My favorite YOYO "meal". YOYO: You're On Your Own
Like I referenced in yesterday's post, saltines and peanut butter is a YOYO meal. It's a find-whatever-you-can meal. Scrounging, freezer diving, picking old french fries out of the baby's car seat- all YOYO meals.
I know that last example sounded a little gross, but I'm just trying to drive home the fact that everyone-fends-for-himself meal planning is NOT the way to go. Because of three things:
1. Unbalanced nutrition. When you eat whatever you can find, you miss out on essential nutrients. And I don't mean chocolate or sugar (you'll probably get plenty of that). People should be eating meals with vitamins and minerals, fats, carbs, and protein. Not what grows in the back of the fridge or under baby's car seat.
2. Erratic eating. This goes hand in hand with unbalanced nutrition. Before my husband got married, he would skip meals, and sustain himself on things like cottage cheese, bagels and cream cheese, or yogurt. For an entire day. While this is an interesting experiment for a single bachelor dude, it's probably not the best idea for anyone else. In addition to not eating enough, his ready-to-eat bread and dairy products were expensive. Other favorites of YOYO eaters? McDonalds, frozen Hot Pockets, ice cream and huge bags of candy. You know, the kind you keep in your truck.
3. A famine mentality. This is probably the most damaging of all YOYO effects. When you get in the habit of scrounging for food and/or eating erratically, it is easy to binge. It's easy to eat food just because it's there. Who knows when you'll find something this good again? So you just eat everything. You always take seconds and sometimes thirds- especially of "good" food like cake, cookies, or chips. When I used to make cookies, I would eat five or six. Sometimes more, plus licking the bowl- just to make sure I got some. I was like a squirrel stocking up for winter... on cookies. Now this might work for a growing teenage girl... but again, not the best idea for anyone else. Had I continued with this famine mentality, scrounging and eating whatever I could find, I would have blown up like a balloon after I married, being surrounded by food and having easy access to it all the time. I'm still a little squirrel at heart, but it helps to not keep junk food or prepared food around. Pigging out on ketchup, milk, or flour is no fun.
What's the solution to YOYO meals? The answer to everything...my new book! Now out on Amazon.
Like I referenced in yesterday's post, saltines and peanut butter is a YOYO meal. It's a find-whatever-you-can meal. Scrounging, freezer diving, picking old french fries out of the baby's car seat- all YOYO meals.
I know that last example sounded a little gross, but I'm just trying to drive home the fact that everyone-fends-for-himself meal planning is NOT the way to go. Because of three things:
1. Unbalanced nutrition. When you eat whatever you can find, you miss out on essential nutrients. And I don't mean chocolate or sugar (you'll probably get plenty of that). People should be eating meals with vitamins and minerals, fats, carbs, and protein. Not what grows in the back of the fridge or under baby's car seat.
2. Erratic eating. This goes hand in hand with unbalanced nutrition. Before my husband got married, he would skip meals, and sustain himself on things like cottage cheese, bagels and cream cheese, or yogurt. For an entire day. While this is an interesting experiment for a single bachelor dude, it's probably not the best idea for anyone else. In addition to not eating enough, his ready-to-eat bread and dairy products were expensive. Other favorites of YOYO eaters? McDonalds, frozen Hot Pockets, ice cream and huge bags of candy. You know, the kind you keep in your truck.
3. A famine mentality. This is probably the most damaging of all YOYO effects. When you get in the habit of scrounging for food and/or eating erratically, it is easy to binge. It's easy to eat food just because it's there. Who knows when you'll find something this good again? So you just eat everything. You always take seconds and sometimes thirds- especially of "good" food like cake, cookies, or chips. When I used to make cookies, I would eat five or six. Sometimes more, plus licking the bowl- just to make sure I got some. I was like a squirrel stocking up for winter... on cookies. Now this might work for a growing teenage girl... but again, not the best idea for anyone else. Had I continued with this famine mentality, scrounging and eating whatever I could find, I would have blown up like a balloon after I married, being surrounded by food and having easy access to it all the time. I'm still a little squirrel at heart, but it helps to not keep junk food or prepared food around. Pigging out on ketchup, milk, or flour is no fun.
What's the solution to YOYO meals? The answer to everything...my new book! Now out on Amazon.
Seriously, it's not the answer to everything, but a meal plan is just what you need to reverse your famine mentality and keep you from bingeing on candy, ice cream, or beef jerky sticks (the kind you keep in the truck). Having a plan- and enough groceries and food in the house- will stop the craziness of YOYO eating and give you peace about where your next meal will come from. These meals are balanced and healthy. I promise if you start eating meals off of the Pizza Night plan and stop eating that big bag of orange circus peanuts for breakfast, you will be healthier.
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