


This started when Chik-Fil-A’s CEO, Dan Cathy, was being hounded for his stance and support of anti-gay groups. If you hold on to a certain set of beliefs, then by all means, keep holding! I am not gay (happily married to Kelley, a woman, thank you), but I am also not offended by people who are gay. I don’t live by the Bible either, and the CEO uses it in support of his anti-gay stance since the Bible says only a man and woman should be together.

Great, fine, perfect; I guess he must feel that people should be stoned to death instead of modern day capital punishment. Is serving fried chicken and fries to the mass population (most of whom have too much “mass”) written in the Bible? If he wants to go by The Book’s standards, maybe switch to serving fish (not fried), bread, wine, and manna.


When the blogger at Organic Ingredients Now contacted Chik-Fil-A about how they source their chicken, their response was not very helpful. Click here for the full response, but this part really stood out to me:


“At farm level, antibiotics are only administered to prevent and control disease. A “withdrawal” period is required from the time antibiotics are administered before the bird can be processed. This ensures that no residues are present in the bird’s system. All chickens produced for Chick-fil-A are processed under the continuous USDA inspection program. Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) randomly samples poultry at slaughter and tests for residues.”

This response wouldn’t instill confidence in me. Then again, I’m the “crazy” one who eats weird (aka natural, unprocessed, and whole) food. I apologize if I have offended anyone as that is never my intention. I’m just “supporting” my free speech; without having to go anywhere to buy something!




"Fried" Speech

 If Chik-Fil-A wants to support anti-gay groups, I agree they should be able to practice their beliefs. I don't dislike the chain for their views, I despise all fast food chains for having non-nutritional food at cheap prices. Speaking of, what's with McDonald's and the Olympics?  I know, MONEY, but the two just don't go together...ever.  Unless it's something dumb like a swimmer eating 3,330 calories worth of the stuff. Even then, I'd indulge in a giant container of Chobani with peanut butter and crunchy granola!

Imagine if the flocks of people so eager to eat low quality fried food (I know grilled chicken and salads are available, but lets be real here; most people aren’t ordering that at a chain) support free speech all went to local farmer’s markets and bought fresh meat and/or produce instead. While “poor” Dan Cathy and his chicken chain were hurt from bad press, I know most small farmers are always hurting and could always use our support. On top of that, we’d have a healthier population and economy! Just some food for thought; make of it what you will.


Q: What are your thoughts on the Chik-Fil-A events? Do you agree or disagree with my feelings?

I’d like to hear either side if you care to comment. Meanwhile, I’m starting to think other designated “special” days like National Watermelon Day (tomorrow!) and Bad Poetry Day don’t sound too bad.

Give the Cow Prod to the USDA and Support Meatless Monday!

Have you heard about the USDA retracting its statement referencing "Meatless Monday"?  It seems the Cattlemen's Beef Association flexed its "beefy" bicep when the Ag Dept posted a message to its employees about helping to reduce the environmental impact of eating meat by skipping it one day of the week.

Uh oh, the beef industry might be knocking at my door soon...

But what would the "cow people" association do if more people helped the health of the Earth and their bodies by abstaining from meat for one day?! They can't have that, so I can only imagine their well-paid lobbyists made sure the posting was removed promptly.  And it was......only hours after being posted.

I know I'm on a blogger break (I took only a few pics this weekend!), but I had to just make a quick post about this.  A huge reason America lives in a constantly confused state on what's healthy and what's not is because of the big industries and their money (aka power).

I know very little on the inner-workings of lobbying and getting messages out to the public, but I figure money is the biggest concern; not public health.  When I see/hear any sort of "this is good for you" promotion from the government or any big business, I raise a mental red flag and proceed with caution.

Just ask yourself these 2 questions when you see claims on packages, the television, magazines, billboards, etc:

Who or What will reap the most benefits of this statement? - It says it's healthy, but the 50 ingredients in this pretty package don't seem very good or natural.

How much money was spent so people like me can see this claim? - Only the big industries have great power to push their products for all to see. Small, local companies producing small batch, whole food goods, don't have the funding to really advertise as well.

