How Long Have You Been Fast Food Free

[TomM]

In a previous life I was a fast food junky. Over the past 2 years I have been weaning myself from it and today it occurred to me that I haven't been through a drive-through in at least 8 months. For me, eating fast food wasn't about the taste or quality of the stuff. It was just too easy to drive the car to the speaker and order a large #1, cheese, no mayo and coke. Nowadays the thought doesn't even cross my mind to visit the drive through.

Anybody else have a similar experience?

[my58vw]

I have cut down my fast food intake to max per day. I have been fast food free for about 3 hours :cry:

Working full time, going to school full time, etc makes it hard to resist the temptation to eat that stuff. I used to get breakfast, luch and sometimes dinner there a while back.

[Doctor Morbius]

In a previous life I was a fast food junky. Over the past 2 years I have been weaning myself from it and today it occurred to me that I haven't been through a drive-through in at least 8 months. For me, eating fast food wasn't about the taste or quality of the stuff. It was just too easy to drive the car to the speaker and order a large #1, cheese, no mayo and coke. Nowadays the thought doesn't even cross my mind to visit the drive through.

Anybody else have a similar experience?I don't think I'll ever be completely fast food free. I have cut back on coke's/soft drinks though. Even though I only drank the diet ones I'm still much better off drinking water. I bought a Brita water pitcher at a garage sale a while back for $3 that had 2 new filters with it and I've been hooked ever since.

I've also cut way back on beer. Had quite a bit last weekend with a few friends but prior to that it had been about 5 months since I last drank beer. I used to be a twice a week beer drinker and never touched the hard stuff unless somebody at the bar was buying shots or something. Actually thought I might have a problem with it at one point as I had cravings and generally when I got started I didn't want to stop. Could be related to my sugar problem though. Going out and having 2 beers just didn't appeal to me. Had to have several. It's been about 3 years now since I've cut back drastically on the beer. I still enjoy going out and whooping it up occasionally but gone (hopefully) are the 2 day a week binges.

Now if I can only conquer donuts! There's a great bakery here in Indianapolis called Long's Bakery. Some nights it calls my name. Everything they have is pretty terrific except for the brownies - not enough pot! Sam's Club has some pretty decent brownies though.

Fast foods though? I've cut back from a few years ago but don't eat enough of them now for them to be a real problem. That doesn't mean that my diet is perfected, but I don't hit the fast food joints more than twice a week total. Come to think of it, I just got some McDonald's coupons in the mail. May have to check out those 2 for 1 deals.

[jim-bob]

I dunno, I just had pizza and beer after a nice little dirt ride. Does that count?

['nother]

About 2 weeks, maybe (depending on what you define as fast food...)?

I have definitely been cutting back though . . . tough as it is to fit in, I love the taste & satisfaction of cooking my own meals, and the benefit of knowing exactly what goes into them.

[Toyota_4Runner]

I have been Fast Food Free and I mean not even getting the smallest of item for 2 1/2years.

[mnutini]

The only fast food I'll eat now is an In-and-Out burger once in a very long while.

[DXchulo]

Man....summer is almost here and I'm about to become a fast food slave. It's almost time to return to the good old Arby's summer job.

On the topic of actually eating fast food, I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but I'm in college on a meal plan and that's all I have available for dinner on weekends. I usually go to the sub place and get a meatball sub because it's the cheapest one (which I don't really understand....three little slices of deli meat cost more than four big meatballs?). I haven't had fries or Coke since high school. I could pay for some real food, but I don't have the money yet. Next year I'll start grad school and I'll (a) be going to a bigger school with more food options and (b) be getting paid to go to school, so I can finally get rid of fast food for good when it comes to both working and eating.

I can brag about this, though: I have never in my life driven through a drive through.

[socalrider]

One of my standard rides takes me right by an In N' Out.. Those are usually the days I end up going and getting a double/double..

Same here cut back a lot, about 2x a week maximum..

[kf5nd]

hmmm... about 14 hours now

[Big Lug]

3 months!

[jennings780]

2 1/2 years. None. Zip. Feels great.

[Gordon P]

I am vegetarian who is into good nutrition and taste and fast food simply does not fit in with my lifestyle. I can’t comment on what the food tastes like or the service; but fast food restaurants are a blot on the landscape, their decor is hideous and their garbage litters the landscape. They also seem to target children, promote unhealthy living and poor labour practices. Maybe high levels of taxes, controlled advertisements, pollution legislation and warning labels would help stop this fast food menace. I tend to place fast food in the same category as tobacco.

[alison_in_oh]

Took a road trip last summer and hit fast food for several meals. I was experimenting with pescetarianism at the time, so I stuck with fries at the burger joints and had a wonderful bean and rice taco at a Taco Bell. Since then though I've stayed away from everything but Subway and even that I only do less than once a month -- a six inch tuna is a HUGE lunch!

