Why can’t I just enjoy food anymore?

(c) www.whats4eats.com

A few minutes ago, I was going through my email, when I ran into a coupon offer from an eating place that I have never tried.  It was for a Lobster salad sandwich.   I love lobster.  In fact I love all kinds of seafood. (Can you tell I am not allergic to shellfish?)  In Ohio, it is rare to get any type of seafood, anywhere, unless it comes from Red Lobster, The Columbus Fish Market (I highly recommend it-but expensive) or is breaded (a la Long John Silvers or Captain D’s), so I thought I might stop in today on my way home from a meeting.  After all, it has a coupon attached to the offer.

Like most emails with a coupon attached to it, you have to click in to get to the coupon that contains the reward (which is to print the coupon), so I click on the button.   Once inside the website, I was not greeted with coupon I can print.  Oh no, that’s too easy.  I was greeted with a “Pavlov-like” greeting…”Did you know that the sandwich you are craving to eat is 440 calories?”  It seemed to say.  I was upset that I was greeted with that fact finding tool, that the government seems to demand on eating places these days, but more important, no coupon.

I just realize that people cannot enjoy food no more.  Gone are the days, where we can just go out to eat, and not worry about how much fat and calories we are piling in our bodies.  Since when did the government get so concerned about how much food we consume?  I am not worried about the amount of calories I consume, I am worried about how big of a portion size we are consuming.  I am sure that this one little sandwich is most likely going to have more lobster meat on it than the average sandwich, but what is average anymore?

I heard that my meat portion size should be that of a deck of cards (3 oz.), and that is not all.   A medium baked potato should be about the size of a computer mouse.  A half cup of rice should be able to fill a cupcake wrapper.  One ounce of cheese should be the size of four dice.  And finally, they say that sandwich meat should be the size of a standard slice of wheat bread.   That still does not answer the question on how big the lobster sandwich should be. 

OK what is really in that sandwich?

The other thing that you have to worry about these days, is what is actually in a dish.   There are groups out here who actually gone to “picket line “methods to protest chemicals, such as GMO, BHA, and that chemical that has been reported in Chinese food (I cannot think of the name right now).  I am not here to warn you about these groups, because they actually have some good, legitimate points that makes congress, FDA, and food companies think, but now, I have to police everything that I eat both inside and outside of my own home.  No wonder everything is so expensive from food in the grocery store to a simply meal at Wendy’s.   Remember the McDonald’s scare of 2011?  I refuse to eat a hamburger from there now, because of the fluff. 

So what to do….

Do I still want the lobster sandwich? Yes.  Nothing’s wrong with it except it is high in calories.  Am I cautious of what I eat?  Yes, but you have to weigh out what you think is good for your body.  My doctor says everything in moderation, and that is one the best advice she could give me.  So it is settled.  I am getting the sandwich, but it will be a while before I get another one.