I like all types of meat and fish, but I eat red meat sparingly and only grass-fed...preferably local too.  The economic cost of producing beef is just not worth it to me.  Just think of all the cheap, junky beef products fast food chains are rolling out to so many people each day; it's crazy! Sure, the $1 menu "deals" seem appealing to those who are ignorant to health and are short on cash; sadly, this is a common correlation.

Costs associated to produce a quarter pound of beef.

But consider other costs; the cost to get the meat wrapped in a paper package and handed to you through the window of a drive-thru...mmm. Producing just a half pound of beef requires 7.40 pounds of CO2, that's equivalent to driving 9.81 miles. Now take into account that in 2009 the U.S. consumed 14 million tons of beef; and 72 million tons for the world.  That's a lot of gas! (Source for this info.)

I will happily choose my meatless meals for Monday and other days of the week to help reduce emissions just a little bit. If more of us did this, our little changes will have a big impact on the health of our economy and bodies. So give the USDA and Beef Industry the finger a carrot, and enjoy a meal like spicy black bean patties along with a green pistachio and carrot smoothie for dessert! Check out wannaveg.com for a list of 10 reasons to go vegetarian one day each week.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! It was hot (not surprising) here in Texas, but I prefer the heat to the cold, so fine with me!

Thursday Thoughts: Blogging Break and Why You Should Read Packaged Food Ingredients

Do you remember how you viewed food before becoming foodie or just increasing your knowledge of the food world? I remember how I only cared if it looked, sounded, or tasted good; nutrition info and ingredients were of concern.



Yep, I used to crave these and would usually stuff them with fries too.

 



It's crazy how far I've come since then.  Now I will maybe go out to eat about once a month, I think way too much of what I will have for each meal so that the macro nutrients balance out, and I read every single ingredient on every single package I pick up. It doesn't matter if I read the exact same package the week before, I still read it again.  Borderline insane? Maybe, maybe not; the food industry makes such quick choices to help their bottom line that you never know when ingredients will change.



Now I crave this, amongst many other whole foods and clean, lean protein!



Quick example: The Good Health Peanut Butter Pretzels used to have whole wheat as the first ingredient, but now it's this:

Enriched, Unbleached Wheat Flower [contains the following vitamins & minerals: Niacin (A B-Complex Vitamin), Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid], Peanut Butter (contains Peanuts, Cane Sugar, Salt), Stone Ground Whole Wheat, Salt, Baking Soda

But beware! Amazon still lists the ingredients as Whole Wheat, and Peanut Butter.

And what's up with companies like Jimmy Dean Sausage and Kellogg's trying to put up a healthy facade on their not-so-healthy products? Like Pop-Tarts are really a nutritious breakfast! Stop the advertising like these are acceptable breakfast (or any other time) foods!

No one needs a frosted rectangle jammed with crap like:

ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, DEXTROSE, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL (WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS), SUGAR, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF CRACKER MEAL, WHEAT STARCH, SALT, DRIED STRAWBERRIES, DRIED PEARS, DRIED APPLES, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CITRIC ACID, CORN CEREAL, GELATIN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL†, CARAMEL COLOR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SOY LECITHIN, XANTHAN GUM, MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, COLOR ADDED, TURMERIC COLOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RED #40, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), YELLOW #6, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), FOLIC ACID, BLUE #1.†LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING

That's for the popular strawberry flavor, right from their site.



Keep him and his friends out of your home!!



The Frosted Mini-Wheats might be better (read "easier"), but a bowl of creamy oats with mashed banana and peanut butter sounds and is so much better! Plus, what's with the little mascots riding around on the kids and acting like they help in school? Nonsense, I say!

And the Jimmy Dean Delights commercials just aggravate me to no end. You know the one where the guy dressed as a sun (who does that?) feeds a woman's wholesome breakfast to birds and gives her a Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast bowl or sandwich? Yeah, good job, commercial, way to make healthy eating look boring and bland....only feeding the negative way America views food.  The stupid commercial only talks about calories, not ingredients or nutrients.  Hmm, why not? Something missing in Jimmy Dean "Un"Delights?

