Fast Food

      Living in California means living a fast paced life. Which is why most people don't have the time to have a well thought out meal. However, I was lucky enough to grow up in a large family where somebody is always available to, "take care of the kids." When I was a child both my mother and father had full time jobs and because of that we, my sisters and I, were babysat by our grandfather. My grandfather took care of all the children in our family while our parents went off to work so to keep us entertained he would take us all to McDonald's. All six of us would share the 20 piece meal of chicken nuggets and I, being only a child, treated it as if it was a delicacy. However, this was not always the case. When we got rowdy, we would not get our 20 piece meal. In a way, it was more of a treat for behaving throughout the day. When we were not being babysat, we never indulged much in fast food. My mother, even though she had a full time job, would always go out of her way to make something for us to eat, even if she wouldn't be home to eat it with us. Occasionally she would just simply not have the time to make dinner so we would go out to Grandfather's Pizza in San Diego, where we lived at the time. Complete with an arcade, it was a haven for young children like myself. As I got older so did my sister and when she got her license nothing was out of reach. We went everywhere! I guess you could say we overindulged a little. Why wouldn't we? It was cheap, fast, and best of all we didn't have to rely on our parents for it.
      Now that I am older, I realize how unhealthy fast food actually is. Everybody always said that fast food made you drowsy but I never actually realized this until all I ever felt was exhaustion. I try not to rely on it as much even though it would be easier to buy a slice of pizza than grill a chicken breast. I won't lie, I do eat fast food but now when I do, it's in moderation. For example, when a friend has a birthday we'll all go out to eat or a family birthday party or when I am running late for work and simply don't have the time to make a lunch. Those are some occasions when I will eat junk/ fast food. However, when I let myself slip I feel very sluggish and on occasion I'l even get a stomach ache but eventually I just get used to it. Juggling school and work is very time consuming so sometimes I just don't have the time to think out a meal and just eat the most convenient thing at my disposal. Since my mom has decided that my sisters and I are old enough to make our own meals, she never cooks for us. As you would imagine, this is a very inconvenient thing for the new college student. Fast food, I believe, is a very easy trench to fall into when you are not being cautious and fortunately I am trying very hard to not fall in like most people that are in my position.