Love Affair with Potato Chips
September 01, 2008
I broke up with potato chips on Saturday. As I sat on my soggy log and looked out into the forest of trees in various stages of life and death, I had my lunch: barbeque potato chips and water. I sat there staring out, not really concentrating on anything (which makes sense after a two-hour drive) and put orange potato chip after orange potato chip into my mouth. And it occurred to me that I have eaten enough potato chips for a lifetime. Been there done that. There was no excitement any more. There wasn’t even satisfaction. It was rote eating. And that was what made me realize that this has got to stop. I don’t want to ruin my health and my appearance because of a habit.
By the time I got home I had decided that saying NO to potato chips was not enough. It has now been forty hours since I have sworn off white starches. I have said no to bagels (sniff sniff), no to potatoes of any kind (gasp), no to pasta (pause pause pause breathe). No more, no more, no more. And I passed the first two stress tests. I did not break down and have a bagel for breakfast (my breakfast of choice of a lifetime). For lunch, I prepared linguine and pesto for my daughters, and I did not even eat the piece of pasta I bit into for testing purposes—I spit it out.
Surprisingly, I don’t feel deprived, as if I am missing out on something important to life as I know it. Maybe it’s because I have eaten so much white starch already that my entire system is not just saying Okay, we can do this, but It’s about time!
And yes, Mom, I know you told me to do this five years ago, but now I have reached my potato chip limit. Now I am beyond satiated. Then I wasn’t ready. I truly hope I am now.
* * *
I could give up the chips, but not the bread. Never the bread. But kudos to you, Laura!
Posted by: April | September 01, 2008 at 08:47 AM
Luckily I've never been a bread girl, except that morning bagel. I am still holding strong, I had coffee with a friend this morning and that's all I had.
Posted by: Laura of Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman | September 01, 2008 at 10:13 AM
I WISH I were as strong as you. I'm a weakling with no hopes of ever being able to give up starches and therefore doomed to a midlife filled with wide hips and thunder thighs. Ugh...
Posted by: Midlife Slices | September 01, 2008 at 06:10 PM
I have not given up the foods I love. I have however learned to control them, rather than letting them control me.
This means that every so often I rip open a bag of potato chips and dive into them like a pig at a feeding trough. I have no manners or semblance of social grace at these times. I do not share. Share? Touch one of my chips and you'll lose your hand!
Of course, I do this in the privacy of my locked bedroom where nobody can see me - or testify to the carnage.
Yah, I'm in control - NOT!
Posted by: Judith | September 02, 2008 at 06:17 AM
Midlife Slices, Whoa! Did I say anything about life without wide hips and thunder thighs? Those have been with my since, well, time immemorial, I have no expectations there. It's more the feeling of heaviness that I want to stop, of feeling like you do when you "snack" too much.
Judith, I'm assuming that you are talking about the little snack size bags that go in school lunch boxes. You cannot possibly be talking about hoarding a family-size bag all to yourself. No, not possible, none of us has ever done that.
It's been three days! Just to make sure no one thinks I'm stronger than I am, you do realize that this does not include ice cream. Which would be my deal breaker. Another pint anyone?
Posted by: Laura of Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman | September 02, 2008 at 05:19 PM
In my youth, when I had the metabolism that my three daughters are still blessed with, not only did I eat the whole family size bag of chips, I polished off a full container of dip with it! At 5'4" I barely tipped the scale at 100 pounds. I had six-pack abs I didn't even know I possessed until my daughter poionted them out when we were looking at old pictures.
Now, all I have to do is inhale the delicous aroma of a potato chip and I gain weight. And THAT, my friends, is what midlife means to me!
Seriously, I know the feeling full/heavy thing. It is from the starches. When my hubby and I stick to the say no to heart attack diet (chicken & fish, chicken & fish, chicken & fish) lots of fresh salads and fruits - I feel like a cloud floating on air.
Posted by: Judith | September 04, 2008 at 06:31 AM
Now that I am trying to be more attentive to what I eat, my daughters are benefitting from some healthy food too. Today my younger daughter said that I'm going gourmet when she saw the salmon, salad, and pasta. I guess I really have taught her well. (Although she did eat a lot of the starch--which I did not touch, I promise.) By the way, another commonality: I, too, am 5'4" although, I am assuming, there was a minute in time when I weighed 100, but that was in the time when I was still living in my parents home, a long long time ago.
Posted by: Laura of Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman | September 04, 2008 at 04:16 PM