Fasting Fast Food

I keep thinking that I'd like to challenge myself and (much to their dismay) the girls to a period of no fast food. We all eat it way too much. Okay, I'll admit it here and now, but only because I don't think anyone is actually reading this blog. We have fast food at least once a week. At least. Before I had kids, I wouldn't have dreamed of eating fast food once a week. Well, except for during my thesis when I lived two blocks from a Wendy's AND a Burger King. But an architectural thesis requires all sorts of weird vices to get through. Clove cigarette, anyone?

Anyway, I also never thought I'd be feeding fast food to my kids this much. If I think about it too much, I feel terrible. On the whole, they eat well. They eat vegetables, fruit and lots of other wholesome things from Whole Foods. I've stopped shopping at the regular grocery store because I'm pretty sure their meat comes from those scary chicken farms I've seen on those scary documentaries. I try to buy organic produce when I can afford it because I'm scared of Monsanto from all those scary farms I've seen on those scary documentaries. I spend twice as much on organic milk and organic yogurt to avoid hormones and other scary things that can't be good for small, developing children. And yet, I have this blind spot for the Wendy's drive-thru.

I also have a thousand ways to rationalize this blind spot. No time to make lunch, a screaming kid who wants something NOW, a toddler who just really wants to stop at The Chicken Nugget Store, pulleeeezzze. And despite the fact that I don't give in to such demands often, again the blind spot. Maybe I just really want a Spicy Chicken sandwich and a side of fries.

And so, I think of banning fast food from our lives for a week, a month. And I think if I post it somewhere public, I'll be accountable and I'll be more likely to follow through. And then I think of how embarrassed I'll be if I cannot, even with the possibility of a public shaming, quit the drive-thru.

Alas, I'm imperfect. And I can't decide if I'd rather be a shamed fast food mommy who rationalizes my drive-thru runs, or admit that I tried, and failed, to give it up.