Do I Disappoint You

 

Well, I can just say that plateaus suck. I grant you, I have not been perfect. I ate out all week-end and I was not reasonable. I realized that what I wanted to believe was the “old me” is still there inside, looking for the opportunity to come out. First, it was on Saturday night. I was having dinner with friends and the place they picked was a buffet. Tons of food, from different cuisine styles (but mostly unhealthy), all you can eat. I never took the “all you can eat” as a challenge, but in my mind, overeating at buffets has to do with the fact that no matter what or how much you eat, you’ll end up paying the same price. And at that place, the price was more than I would have paid if we had gone to a regular restaurant and eaten an appetizer as an entrée or a salad. So my old self kicked in: “If I’m going to pay for a lot of food and not be able to take any home, I might as well eat as much as possible here to make my money’s worth.” And so I did. I couldn’t even really count the calories accurately. The worst part is I deluded myself into thinking it was okay because my friends (normal weight) were doing the same.

It makes me wonder why - and how - society got to this point, where quantity of food is perceived at least as important as quality. I mean, the restaurant was huge and PACKED. For the whole time we were there, there was a line to get in. For the same price, one could eat better quality food in a nicer setting. Sure, you can’t refill your plate for free, but do you really need to? It’s not a question one asks when there is more food to sample and that it’s not going to cost more. To be able to offer such a big variety and quantity, the restaurant has to cut somewhere, and I’m willing to bet it’s on the quality. Sure it tasted fine. But good taste doesn’t mean quality. Fatty, salty or sweet food tastes good but it is not quality food.

And don’t get me started on chain restaurants like Pizza Hut or the like. If you live in a place where you can access small, local restaurants (and I don’t mean the local greasy spoon), I believe you’re better off eating out there. It’s likely the food is better; you can develop a relationship with the owner and get a good knowledge of how they make the food, the provenance of ingredients, etc. Plus, you’d be encouraging a local business and contributing more directly to your community. And it’s not really going to cost you more (man, I paid almost 25 CAD for crappy buffet food!)

So the plateau, yeah. It might very well be my own making.