Moderation vs. Forgiveness

Moderation vs. Forgiveness

I always hear that you can eat anything in moderation.  Coffee is good in moderation.  Chocolate is good in moderation.  And I do believe that this is true.  One can eat anything in moderation so long as it's real food.  However, one should never eat hormones or chemicals in moderation.  When it comes to substances full of chemicals, additives, hormones, processed sugars, high levels of salt, blah, blah, blah that companies try to pass as food, there is no such thing as in moderation.  You should never ingest those substances.  

I've heard people say that eating at McDonald's is okay in moderation.  I have to vehemently disagree.  Have you seen what chicken mcnuggets look like before they bread it (with more chemicals) and deep-fry it?  Have a gander at this!  That, my friends, is absolutely not real food.  And we haven't even discussed the burgers.  And when we let our children eat at these fast food places (I will NOT use the word "restaurant"), we are creating a fast-food client for life.  They develop the taste for those fast-food substances, and McDonald's has a lifelong customer.  Why do you think Happy Meals have toys and are so cheap?  Yep.  Lifelong customer.  It's even worse when we make McDonald's a treat once in a while.  Treats are supposed to be good, right?  Arguments about moderation remind me of my friend who is an alcoholic.  He told me once that he now only drank half the bottle of vodka a night instead of the entire bottle because he was going to start drinking in moderation.

I could write a tome about what's wrong with McDonald's (and BK and Wendy's, etc), but that's not the point of this post.  This post is about forgiveness.

So you've taken your kids to McDonald's.  Heck, you've eaten at McDonald's more than a few times and enjoyed it.  But please don't give yourself a break by saying that it's okay to eat fast-food substances in moderation.  Because when you do that, you allow yourself to go there over and over again, albeit in moderation.  Eating chemicals, hormones, processed food in moderation?  That's one big lie. 

Instead, call it for what it is.  A mistake.  Something you should regret.  (In his TED talk, Jamie Oliver calls it something quite more than a mistake, which you can view here.)

Then forgive yourself.  

That's right.  Forgive yourself, but don't allow yourself to think that it's anything but wrong. 

And you know what?  Tomorrow's another day.  Commit yourself to cooking something easy and healthful for dinner.  And to try not to go to the drive-thru again.