The Lost Art of the Salad

Joanna and I have a go-to lunch salad.

It's got 2 cups of spinach, 2 pearl tomatoes, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1/2 cup of raisins, 1/4 cup of walnuts and a small block of teriyaki-flavored tofu. It's tossed with 2 tablespoons of honey mustard dressing and seasoned with salt and pepper. If we had a ripe avocado, you bet your ass I would have tossed half of one in there.

It takes 5 agonizing minutes to prepare. It serves two, and it's 660 calories. That's 330 calories per person. If you put your portion in a whole wheat wrap, it's 450 calories per person. If you take out the walnuts, you save yourself 100 calories.

Have 18 or 20 grapes on the side, and add 100 calories.

This meal cost between $5 and $6. It feeds two. That's about $2.75 per person (add $.25 for the wrap).

Now ... let's compare to a McDonald's value meal.

Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese Value Meal

The Quarter Pounder with Cheese Value Meal (medium size) comes with the burger, fries, drink. It's 1100 calories with 45 grams of fat and 1460 mg of sodium. This meal costs between $5 and $6 depending on the location. Per person. That's $11 or $12 for two people.

Yes. 330 CAL vs. 1100 CAL.

Yes. $5.50 vs. $11.50, on average.

Let's say you were feeling adventurous and decided to get the Double Quarter Pounder Value Meal -- the large one. That would be 1550 calories. 67 grams of fat. 1730 mg of sodium.

If that's not enough, consider the fact that the homemade salad doesn't require a drive-thru. The salad isn't processed or fried in beef grease. The salad doesn't make you feel like shit all day; in fact, it energizes you. It has essential nutrients.

Let's say you eat a #3 value meal every day for a year. Ignoring the fact that you'll be disturbingly unhealthy, you'll have spent just over $2,000 on lunch alone. For yourself alone.

Eat the salad every day for a year, and you'll spend just over $1,000 on lunch. You'll save $1,000. 


You can't isolate health. What you eat plays into every part of your life. It affects your cholesterol as much as it affects your pocketbook.

CHALLENGE

Don't eat fast food for one week. Don't cheat.

See how you feel after one week. 

Calculate how much money you saved on breakfast, lunch, dinner for one week.

If part-way into that one week, you begin to feel withdrawal, then that means you have an addiction to fast food and, more specifically, to processed foods. If you drive by a McDonald's or a Wendy's or a Taco Bell or a KFC with the windows down, and you're tempted by the smell from the drive-thru, then you have an addiction. You shouldn't be tempted by this. You should be sickened by this. This should be further incentive to keep up the fast food ban. It's expensive, processed, fatty, calorie-ridden garbage. 

Don't see that on the menu.