I do get my greasy fix at the local pub though. :) Mmm, beer and cheesy nachos.

[rule]

Had a small Quiznos Turkey Lite sub and garden salad combo on Friday after a crisis at work killed my usual lunch routine. Before that, I can't remember the last time that I have eaten fast food. It would have to have been some years ago. Supersize Me only confirmed my long held belief that eating fast food is on par with smoking for death wish purposes.

[lala]

I can't remember how long it has been. Probably @ 8 years?

[* jack *]

My first job: 15 yrs old at a fast food restaurant
Duration of job: 2 months
My current age: 31
Years since a fast food meal: 16

*I highly recommend this book: Fast Food Nation (http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=681944), by Eric Schlosser 2001

[simplyred]

LOL jack..

Man.. now that you mention it..
I haven't had fast food for awhile..
I think I'm gonna go get some this weekend..
Muahahahaa..
And yes, I've seen Supersize me and read Fast Food Nation...
I think that's why I've laid back on it.. but it won't stop me from making a French Fry Run...

[timmhaan]

i eat some fast food about once every other week. usually just something small, and usually the healthiest thing on the menu.

[Marge]

I am vegetarian who is into good nutrition and taste and fast food simply does not fit in with my lifestyle. I can’t comment on what the food tastes like or the service; but fast food restaurants are a blot on the landscape, their decor is hideous and their garbage litters the landscape. ........
It's so true, Sunday went on the Daffodil Classic, and biked 70 miles over some really, gorgeous,
scenic, countryside. Had to stop looking in the ditches as they were absolutely littered with
fast food cups and wrappers. People must fling this stuff out of their cars.

[Gordon P]

Yeah I was 8 days from nowhere in my canoe up in Northwest Ontario and I found fast food wrappers on the shoreline and the closest fast-food place must have been 400 km. away.

[cheebahmunkey]

it's been almost a year I think. When you say fast food I don't count the salads (I don't eat dressing or wonton strips) or the chicken (I get them with lettuce and tomato only). Granted they are on crappy white bread buns but sometimes fast food is the only food I can get and I decided I would eat the healthiest thing on the menu.

[Guest]

A while, I think. I can't remember when I went to one of those fast food restaurants. But this new McDonald's opened downtown, and I'm thinking about heading in there.

Koffee

[forum*rider]

I don't remember the last time I had fast food.

The stuff just doesn't appeal to me.

Closest thing I have had to fast food in awhile are those chicken bake things at costco. I love those...

[K6-III]

Had fast food once in the last 2 years...felt so sick afterwards...never again!

[jnbacon]

No Wendy's, McD's, BK, Jack-in-the-Box, KFC, etc. in over a decade. Pizza happens maybe once every four or five months, usually coinciding with a trip to NYC. A glass of soda every two weeks or so. The rest of the time, mostly unprocessed stuff, mostly vegetarian, and we've been practicing something someone wrote in this forum, limiting the stuff that we can't not eat if it is in the house (for us it's chips) to once a month or less.

That said, I used to work in a mostly vegetarian food co-op, and the most popular aisles by far were the chip and soda aisles! Lots of "good" food can still be junk, though I don't know how far you can take that the opposite way.

[Mikabike]

In a previous life I was a fast food junky. Over the past 2 years I have been weaning myself from it and today it occurred to me that I haven't been through a drive-through in at least 8 months. For me, eating fast food wasn't about the taste or quality of the stuff. It was just too easy to drive the car to the speaker and order a large #1, cheese, no mayo and coke. Nowadays the thought doesn't even cross my mind to visit the drive through.

Anybody else have a similar experience?


About 6 hours or so. Maybe more.

I had a fruit bowl for dinner from Wendy's. I usually get a salad from Jack in the Box for breakfast (no salad dressing though) and an unsweetened iced tea.

I think several places have fresh fruit, salads, and other goodies on their menus now. When your single it's a life saver cause any fresh fruit you get with your weekly groceries turns to mush in 48 hours.

I've been eating like this for 4 months and yes I've cheated, I've cheated a ton, but I've lost 40lbs. Now if they could just make the hamburgers cost $5 and put the fresh fruits and salads on the 99 cent menu I would be happier.

[MelloneeM]

i eat fast food all the time. I guess I shouldnt but its tempting. I ate at mcdonalds this morning and had 3 egg mcmuffins a mc gridles and 4 hash browns. Im not proud of that. I probably weigh about 400 and im 22. The most exersise i get is walking to the elevator then waiting outside while my boyfriend or friend pulls the car around for me to get in, If not I have to huff it and take a rest inbetween.Anyway my old crown vic gets me to the fast food reliably If i can muster enough energy to walk to my car. I hope i can loose enough weight to ride a bike

[53-11_alltheway]

The only fast food I'll eat now is an In-and-Out burger once in a very long while.

