Foods

My foods section is divided into two main groups: food for the home and food on the road. Since I do most of my eating on the road, the resources, over time, should be rather extensive. Feel free to submit any comments for my benefit.

Foods at Home

My breakfast meals are almost exclusively taken at home, and they are easily the most boring, but sweetest, part of my diet. Every day, I start with a bowl of Quaker Instant Oatmeal. I've tried store bought brands, but they just didn't taste as good to me. I use my Costco membership to purchase a box of 55 packets of the product in four flavors (5 Plain which I never get around to eating, 16 Apple and Cinnamon, 14 Cinnamon Toast and 20 Maple and Brown Sugar). I just heat up a cup of water for a minute in the microwave, then I stir in two packets of the day's flavor, wait a couple of minutes, and I slowly savor each sweet bite. This is the only meal that has a noticeable amount of sugar in it.

Then there are the inevitable snacks. I buy fruit. It doesn't matter what fruit you buy, just make sure that it's fresh fruit so when you get that snacking urge, enjoy yourself. For me, it's a mix of apples, bananas, cherries and grapes, but feel free to expand on the list. Just keep enough around so you won't have the excuse of getting something else because you're out of fruit.

I'll address home based meals later, but for me, that just hasn't been an issue.

My rules on foods are not so much what you eat as it is what you don't eat. When I started on this, I had four rules for avoiding stupid stuff. In other words, I would remind myself not to eat stupid stuff. What's stupid?

Ground or shredded beef. I love beef, and while I know that there are less fatty packages of ground beef out there, I can't count on restaurants to be using them. So no burgers, and when I go to Chipotle, it's always the chicken bowl. Notably, I occasionally have a steak.
Cheese intensive foods. This includes pizza, nachos, quesadillas, smothered enchiladas, etc. Yes, I have cheese as a garnish occasionally, but I avoid the intense stuff. Someone once asked if pizza no longer appeals to me. Oh, it does. I love pizza, but I haven't had any for a very long time. I may have it again someday, but pizza is a big part of why I became what I became. I should note that the cheese thing is due to its fat content, and while I don't have a separate rule for it, I also avoid flour tortillas for the same reason.
Deep fried foods. This should be obvious, but there have been no french fries, no buffalo wings, no chimichangas, no taquitos, no potato chips, etc. If it's deep fried, it's evil to me.
Sugar filled stuff. So I don't eat desserts. I don't drink soft drinks with sugar. I don't have just one little piece of birthday cake. I'm filled with pride when I thank my friends for offering, and yet I still maintain my strength.

Restaurants

Over time, I may move this to its own page, but for now, enjoy my critique of restaurant menus. For each restaurant, the menu is reviewed item by item. My comments on their appropriateness have not been scientifically tested, but they work for me. The list is arranged alphabetically so you can find your favorite restaurant quickly. Remember that I live in Surprise, Arizona, so the locations listed reflect my own eating habits.