Like most things in boxes, it has a list of crap:

INGREDIENTS: PRECOOKED SCRAMBLED EGG WHITES, COLOR ADDED (EGG WHITES, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, NONFAT DRY MILK, WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SOYBEAN OIL, CARRAGEENAN, SALT, NATURAL EGG FLAVOR, GUAR GUM, XANTHAN GUM, ANNATTO [COLOR]), DICED POTATOES (POTATOES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL [SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OILS], AND/OR VEGETABLE OIL [CANOLA, SOYBEAN AND/OR SUNFLOWER OILS], MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, DEXTROSE, TETRASODIUM PYROPHOSPHATE AND DISODIUM DIHYDROGEN PYROPHOSPHATE [TO MAINTAIN NATURAL COLOR]), COOKED TURKEY SAUSAGE CRUMBLES CARAMEL COLOR ADDED, BHT AND CITRIC ACID ADDED TO HELP PROTECT FLAVOR (TURKEY THIGH MEAT, SEASONING [SALT, DEXTROSE, SUGAR, SPICES, BHT, CITRIC ACID], CARAMEL COLOR), REDUCED FAT SHREDDED MILD CHEDDAR CHEESE (PASTEURIZED PART-SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO COLOR, VITAMIN A), WATER.

Man, I've been ranting a lot lately, but I want so bad to better inform the world on how to view real, whole food as good and normal.  Going out to be fed from a drive-thru or sit down place is not normal and should be a treat!



My idea of a healthy and tasty breakfast. Look at those Brussels!



So, be careful out there (the grocery store), it's a crazy place with false promises printed all over packages.  Here's a great article on the confusion of healthy eating that I think really makes a good point on why so many just don't even try.  Although they should!

About the "Blogging Break" part of the title; I am going to ease off my posting for a while to see if it helps reduce stress.  Yes, I actually stress about getting pictures and writing posts on my blog. Obviously, a full time job, exercise, and food prep already takes a lot of my time and I need time with Kelley too.  My marriage is most important, afterall!

I love talking with all of you about our passion for food and fitness, and I will still be around.  I may only have 2 or 3 posts a week, and maybe less pictures.  This is my true passion, but the job pays the bills, so you know how that goes.  Maybe one day I'll find my foodie calling, but until then, I need steady income...to buy the good food!!

Chocolate Microwave Layer Cake. Proof that healthy is neither dull, tasteless, or time consuming.

I know I don't have a huge following, but to those that read my blog, what would you like to see in my few short posts?  What topics have you enjoyed in the past?

I know a few other bloggers are taking a break for blogging as school starts up and life interferes. If you're taking a break, how are you handling not posting?  Does it feel like you are cheating?

Have a great day and thanks for reading, I appreciate everyone who comments!

"I Don't Know How to Eat Healthy" and 4 Other Excuses for not Eating Healthy

How many of you healthy foodies have been faced with someone telling you this? It's been awhile, but I often forget that I too was ignorant as to what "healthy" eating meant.  I try to remind myself this when people talk to me about their thoughts/attempts at being healthier.

But then again, there's enough info out there now that it's hard to not pick up on a few healthy habits. There's definitely a lot of BS out there claiming this diet makes you lose weight fast, or eating carbs precisely past 5:45PM will make you blow up like a blimp.

This site lists the top 5 excuses for not eating healthy, and I have heard all of them.

1. Don't Need to Lose Weight/Already Skinny
2. Don't Know How
3. Too Expensive
4. Don't Like to Count Calories
5. Healthy Food has no Taste

My advice? Avoid any verbal or written "advice" that's centered around a certain diet; this typically means that someone will gain financially as a result of the diet becoming popular. The less food you buy in a box (unless it's your CSA basket!), the better off you are.  Allergies and tastes aside, real, whole food will almost always win in the health department.

If food is processed, it's not so bad if it took place in your kitchen, but a short ingredient list of real food is the next best thing.  I know most of you reading know most of this information, but besides jut ranting, I'm also curious to see how many others deal with this.

Always bringing my lunch and having carrots, peppers, celery, turnips, dried okra, ect. as snacks has labeled me the healthy eater at work. I still can't understand why me eating healthy is so "strange" and I don't go out to eat "real" food more often. What's wrong with people?! Is it that crazy to prepare your own food and know exactly what goes into what you put in your body?

