The Man and I are on the road this week, a little vacation - first in 2 years, actually. We took a road trip from our home in NC and will wind up in Bowling Green, KY where we'll be doing an investigation with the Ghost Hunters! It was the Man's birthday present, and I'm quite excited to be meeting Amy and Adam from the show.
The hardest part has been how to eat on the road. It's not so much that I can't find anything to eat (though we did bring a baby blender and my protein shake mix along with a cooler that has some milk in it), but I feel so wasteful when we sit down for a meal.
Last night we ate at a local steakhouse in Logan, WV. I ordered what seemed to be "small", a steak salad. Holy hell - this thing arrived in a bowl/plate bigger than what the Man's steak was served on, and could have fed me for at least 4 meals. I got about half the meat in, and a tiny dent in the salad, and it looked like I sent back my entire meal.
Today, for lunch we ate at a little diner in the historic district of Georgetown, KY - I had their small burger, and managed to eat not quite half of it, and a few nibbles of a french fry or two. The burger was so good I wanted more, but I knew if I took even a bite more, I'd end up losing it.
What struck me even more, though, was how big servings are in restaurants these days, particularly in "fast casual" chain restaurants (Applebees, Chili's, O'Charley's, etc, I'm looking at you). Portions are just enormous. I've eaten all over the world - from Europe to Japan, Mexico, Scandinavia, and even Russia, and have never been served so much food as we are here. No wonder so many of us are obese!
As much of a "foodie" as I am, I recognize how much portion creep has contributed to the battle so many of us are fighting. While I may have forced portion control on myself with my RNY surgery, it's something I'll have to deal with moving forward in choosing the both the right dish, but really the right restaurant. From a portion, value, and quite frankly - quality - perspective, your local establishments are a far better choice than the frozen processed junk that corporate restaurants want to serve us.
So with that said - we're off to a local Thai place, where I hopefully won't insult the owners with my meager consumption - but I'm assured by a local friend, it's damned good eating!
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