You Deserve A Break Today

If you are over 40 you will recognize the title of this post as the 1970s slogan for McDonald’s restaurant. In the late 70s I was mom to two young children and we were regular visitors to McDonalds where the food, prices and atmosphere were focused on young families like ours. As the children got older we gravitated away from fast food restaurants and for many years have not really visited any of them until recently. This post is me fessing up to the fact that I succumbed to all the fast food marketing hype and fell off the healthy eating wagon hard.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I am part of the Boomer generation where we have celebrated enough birthdays that nostalgia is very appealing. Clearly marketing agencies have tuned into this idea too. So, when I saw an ad for McDonald’s bringing back the McRib, my all time McDonald’s favourite, they had my attention. Some of the ads even showed seniors like me enjoying a McRib meal. How could I resist? After seeing this ad repeatedly over the next few weeks, I finally gave in and convinced my husband to come with me to McDonalds for a McRib. And full disclosure here, I had the full meal deal- fries, soda and the McRib. I figure if you’re going to do it you might as well do it up big! I wish I could say that it didn’t taste as delicious as I remembered, but in fact it was soooo good, maybe even better than I remembered. Thank heavens it is not a regular item on the menu.

Just as I was recovering from my McDonalds lapse in judgment, Tim Hortons decided to get on the nostalgia bandwagon too and brought back some of their most popular donuts. I do go to Tim Hortons for coffee on occasion, but usually am able to resist their sweet treats. That is until I was confronted with a rack full of dutchies, my very favourite Tim Horton’s donut, right in front of me. I wish I could say that I dug deep and resisted, but alas no. Before I knew it I had a dutchie in my hand and, well, you know how the rest of that story goes. At least I only had one.

Third Time Lucky

I don’t know if you have ever tasted roasted garlic, but it is heavenly. None of the sharp, pungent smell and taste of raw garlic-just a smooth creamy, soft taste. So, when Burger King advertised a roasted garlic Whopper I knew it was just a matter of time until I was going to indulge. I did resist for a few weeks but eventually I gave in. Given that this was the third time in a matter of a few months that I found myself eating fast food, I was somewhat relieved, yet also disappointed, that the roasted garlic Whopper did not live up to what I had imagined it would be. However, the silver lining to my disappointment was that it served to jolt me back into reality and off the fast food train. I am happy to report I have now been fast food free for over two months. Thank you Burger King!

And so, I hope this mea culpa will serve to give those of you considering a visit to a fast food restaurant the strength to resist and to also know that if you do indulge it is possible to recover. That said, I recently had a relapse and had some Kraft dinner… sigh.

We do a new post every Monday, so stay tuned for our next one entitled “In Search Of….”