Thursday, August 19, 2010

pretzels--who knew?

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving up north with a killer headache raging in my skull. Somehow, I'd neglected to refill the bottle of ibuprofen I carry in my purse, so I pulled off the freeway and headed into a Maverick. I didn't want to take ibuprofen on an empty stomach and I was feeling a bit--you guessed it--anxious about the planned meetings and required work effort, and before I knew quite what I was doing, I'd purchased a dark chocolate Milky Way, a roll of Necco's, and a one pound bag of pretzels because I didn't want to eat only sweet treats with my Diet Coke, right?

Oh, and a 24-count bottle of Advil.

I started by tossing back some Advil and then consumed the Milky Way with a couple of gulps of Diet Coke. Mind you, this was before 8:30 am. Over the next 30 miles, I crunched down half of the Necco's and a couple of handfuls of pretzels. By the time I arrived at my destination, I was feeling it from my overstuffed belly, but my headache was easing.

One pound of pretzels is a lot of pretzels. I bought the pretzels because I wanted something salty that wasn't as high in calories and fat as Sun Chips.

If I'd known how long that pound of pretzels was going to last, I'd have bought the Sun Chips. I've been eating those pretzels every time I go anywhere in my car and I still have at least a fourth of the bag left. I keep finding myself feeling that overfull feeling because I can't seem to leave them alone once I start eating them. I keep telling myself, just one or two, but before I know it, I have no idea how many I've eaten, and it doesn't matter whether I pop them into my mouth whole or bite off the little edges and then eat them one side at a time--I just keep eating them.

I bought the pretzels because I thought they would be a healthier treat, but I'm growing weary of pretzels. I can't bring myself to look at the nutritional content of the pretzels, which probably doesn't really matter since I have no idea what a serving size is or how many servings I've eaten. Probably would have been easier on me if I'd bought a couple of those grab bag sized bags of Sun Chips or Cheddar and Sour Cream Lays or Cheetos. Or all of them. And a big package of Red Vines.

3 comments:

Lisa B. said...

It was a sad sad day when I realized that there was not one thing in a convenience store that would be okay, really okay, to eat, and most days, that's okay, because it means that I don't get something at the convenience store. But when I do . . . ugh. Why does that food still--occasionally--look attractive? Why oh why?

feeling your pain, my sister.

Joey said...

I am with Lisa. I think convenience stores set out to stock only unhealthy items. What about the times you really do just need to grab something quick for convenience sake? Is it too much to ask that they would have SOMETHING that wouldn't blow every diet from Atkins to Weight Watchers? Sheesh! Most convenience stores don't even stock more than one or two kinds of diet soda to the 31+ flavors of sugar filled drinks. And don't get me started on the portions sizes? What happened to little bags of chips?

Skybird said...

Hey, I was in a store one morning and they actually had 2 apples and 3 banana's in an attractive picnic basket!

You probably can imagine my guilt as they sat there while I purchased my "larger than life" Energy drinks and cokes!