Worth-It and Not-Worth-It Food Stories

I have been intermittently tracking Worth-It and Not-Worth-It Foods—trying to pay more attention to what I eat, recognizing food experiences that are worth it in terms of calories, taste, and enjoyability.  On the flip side, I am trying to stop myself from making eating decisions that are not worth it to me and make me feel bad in the short and long term.  Here are some of the things I have eaten:

Not worth it

• Horrible (work meeting fare) grocery store doughnut with chemical aftertaste
• Reheated old stale Belgian waffle found in back of my fridge on a busy morning
• Sonic drive in chicken sandwich with soggy bun and limp lettuce, eaten in the car before grocery shopping
• Carl’s Jr. “salad” with $5.49 of iceberg lettuce—what a rip off
• Hard salt water taffy (couldn’t tell you what flavor) at my desk from the community candy bowl
• Boring pizza, even ate the crust nubs, in my underwear while sitting on the family room rug

Worth it

• Half of a buttery croissant with raspberry jam on a sunny lunch out with friends
• Fresh berries and spinach from my garden, from ground to mouth
• Corn on the cob at dinner with my kids
• The Hubs’ homemade clam chowder with bacon, made with fear that we wouldn’t like it (and also with love!)
• Smoked pork butt, on a lazy group camping weekend, along with delicious potluck samplings
• Vanilla ice cream with coconut cookie crumbs in the quiet dark of my kitchen, kids tucked in and asleep
• A tall glass of iced tea with lemon—the same drink my mom always likes
• Chicken enchiladas verdes at my kitchen table, in a late but hearty home-cooked meal

Most of my not-worth-it experiences happened when I felt rushed and unprepared. Or when I felt desperate to not taste the inside of my mouth after hours of work dehydration. When I make food an afterthought I also make myself insignificant, worrying more about completing tasks or shoving more plans into my day. The more panicked and overworked I am the more I feel like junk and eat like junk.

Worth-it foods happen when I am relaxing with my family and friends, or savoring a snack in a peaceful moment alone with the sun of my backyard.  If I am in a good place the experience tends to come out positive. The contented feelings already in progress contribute to what I decide to eat and how I enjoy the food.

This exercise has made me reevaluate how I judge my intake.  Foods never stand alone, but instead are part of a story.  So much of popular good/bad food rhetoric is shaped by nutritional science and hard to follow rules.  But when it comes down to it we are shaping our own sagas, with food as a supporting cast.  What we eat is a byproduct of how we live.  I am in charge of my own story, so I should worry less about what I eat and instead think more about creating a happy and satisfying life in general—good choices should follow.