Day 8: Doritos Are Not Healthy

Sorry, I should have warned you to brace yourself.  You can pick yourself up off the floor now.

Okay, eating an entire bag of Doritos is probably not the best thing for yourself, and for the record, neither is ice-cream licking, cereal munching, popsicle slurping or popcorn popping (particularly the tons of butter kind) at any given time of the day, and yes, definitely late at night.  We all know this stuff, it's common sense! So why do we do it?  Well a smoker knows smoking is bad for his health (if he doesn't then he's been very disconnected for quite some time) but he still smokes.  Two words come to mind:

ad·dic·tion    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (-dkshn)
n.

1. 1. Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.
   2. An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions.
2. 1. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something.
   2. An instance of this: had an addiction for fast cars.

hab·it    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (hbt)
n.

1. 1. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
   2. An established disposition of the mind or character.
2. Customary manner or practice: a person of ascetic habits.
3. An addiction, especially to a narcotic drug.
4. Physical constitution.
5. Characteristic appearance, form, or manner of growth, especially of a plant or crystal.
6. 1. A distinctive dress or costume, especially of a religious order.
   2. A riding habit.

There are two definitions that ring clear to me, and they are: The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something and A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.  Well, that works for me!  Case closed... or not.

A neighbor of mine is a drug counselor.  We probably bar-b-que once every couple of weekends and will talk a lot about his line of work.  He's got more stories than anybody I know and it isn't hard to spend hours out on the deck listening to them, but I recall one statement in particular that he made while I was questioning the state of an addict.  To me, it doesn't make sense.  He has stories of so many people destroying their lives, living in filth, going crazy, and on the verge of meeting death due to their inability to control their addiction to certain drugs.  I've met several and have seen a couple friends of mine do it.  So I said to him 'I don't understand how people can live that way, don't they know what is causing their problems?'  You can see where this is going I'm sure.  My neighbor responded with a statement that put so much into perspective that ever since then I've looked at our actions with a completely different outlook.  He said 'Well, I was able to give up pot, cigarettes and alcohol... and now I'm 300 lbs.' 

So in essence, we trade in one vice for another.  I don't think he intended his words to have such an impact.  He probably doesn't even remember saying it.  But to me, it was a nice wake up call. 

Snacking is a normal thing for me.  When I'm bored, I pick up a bag of chips.  Much like my soda drinking, it fills in the gaps.  I don't watch much TV, but when I do, you can be certain to find something to munch on right next to me.  Sometimes, not to be out-slothed, I'll be sure to have a makeshift chair/table next to the couch with soda, a bag of chips, and for the sake of variety, we'll have a few Chips-Ahoy cookies there as well.

So far my anti-soda experiment is going well and went smoother than I thought.  I'm not craving the bubbly so much anymore and my body seems to have adjusted quite well to the lack of caffeine.  In fact, the only caffeine I'm taking in now is that from my morning cup of coffee, and whatever amount is in the glass of iced-tea I've been having at lunch.  The water thing isn't so bad at all.  I feel more refreshed and awake than previously (although there were a couple days at first that I almost fell asleep while walking) and it seems like my body as a whole has been replenished a bit with whatever it was lacking (my guess would be water).

So for baby step number 2, we're knocking out snacking.  This is a rather large step, however, in the fact that it's a little harder to 'replace' snacking for something else, like I did with the soda/water thing.  One thing I'm going to have in my assault though will be keeping busy.  I've got a lot of stuff going on over the course of the next week and I have a feeling that if I can keep myself occupied, munchies will be the least of my concern.

No soda, and now no chips... what have I gotten myself into?  The cashier at the grocery store will be giving me strange looks when I go shopping this weekend I'm sure.

Comments

[Edgar]

My co-worker and I were just talking about the nature of vices and how we only transfer that need for instant gratification from one vice to another.

At least for me, I came to the conclusion that I'm trying to fill some sort of void with my addiction. What that void is I'm not sure but acknowledging the act is the first step towards treating it.

My hat's off to you. Well, my imaginary one anyways.

[Valerie]

It's so hard to change our behavior. But it's doable. Old habits can be replaced with new ones. This week I'm getting into the habit of exercising 1 hour every night on the elliptical machines at my gym. This is turning out to be a harder habit to get into than I previously thought. Although my salad eating habit is coming along quite nicely.

Good luck.