I keep thinking about how bad most of the food that is bad for you really tastes. Every time I think I am "indulging" I am nearly always disappointed. Most junk food is junk food because it is so high in calories. It's junk food because it tastes like garbage.

So here's my idea. Instead of eating a cookie from the grocery store, eat a home made cookie or one from an excellent bakery. Instead of eating a toaster pastry, eat real pastry. ("Mom, I can't believe you're having pie for breakfast!" I hear them say.) Don't eat a Ding Dong or a Twinkie - eat a piece of actual cake instead. Instead of American cheese, where the cheese and the plastic it is wrapped in taste almost identical, get real cheese. Instead of that weird chemical mixture they call coffee "kreamer", use actual milk, or even (gasp) half and half.

Since they taste 10 times better, you only need to eat 1/10th as much. :-) If you don't raise the amount you spend on these things, you can sometimes get automatic portion control. If you normally spend $3.00 on a pre-packaged box of cookies, you would get maybe 15 of them. For $3.00 at the bakery, depending on the size, you would get 1-3. (Although, that is not always the case. I just saw that 24 Ding Dongs cost $19.00. You could get a really nice cake from an excellent baker for that amount.)

Demand better. Treat yourself better. If everybody treated themselves better, by fewer things that are not only bad for you, but don't even taste that good, everything would be better. People would be healthier, and happier. This is a win-win.

So this is what I am doing, in a small way. I don't eat candy bars. But when we were at a restaurant a couple of months ago, they had a dessert called Chocolate. It was a semicircle chocolate shell, and several types and textures of chocolate within and around. It was beautifully presented, and an amazing blend of flavors. I still remember it 2 months later. Does anyone ever remember a particular candy bar they had? Would I give up all candy bars for a year to have that again? Heck, yes!

I am still struggling with this idea. I don't understand why Coca Cola and Pepsi are even in business. Why do people drink Coke and Pepsi, when water out of the faucet (and filtered, depending on where you live) tastes better and is better for you? Why is there an entire half of an aisle in the grocery store dedicated to cookies, when most of them do not taste or feel like a real cookie. Why do some processed foods actually feel like they are burning on your lips and tongue, and why do people put up with that? I get that different people like different things, but still....

Wouldn't most people rather eat less of something much better than lots of something that's not very good?