My question, however, came from a different place and from more personal sources. I dont want to give anyone an excuse to eat junk food just because they find themselves being like me, but I can say that for me, in some situations a burger is definitely more healthier than eating a salad.
Let me explain. I'll do it based on an example from last night (..oh those Sundays). I was home thinking what should I have for dinner. As all the shops were closed and I didn't have anything real easy and appealing at home, I figured I could just as well walk to the burger place by the corner and get a burger. However, sometimes habits and 'norms' really work 'for us' so as I'm not used to doing that and there was no special occasion or other excuse (and not even anyone to accompany me doing that :O) plus it's more expencive and 'more unhealthy' as I figured, I didnt do it. Instead I stayed home and ate my pure soup made of different vegetables. But there wasn't much left so I also made a salad with almost everything I could find from my fridge. And as a desert I had a piece of fruit. And then I had some cookies my roommate gave me.
So that's the story. BUT. As I have a 48-hour exam in Physical Activity coming, I've been studying a lot, so I wouldnt have to do it during the exam when I guess it'd be better to focus on actually completing the tasks. So today I was sitting in my room, reading and thought about the fact that I should move more than just the walk to the grocery shop earlier in the morning. It made sense and everything, but I didnt feel like going for a run. And there I was, discussing with my self, when my brain went like 'and yeah..I did have just a salad for dinner yesterday...if I'd had the burger, of course I would neeeed to do something...but no, I just had that salad..' And I even recognized the same kind of argumentation with my self from before. repeatedly.
So out of curiosity I compared the nutrients and energy I got out of the dinner of mashed vegetables and salad with everything + an apple + a crispbread + cookies against the one I figured the burger would be, using www.tap.nutridata.ee (in Estonian), and found out that energy-wise my healthy dinner was leading, having about 200kcal more, (under the assumption that if I'd just had the burger I probably would have been feeling bad/guilty and not taken the cookies from my roomy).
And now I was sitting and my (even though educated in that field) brain figured that having a burger=need to go running; salad = can easily stay home. Of course the dinner I had gave me so many different and useful micronutrients whereas burger would have basically been just protein and saturated fat, BUT
-calorie-wise the burger had less
-having a burger makes me go running
I did go running anyway and enjoyed it, but...it did make me think how wrong it is to think that eating healthy won't make us fat. Healthy food can easily provide you with just as many calories, but it doesnt come with the feeling of guilt or necessity to do something about it, as 'junk food' often does.
Of course one's body gets more vitamins and minerals and hopefully better-quality fats from healthy food and is likely to feel better, but just so you'd know - having a salad instead of a burger doesn't make it at all less necessary to move. ;)
k.
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