An issue that’s slapped me firmly on the chops this week is the issue of eating healthily; not just “cutting down” and eating low fat food, I’m talking about the bigger issue of consuming enough food to keep the system ticking over, and getting the balance right.
the monk bought lunch
This Doors lyric has nothing to do with anything, except the word lunch… Lunch is the meal that’s giving me the most grief currently. Go back just a couple of weeks and lunch was EASY. In fact the only problem I had was deciding which delicious curry, Chinese or roast pork option to choose…
The basic problem is I need to grab something that ticks the boxes in terms of nutritional value AND calorific content. I need to be able to grab it and head back to the office in about 10 minutes or thereabouts. I don’t want to spend more than ten bucks.
options are time-consuming
If I walk into Hungry Jacks, it takes me about 30 seconds to locate a meal deal on the board and even less time to place the order. Even if there are queues, everyone else orders things quickly enough that it doesn’t take long to get to the front of the queue.
If I walk into places like Sumo Salad and the MYO (Make Your Own) sandwich place there’s a wonderful range to choose from – and that’s the problem. By the time you decide which ingredients constitute a balanced meal, assemble them, queue up (and these places get busy because the pretentious crowd invade en masse) – it’s all rather inconvenient really.
healthy = trendy = expensive
Another issue is that healthy food is very trendy and trendy things attract premium prices. There’s even possibly some psychological thing that makes people think they’re getting something really special, because they paid more for it.
By the time you put together a sandwich (say), a side serve of some sort, some kind of snack etc. you are going to be well beyond the cost of a Hungry Jacks value meal (or whatever they call their meal, drink, fries, dessert combos).
we need healthy fast food
Now I admit that much of my issue is that I need to educate myself about healthy eating. Armed with greater knowledge I might find it a lot simpler and easier to do. However…. even the most committed health freak must have days where they simply don’t have time to browse options, or prepare lunch themselves.
The food industry caters magnificently for the unhealthy masses – you can get fries, nuggets, burgers, fried fish etc. from practically any street corner. So why hasn’t someone come up with a healthy fast food option? Imagine if you will… quick service, low cost, great value meal deals that give a good balance of carbs, protein, veggies… low fat and conveniently packaged into “meals” so you don’t have to waste time on decisions!
it would benefit everyone
On top of all this, it would provide accessible healthy options to people who currently head to a burger place simply because it’s so convenient. That’s why people eat “bad” food so much, it’s literally handed to them on a plate and their kids get a piece of plastic shit bundled with it.
The closest we have got is some of the fast food chains coming up with so-called healthy options – funny how those healthy options are frequently revealed to be not-so-healthy. It’s just lip service from the fast food giants.
So yes, I know I need to educate myself, but is it really too much to ask for a healthy version of modern convenience foods?