Those are too good. Best hamburger place.

Speaking of junk fast food try those breakfast sandwichs from BK....LOL.

[Mikabike]

i eat fast food all the time. I guess I shouldnt but its tempting. I ate at mcdonalds this morning and had 3 egg mcmuffins a mc gridles and 4 hash browns. Im not proud of that. I probably weigh about 400 and im 22. The most exersise i get is walking to the elevator then waiting outside while my boyfriend or friend pulls the car around for me to get in, If not I have to huff it and take a rest inbetween.Anyway my old crown vic gets me to the fast food reliably If i can muster enough energy to walk to my car. I hope i can loose enough weight to ride a bike


Troll alert.

[iowarose]

I have pizza about every other week or so. Sometimes I go to KFC for a fried chicken fix (you can take the girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the girl...). I've really lost my taste for burgers and fries, so the other places don't have much appeal.

[* jack *]

<snip> Now if they could just make the hamburgers cost $5 and put the fresh fruits and salads on the 99 cent menu I would be happier.

This is the way it's going to be, unfortunately. We are mired in a situation where you have to pay a premium for healthy/organic foods, and the peddlers of crap food are practically giving away the poisonous stuff for free.


i eat fast food all the time. I guess I shouldnt but its tempting. I ate at mcdonalds this morning and had 3 egg mcmuffins a mc gridles and 4 hash browns. Im not proud of that. I probably weigh about 400 and im 22. The most exersise i get is walking to the elevator then waiting outside while my boyfriend or friend pulls the car around for me to get in, If not I have to huff it and take a rest inbetween.Anyway my old crown vic gets me to the fast food reliably If i can muster enough energy to walk to my car. I hope i can loose enough weight to ride a bike

I thought the US government eradicated trolls back in the 1950's ?!?

[nick burns]

I can’t comment on what the food tastes like or the service; but fast food restaurants are a blot on the landscape, their decor is hideous and their garbage litters the landscape.

It's disgusting how many fast food wrappers I see on the roadside everytime I ride. That and beer cans & bottles. DUI laws seem to be doing very little to discourage drinking while driving.

Oh, to answer the thread question, probably around 3 years. I tried the BK Veggie burger when it first came out. It was terrible.
And I don't consider pizza a fast food. I live in Jersey, pizza can be a gourmet meal here. :)

[zebano]

2 weeks since my last subway meal and 2 months before that, I had some Arbys. Generally I have about 1 meal a month at fast food, either on the road or a craving for a eggs and sausage on an english muffin (wow those are bad for you).

[TomM]

This is the way it's going to be, unfortunately. We are mired in a situation where you have to pay a premium for healthy/organic foods, and the peddlers of crap food are practically giving away the poisonous stuff for free.

This is what I call the Walmart syndrome.

I thought the US government eradicated trolls back in the 1950's ?!?

But then DDT got outlawed.

[SipperPhoto]

If you don't count pizza, and I don't, it has been quite awhile. I will occasionally get a sandwich from a bakery by work. I have pretty much sworn off McD's now for probably close to a year, and even before that it was maybe only 4-5 times a year. Whenever I eat it, I feel like crap.

I just don't have the desire for it, and the only I even come close is In 'n' Out... still not the best for ya, but at least it's fresher than the rest. And Even that is maybe just 4-5 times a year...

After watching "Supersize me", I was really disgusted at fast food in general, even though I felt that movei was a bit heavyhanded.

JEff

[Dutchy]

Well our team is sponsored by Quiznos. So I eat it about once a month. Other than that I may have Maccas about once every two months. I don't consider pizza junk food. It's just dough, salami and some vegies, pretty harmless as long as it isn't eaten every day.

CHEERS.

Mark

[beppe]

I can't remember the last time I ate at a fast-food chain restaurant. Probably 5 years. Being a vegetarian helps in that regard. Also: I think that McRonald's is gross, and every time I walk by it very nearly makes me gag.

[beppe]

We're only counting fast-food chains, right? Because I had some sushi for lunch, and it came out super fast (less than 3 minutes) and wasn't premade.

[Raiyn]

Troll alert.
You think? :rolleyes:
I had one of those chicken wraps at Arby's on Saturday. It was the first fast food I'd had in a LONG time (like months)
I will admit to LOVING burgers, not your typical Mickey D's pressed horsemeat ones either. A good hand formed American Diner style medium rare Bacon Cheeseburger done up all the way with crinkle cut fries. <drool> :D
Me, I can't usually get 'em cause my girlfriend's a vegetarian, which pretty much makes me a vegetarian too, but I sure love the taste of a good burger. :D

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of tofu, but I'm also not the world's greatest cook so I live with it for the most part. At least we do have chicken and fish fairly regularly and once in a blue moon she surprises me with a steak so I guess I shouldn't complain too much...

