Why not cook?

Last night I made a pretty delicious dinner (not boasting here...it was simple): grilled pork chops, steamed broccoli and roasted, mashed cauliflower. It was so good that I sat thinking, "Why in the world do I ever just run out for chicken nuggets? That stuff is hardly considered food and this tastes so much better anyway!" I was on a "healthy high" (ya know, those moments where you're at a complete motivational peak and believe that you are unstoppable). I finished dinner (I may have even licked the cauliflower off the plate...don't judge) and then took my plate to the kitchen. This is where I slammed my face into reality: the sink FULL of dishes. How were there so many dishes? I swear I only prepared three items! Thankfully I tend to clean the kitchen counters and such as I go so the room wasn't messy, but I dreaded those stinking dishes. And that's when it hit me...I'm a lazy butt! Haha!  I'm kidding :-)  Well...maybe not. Fast foods are convenience foods. We allow someone else to take care of all the parts that we don't want to: the cooking, cleaning, and yes...the dishes. All we have to do is stuff our faces and throw away the paper at the end. And that's what we do...we stuff our faces, without thinking about what we are putting into them. Recently many restaurants have added calorie counts to their menus, which is definitely beneficial in making better choices. But is it enough to just eat fewer calories if they still provide no nutrition and perhaps introduce harmful substances into our bodies? I'm a moderation kind of girl. I know that this is not the end of my drive-thru ventures, but I also know that I owe it to my body to eat food...real food. Because this?

CHICKEN MCNUGGETS:
Ingredients: White Boneless Chicken, Water, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Seasoning (Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Salt, Wheat Starch, Natural Flavoring [Botanical Source], Safflower Oil, Dextrose, Citric Acid), Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavor (Botanical Source). Battered and Breaded with: Water, Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Yellow Corn Flour, Bleached Wheat Flour, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Lactate), Spices, Wheat Starch, Dextrose, Corn Starch.
CONTAINS: WHEAT
Prepared in Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil with TBHQ and Citric Acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid
added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf 

Yeah, this isn't food.

It's time for me to put away the excuses and think about what I eat. I'm certain there will be a future post about planning ahead, because that truly is the main ingredient that I am often missing. Stay tuned;-)