Eat better food!

If I appear taller than the last time you saw me, have no fear, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. As much as I would love to hit a magical mid 20's growth spurt and jump over that elusive 6' line, I've decided to dust off the 'ol soapbox for the following message: Stop eating terrible food.

Got it? Just stop.

Last Tuesday I made a delicious dinner consisting of salad, strawberries, couscous, and sweet apple chicken sausage. How long do you think it took to make? 30 minutes? 40? Not even close. This dinner literally took 12 minutes to make. 12! From the moment I decided I was hungry and started rifling through my cupboards trying to figure out what to make to the instant I sat down with a hot plate of food in front of me. 12 minutes. As I was twirling around the kitchen I started thinking about how quick this meal was to make and how healthy and delicious it is. And it got me thinking about fast food. How fast is it really?

Can your food run a 4 minute mile? 

I started doing the math and figured it would probably take me 15-20 minutes to get in the car, drive to the nearest fast food restaurant (Burger King), order food, and make it back. 15 minutes. While comparable, it is certainly not faster than 12. But its way more convenient you say. HA! Here was my strenuous ordeal in the kitchen:

START!BoilwaterPutsausageinpanEmptyboxofcouscousintoboilingwaterandremovefromheattakeoutahandfulloflettuceMake8passesoftheknifetocarveupsomeonionstossonsomemushroomsandpouronthesaladdressingputstrawberriesonplatespooncouscousontoplateputsausageoncouscousDONE!

It probably took you more effort to discern the proper places to put the spaces in that set of instructions than to actually carry them out! It was quick. And it was easy. However, the mere fact you hypothetically wanted to drive 15 minutes to get fast food instead of taking 12 minutes to put together a healthy meal brings me to my next point: Your body is your most important investment, why would you continue to put terrible food in it?

Your body's fuel
I cannot, cannot, comprehend how we as Americans continue to spend so much money on so many useless things, yet skimp when it comes to our food. We'll spend the extra money on better quality oil when we get our oil changed or a higher octane of gas when we fill up because we want to take care of our cars but will still continue to buy cheap processed food. Food is the fuel for your body. We need to put quality food into our bodies. At the end of the day, would you rather have a healthy car or a healthy body? Your car can be replaced. Your body cannot. I understand the importance of taking care of your possessions, but do not understand our constant placement of taking care of ourselves as a low priority. I'm not even going to get into the amount of money this country spends on obesity related health issues. I don't have to. You already know its exorbitant. 

Alright, I'm going to step back down to my normal everyday height now. Thanks for listening. I needed to get that out there. Before I go though, I would like to direct you to three films I think you should watch. Food Inc., Supersize me, and King Corn. The trailers for each are below. You need to know what you are putting into your body and how it affects your health. After all, its the only one you've got.