(Tofu sucks don't tell her I said that)

[bcritch]

Fast food chains are responsible for too much suffering of sentient creatures (animals that make up the food). Chickens that have never walked on grass? Cows in concrete enclosures? Pigs that never see the outdoors? All three pumped full of growth hormones and denied exercise to get fat as fast as possible? Yuck.

If you like fast-food, though, and live in a city, check out an Indian "Chat" place. "Chat" is the Indian equivalent to fast food, a lot of it is fried, too, so it is not all lettuce and cauliflower! :)

[RocketsRedglare]

Its really hard to classify "In and Out" as Fast Food, considering the products are all fresh and never frozen. Probably better quality Burgers than high end restuarants.

I went hardcore and gave up fast food about two years ago. totally eliminated it and soft drinks from my diet, and lost ten pounds without even trying. About 3 months ago I had a hankering for a big mac, broke down and ate it. Kind of regretted it afterwards.

Since then I eat fast food maybe Twice a month. Still no soft drinks

[kylen721]

I have not had fast food in about 3 months, unless you consider chick fil a fast food (which I dont) and I havent had mcdonalds in almost a year the only fast food I ate before was sonic and taco hell... I also eat pizza about once a month and subway sometimes.

[Stubacca]

I haven't been to a burger joint in about 2 years. I did pick up some breakfast biscuit thing at Wendy's a few months back at Houston airport on the way back from Peru - took one bite of that thing and threw it out, so I don't think I really need to count it! I eat Subway and Quiznos occasionally, but only ever the low-fat ones - can't stand a greasy, fatty sandwich. If I can't bring lunch in (which I usually can't when I'm travelling for work) I try to find a non-chain sandwich shop or somewhere that serves a good salad.

When I have a burger craving, I usually cook up a batch of homemade turkey burgers. Just mix up 1 lb of lean turkey mince, an egg, breadcrumbs, fresh herbs and a dash of chipotle tabasco. Makes four awesome burgers. :D Throw a few hickory chips on the coals and it's even better...

[Crash Dummy]

I've pretty much completely given up fast food (McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc). I may have had it once during the past year, under extreme duress. However, I don't count certain chains as "fast food." Like Subway, for example. Their food isn't deep fried and loaded with grease. However, I still only go to Subway a handful of times a year, typically when I'm on a long drive somewhere.

I've also been soft drink free for about three years and can't really stand the stuff any more.

[halfbiked]

The big 3 (BK, McD, Wend) are nearly entirely eliminated from my lifestyle. The last time I had a BK burger (alas, within the last year) I nearly vomited - it was that horrid. However, there is a smaller chain slowly spreading around and out of the region. Have y'all had culver's? Holy crap is that stuff tasty. Chock-full 'o fat, but its the good, tasty animal fat, not the partially hydrogenated synthetic fat. A big bacon butter burger (they butter & toast the buns) is seriously a heart attack on a plate but it sure puts a smile on a person's face. Side it with an order of onion rings & chase it down with a shake (custard shake, not ice cream), and you're looking at a 2500 calorie meal. Of course a person shouldn't have one of these delights very often, and believe me the usual clientelle there appear to be 'regulars', but if you're going to 'cheat' the diet and hit a burger joint, why not hit one thats going to do the soul some good?

Fat means Flavor, I say!

[EricD]

I don't want to eat fast food anymore. I stopped entirely this month. But I need help. Where can I go to grab a quick bite. Is pollo loco considered fast food? What about the salad at carls junior? I dont know where to go eat.

Eric

[Mikabike]

I don't want to eat fast food anymore. I stopped entirely this month. But I need help. Where can I go to grab a quick bite. Is pollo loco considered fast food? What about the salad at carls junior? I dont know where to go eat.

Eric


The WEndy's fruit bowls I've been chomping on are only 220calories including the yogurt. It's a sizeable meal and with an iced tea its enough to satisfy me.

Jack in the box salads are good and their chicken pitas are very low in calores, Ithink 260 and taste awesome.

Your in SoCal right?

[cheebahmunkey]

I have not had fast food in about 3 months, unless you consider chick fil a fast food (which I dont) and I havent had mcdonalds in almost a year the only fast food I ate before was sonic and taco hell... I also eat pizza about once a month and subway sometimes.
not to sound like a dick or anything but Chick Fil A is fast food. There's a drive through window. Most of their food is fried. I'm guessing their ingrediants aren't exactly as fresh as they should be. So I guess I would only consider the grilled options there "not fast food".

[velocity]

Hey Gang new burger restraunt out there

http://www.funny-pictures.biz/Funny%20Pictures/whats%20hot/ByPassBurger.gif