Fast Food vs. A Quick Meal

So much for being prepared: my meal plan for the week got really screwed up for several reasons, and by tonight I was caught completely unprepared for dinner. We also had to run a couple of errands in the evening before dinner, and in the process I was left a little frazzled...and still without an idea for dinner.

The way I felt by the time we were heading home tonight, pre-South Beach I would have easily caved and stopped for fast food. Instead, we took a detour to the grocery store for a couple of items and were able to put together a reasonable, quick meal when we got home.

So why, I wonder, do we tend to think that picking up some "fast food" is a good idea? It's virtually nutrition-less (sorry...it's got lots of fat and refined carbs, which is technically considered nutrition. The more PC phrase would be "good-nutrition-less"); at least half the time you go through the drive-thru you end up getting home to find you are missing items from your order (and usually it's the one thing you really, really wanted); and by the time you've left the house, gotten in the car, driven to the restaurant (I use that term loosely), waited in the drive-thru or on line inside, and gotten back home, you could have thrown together something really simple and easy...and lots more healthy. In my opinion, the only thing fast about fast food is the onset of regret.

I do understand the draw...the food feels pretty good on the way down. (Oh, those wonderful, salty, crisp-on-the-outside-but-buttery-soft-on-the-inside french fries...) But when you consider that when all is said and done, we spend a total of maybe 2 hours a day eating, and the other 22 hours paying for it, which would you choose: the few minutes of evil edible bliss followed by hours of sluggish, bloated hell...or the same few minutes eating something nourishing and nutritious followed by hours of energy, productivity and overall contentedness?

I'm voting for option #2. Life's too short to spend it on the sofa in a fast food coma.