NEW YORK (AP) - Americans talk skinny but eat fat. No matter that First Lady Michelle Obama has been on a crusade for a year and a half to slim down the country. Never mind that some restaurants have started listing calories on their menus. Forget even that we keep saying we want to eat healthy. When Americans eat out, we order burgers and fries anyway. "If I wanted something healthy, I would not even stop in at McDonald's," says Jonathan Ryfiak, 24, a New York trapeze instructor who watches his diet at home but orders comfort foods like chicken nuggets and fries when he hits a fast-food joint.
Of course we lie about what we eat, who's going to admit to pounding a small McDonalds #10 as an appetizer when you're driving to someones house for dinner? No one. And I'm going to tell you I had a healthy chicken and veggies dinner, not going to mention that I had such a healthy dinner to leave room for a brownie and two cookies after dinner, just going to ignore that completely.
I lie on annonymous surveys at work. Seriously. Every year we have this health survey at work to gauge just how quickly everyones fat asses are expanding, and every year I lie on it. How many servings of fruit do you have a week? Without a doubt I'll answer 3-6...I haven't had 3 servings of fruit this month unless you count the couple off bowls of raisin bran I've had. On average how much physical activity do you get a day? No question I'm answering 30 minutes, which is only true if you add up all the walks back and forth to the printer and my car in the parking lot, but I'm pretty sure that's not what they're looking for.
I signed up for a second gym membership (that's right two!) this past week, just so I can casually toss that into conversation and save some face about my health. Nevermind that I haven't been to the first gym in probably 5 months. I walked to that gym last night, got on the treadmill and did 15 minutes of cardio and was legit exhausted. 15 minutes. I rationalized it because I'd walked a quarter of a mile to get there.
I got home and had every intention of eating healthy, was going to get steamed chinese chicken and brown rice, but when I got on the phone it was like I was autoprogrammed: Teriyaki chicken, white rice and a side of fried crab rangoon.