All five of these excuses make me turn red in anger.  Why? How does it affect me if I don't make the excuses? Because I want the world to know what's better for them. If everyone made better choices, the Earth as a whole would be cleaner and healthier.  Think of the extra cost the obese put on the economy.  I won't list them all, but the heavier you are, the worse your fuel economy is.  Just sayin.

I sound pretty harsh, huh?  Well, it makes me happy to see people actually trying to get healthier....as long as the are consistent. One week of healthy eat will do nothing if you go back to crap eating. And counting calories? There's no need when choosing unpackaged whole food; the miracle of fiber will help keep you from eating more than needed!

Healthy, homemade, and delicious!

It feels like I'm all over the place on this post, sorry, it's late and going to work is looming over my head. Basically, I know how easily some people can change the way they look and feel just by changing their diet. I'm not an RD or certified....anything, but I know from experience.  I made these same excuses, but then I just searched for and soaked up as much healthy lifestyle info I could. The info is there, people just have to search for it.

If someone came to me for help, I'd gladly offer what I can and enjoy seeing them fall in love with their healthy changes.  I've been wanting to post on this topic for a while, and now it's just out. I'm sure there's more to come, but my blog is a great place to vent to others who "get it."

6 minutes to steam veggies and scramble eggs vs. 10 minutes in the drive-thru and growing gut.  Hmm, tough decision...

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading!  Do you experience people talking to you and making healthy excuses? How do you proceed to answer or what do you offer to them?

I expect a pretty low-key week of posts since I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures and work will be busy.  Would you still enjoy reading my posts without pictures?  Let me know if there's a topic you'd like me to discuss, I'm always happy to please my foodie friends

Happy Monday, hope you had a great weekend!

#WIAW 20 The Most Effective Fat Loss Pill is....

..... just a pipe dream.  Sorry for being so rash, but the whole idea around fat loss pills ticks me off.  It makes me mad how businesses exploit the majority of America's (probably World too) constant search to lose weight without working for it. Hard work (being active) and eating healthy food is better than any pill!

My anger is partly because I was pretty chubby before, but I learned by reading (gasp) information on healthy food and exercise.  Combining these two things, I could feel the changes and loved them.  So now I live a healthful life and don't plan on changing.

No time for healthy is no excuse when you can make this protein cinnamon bread in the microwave!

Meanwhile, there are so many uninformed people not even trying to learn proper diet and exercise or keeping consistent.  Nope, instead they only perk up with cash/credit in hand when a new pill or something else claiming itself as "easy" or "fast" comes along for fat loss.

Countless times I have tried to offer my input to some of the, for lack of better word, ignorant. And, countless times my advice has been waived off as meaningless or just too hard because they could never give up "enter crappy food here" or consistently "enter form of exercise here."

Now I just try to say nothing when these topics come up unless I am specifically asked for advice.  Even then, it seems like if the advice is too hard or not what they want to hear, it gets ignored.  Hence the popularity of fat loss pills (aka caffeine pills with added BS).

Source: thehealthychange.tumblr.com via FitFluential on Pinterest

I understand some people are busy, buy the health of you and your family should be top priority. Am I alone here?  Do you disagree on my assessment?  Please explain. I get so ticked because I want to help people learn how to better take care of themselves, but they don't want to hear it.

I'm no expert, but I feel I have experienced enough on my own journey to have something to offer. I'll probably keep trying since it's forever programmed in my head to care. Who knows, maybe I'll help someone get and stay on track one day!

Skip the boxed crackers and make goat cheese protein crackers instead!

Speaking of staying on track, since this month's WIAW theme is fun fitness, I'd like to announce a new strength program I'm going to follow.  I plan on starting Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program. There is one main compound lift like overhead press, squat, bench press, and dead lift each workout and then supplemental work of choice.

Source: Uploaded by user via FitFluential on Pinterest

I followed StrongLifts 5x5 for a year and made some good gains.  Then I went back to running and lost strength. I could definitely get back on StrongLifts, but want to try something new. I will make the supplemental work either one of the Supreme 90 DVD's I have, or just more lifts in the garage. I'm excited to start and hope I can keep my food intake high to actually gain strength.  This is the area I've had trouble with.

And of course these protein brownies are healthy in disguise. No box needed here!

