The United State’s is known as the fattest country in the world. And it is slowly getting to be known as one of the most uneducated countries (statistics, not calling people stupid). I came from Dominican Republic where my mom would cook almost every day a decent food (by decent I mean not full of fat). Every now and then we would go out to eat pizza and once in a blue we would stop at a McDonald or Burger King, we would usually prefer Taco Bell. But now I’m in college where there is no time to cook and everything needs to be rushed. What matters the most is what is open the latest and could deliver. Because of this I would say I eat at least twice or three times a week junk food, usually a cheeseburger (or double) and probably some bacon with it too. It is my fault that I am lazy and not go to the gym as often as I should. But I’m not overweight or in health problems, this is just my case and how I ended up eating more junk food than usually.

In school there is a “wide” selection of what we could eat which is usually divided into Grill (burgers, grilled chicken, anything else fried or very unhealthy with fries) , Deli (sandwiches which are good but a bit overpriced sometimes) , Pizza and Pasta, Others (Sushi once in a blue, Chinese food, Salads, etc.) The funny part is that the cheapest one is the least healthy one. But this year they have made great changes to the vending machines adding nutritional packages and labeling them so we could identify it. In my case I say I would average 1 slice of pizza a week, 2 or 3 burgers, 2 orders of fries, 2 or 3 grilled chicken sandwiches, 2 salads (new to my menu). This is minimum and a quick estimate. I don’t drink soda unless it’s free or I go out to eat to a fast food place.

All of this thinking comes from me watching Super Size Me, the very well known documentary about fast food and it’s impact in health (mainly McDonald). One of the most surprising things to me was learning that the can of lemonade brings just as much calories as a can of soda would. I would of thought well it’s juice, can’t be that bad…but I was wrong. I always find it weird that people never consider the portions they eat. The popular way of thinking is what is going to fill me up and it’s not too expensive. Specially in college life where every dollar matters. I’ve been successful on giving up soda, drink it very rarely. I’ve also managed to stop eating fries except for when I go Wendy’s or some other burger place because it’s part of the combo and it’s just easier to order. But now my new goal will be to give up Burgers in general. This might be one of the hardest challenges I have given myself. But I’m positive I will accomplish it one way or another. The best thing to do is drink water, all the time. The more water you drink the better you will be. It is the best way to clean your system.

Yasser