To Fry, or Not to Fry?     

Ok, we’ve all been there, we’re trying to eat healthy, but we are in a situation where the options for healthy choices are limited, or your nemesis food is present, and you are sorely pressed to avoid it.

Without going into too much detail, I’ve been practicing an intermittent fasting, and low carb/high fat way of eating. Also known as IF/LCHF.   What this means is that I typically avoid eating too many, and sometimes virtually no carbs.  When I say virtually, I really mean that I don’t seek out carbs/sugars of any kind, however, there are usually some hidden or stealth carbs which you can’t easily avoid. 

Stealth Carbs

For instance, a cup of broccoli without anything added to it contains about 3 carbs.  A cup of green beans contains about 7 carbs.  These items have overall health benefits, so I eat them.  Another example is something like Muenster cheese, 1 ounce has about 8 grams of fat, and 7 grams of protein, and a small fraction of one gram of carbohydrates.  This is what I mean when I say I get incidental carbs in my diet.  Another example is Sam Adams Summer Ale….  10 carbs.  Ok, that’s not really an incidental and unintentional carb, but a fella’s gotta live, know what I mean?

So, to get back to my main point, last Saturday night, after I had been working all day, I met up with Nicole, and our cousins at Mason’s Brewpub.   Andy and Jaime aren’t able to visit super often, so we didn’t want to miss out on getting together.  Now, it was 8:30, and I did have something to eat at about 5:00, but I was still hungry.  Well, honestly, I’m not sure if I was legitimately hungry before I got there, or it was triggered when I got there and smelled the good food. 

Lizard Brain Rules!

We sat down, and my inner lizard brain said, “FEED ME!”  Now, usually I can tell my lizard brain to be quiet, but it was much harder than usual.  I looked at the menu.  There were a lot of tasty choices, some which do not fit well with my way of eating, but hot damn, they would have tasted good.  I avoided the pizza, which I used to love, and decided on a burger.  I ordered a burger with cheddar, bacon, and mushrooms… hold the bun.  I was doing so good, until the server asked what I wanted for a side.  The list started with fries, which you could have plain, dirty, or hot and dirty.  My lizard brain screamed in Victory!  The Dirty fries at Mason’s are amazing… if you like fries that is.  Well, my lizard brain loves fries. 

Like a UFC fighter who taps out in submission when in a choke hold, I gave in to my lizard brain.

I was robotic, like someone had taken over my brain and vocal chords, I told the server, “Dirty Fries” and she dutifully replied with “Good Choice.”

But it wasn’t.

If I had looked down a little further, I could have had Salt & Vinegar Pork Cracklins.  That would have been a much better choice for my Low Carb/High Fat way of eating.  But I ordered the Dirty Fries.  Since the others had already eaten earlier, they got a couple appetizers/snacks, so I wasn’t eating alone.  Did I unintentionally make the rest of the table feel weird because I was going to eat, and they probably would not have if they were home instead of out?  Maybe. 

That is one of the challenges of food in social settings.  We experience unintentional pressure to go with the flow.  To make a choice outside of what our brain tells us is the right thing to do.  Why does that happen?  I don’t think my evolutionary brain really had a hankering for dirty fries, but did some part of my hormonal system click on in response to the smell of tasty food?  I’m not totally sure, but my food arrived.

Time to eat the French Fry…

The burger, which was the healthy rational part of my meal choice looked amazing and smelled even better.  I looked at the fries, and even though it was a little dark, they looked like fries, but with seasonings and flaked parmesan cheese.  They looked just like fries, defenseless little pieces of potato which had been fried in some type of fat, then put on my plate and seasoned for my pleasure.  Why was I afraid of them?  Why did I feel somewhat ashamed that I had given in and lost my battle with these pathetic little pieces of chopped up and fried tuber?

I knew what they represented to me.  I had several weeks where I had been faithful to my way of eating which had been producing excellent results from my diabetes.  My Libre had been giving me positive feedback that my way of eating was doing wonderful things for my blood sugar readings.  I had been losing weight, in the neighborhood of 1 to 1.5lbs per week and was at my lowest weight in the last couple years.

Speed Bumps!

I was on a roll… and these dirty fries became a speed bump in my forward progress.

I ate them.  I’d like to say I truly enjoyed them, but I don’t recall getting any significant enjoyment out of consuming them.  The burger on the other hand was downright amazing!  I can say without reservation that I definitely relished consuming the burger.  The burger was so good, that I didn’t feel the need to add any condiments to it, even though I had ketchup handy for the dreaded fries.

I finished the burger, and picked at the fries, I was satisfied with what I ate.  I didn’t need more, so I simply stared down those lifeless spudlings, and said inwardly: “You’re not worth it!”  Sure, I ate half of them, but that was it.  I would consider it a bit of a pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless because I easily could have and would have eaten them all, and if I were not in polite company, I would have considered licking the plate!  I knew when to stop…  Plus, if I started to lick the plate, I’m sure I would have been whapped upside the head by Nicole.

Arch Nemesis

French Fries have been somewhat of a nemesis food for me over the years.  They are pure carbs, with a fair chunk of fats also coming along for the ride.  It’s highly unlikely anyone at the table was fully aware of the inner struggle going on over a couple chopped up taters.  I might have said something like “I probably shouldn’t have ordered the fries, but oh well,” but that was only a slight tip of the hand as to what was going on inside my brain.  I know the Newly Minted Pharmacist ate WAY too many fries! 

The power that certain foods can have over you cannot be understated.  I grew up the child of an Alcoholic, and in many ways the power of certain foods can be likened to that of alcohol, or any other addictive substance. 

Incidentally, those fries probably were in excess of 80 to 100 carbs…  It’s hard to tell because it wasn’t a measured serving, and I didn’t eat them all.  Suffice to say it was more carbs that I ate all week in the one little serving of fries.  It was Tuesday before I no longer experienced a significant dawn phenomenon with my blood sugar readings on my Libre.  I’ve learned through feedback from my Libre that even small doses of carbs are not good for me or my blood sugars. 

I like to think of this incident as a further learning experience, and do not consider it a failure.  If you are struggling with losing weight, or improving your diabetes, please reach out to me, I’d like to discuss options that have worked for me, and others.

-Todd