Not eating enough and still running are my biggest issues I need to work on.  Hmmm, guess that's better than the flip side...i.e. most of America sitting in line at a drive thru!  Squats are lifts I love to hate, and hope to make great improvements on those and bench press.

Sharing the workout I did each day is not my strong suit, but I'd like to try posting what I did along with my blog posts.  What do you think?  Do you like reading what workout someone else did on any given day?

How about I share what I consider the most effective health pills.....my eats and exercise!!!

Happy WIAW! Now go sweat it out and then enjoy some healthy and delicious recovery food!

As always, a gianormous thanks to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting this fun event! Wish her a quick recovery from her broken toe when you visit her site!!

These are all my "Pills"....

[B] Homemade PB Protein Bar; iced black tea mixed with Good Earth Spicy Original Tea; [S] Drew's Salsa and goat cheese crackers with green tea; [L] Millet, Lentil and Black Bean mix with Brussels Sprouts underneath [Workout]  Barbell Overhead Press, Supreme 90 video and mowing with a reel mower [D] Huge salad with Brussels and Beets topped with my own mix of veggie lentil puree as dressing; [D2] Chocolate Doughnut mess with veggie black bean peanut butter dip, CHO plain Greek yogurt, and pistachios; Cup of  pumpkin protein overnight oats with peanut flour protein paste, frozen blueberries, and more CHO

Q: Do you ever try to offer your healthy advice only to be/feel rejected or ignored?

*Rant Alert* If It's Not Normal to be Healthy......

.....then I guess the obese are super cool! Are you envious?

Do you consider yourself a healthy eater?  Do others around you think you're weird for snacking on carrots instead of cakes, or drinking unsweetened tea/coffee instead of a 40oz (ok, I'm exaggerating) Monster Energy Drink?  Why is this?!?  Why does it seem like most people consider fast food chains and other venues the normal places to go for food, and cooking at home is something they do only when the have to?

The way a lot of people think of food seems flawed to me; the less processed a food is, the more "normal" it should be, and the crap at fast food joints is really the weird stuff.  And of course, a lot of the ones calling me weird for choosing a healthy lifestyle are the same people huffing from walking up a few flights of stairs or just never seem to be in good health. Hmmm, no wonder most of the world is becoming obese and being diagnosed  with sicknesses like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mobility problems, etc.

This topic gets under my skin and to my bones! I hate listening to the people who feel they have to try and justify their unhealthy choices to me (I never asked) by saying they just can't give up this or that because it's too hard.  Yeah, it is as hard for you to just get in and out of your car too?

I know, I sound pretty harsh right now, but it's because I actually care.  I jump at the chance to explain to anyone actually interested and willing to listen on ways to make a healthy switch.  The problem is, not many people want to listen about how preparing their own food and skipping the grocery aisles is good for them.  Nope, instead they want to hear about the pill making bogus, untested claims about losing fat fast, or the latest diet craze.

Years ago, up to being an early college student, I was there too, but then I learned and kept seeking more info on how I can be healthier.  Up to this point, I've concluded it's not as hard as it seems.......just buy as little packaged products as possible and learn to prepare healthy dinners and desserts.

"Heart" Healthy Smoothie With Homemade Protein Heart Bread for Kelley.....better than  any package!

Who else feels this way? I am passionate about food the same way Alton Brown is about using sock puppets.  Don't get my analogy?  Watch a few "Good Eats" episodes.....you'll catch on. Still don't get it? Well, I'm just passionate about healthy food....period.

So why am I posting this rant on my blog?  One, because it's my blog and I can, two, I'm hopeful it will open at least one person's eyes to living a healthier life, and three, it feels good to let it out. I tend to express my thoughts on these topics periodically after they build up inside; here are a few rants thoughts from the past.....

On New Year's resolutions

Sugar Consumption and Obesity

140+ Ways Sugar Affects Our Health

More resolutions with healthy tips

Why Diets Don't Work and a List of Better Options

Please read through some of these as they provide a good amount of information on how to start living healthily and still enjoy living!

Speaking of enjoying life, Zevia has sent me samples of their newest flavors to try and review.  Be on the lookout for my review along with a few recipes and giveaway for a coupon to get your own Zevia 6-pack.

Q:  Are you "normal" or the weird outcast who makes healthier choices?