Am I Going To Be One of THOSE People?

I've been eating like a big, fat, stereotypical Southerner all of my life.  Ask anyone who has ever met me, and one of the first qualities mentioned will be my monstrous appetite.  My sister-in-law calls me a human garbage can. Not only do I enjoy Texas (though I'm from Georgia) size portions, but my top picks are usually the most sinful. 

Breakfast for one

The time I got killed by a giant pizza. (I shared this one, guys.)

Now that my metabolism is slowing down and my pants aren't fitting me, my awareness of what this junk food is doing to my body has increased.  It's not just a superficial concern about my waist line. 

Reading up on what's actually in all the tasty treats I love give me the heebie jeebies.  I get a feeling of remorse when I find out that I'm voluntarily pumping my body full of chemicals.  Recently, I found out through the blog Food Babe that one of my all-time favorite movie snacks Sour Patch Kids have GMO and petroleum toxins in them!

source

It makes me think about the insane amount of Twizzlers that I eat on set, the midnight mission to Duane Reade's last week just to buy a bag of Jelly Bellys, and my deadly choices of road trip snack supplies (Ranch corn nuts and Starbursts, anyone?)  The image of my husband's look of disapproval burns into my mind every time I come home with sugary candies filled with corn syrup and weird ingredients I can't pronounce while I protest, "But...it has 2% real fruit juice in it!" Sad, I know.

Ever since I got my Fitbit, I've been better about my meal choices.  Sweet snacks have been a little more tough to tackle, but I find that having little nibbles of dark chocolate and having fruits handy during cravings really helps. Pineapples have been my go-to saviors. Oh, I also picked up this bag of licorice candy at Fairway today.

I tried these mango flavored ones, and each stick was so soft and delicious! (They feel like chubby, boneless baby fingers.) 

Reviews on Amazon were very favorable toward the strawberry flavored ones so I'm curious to try those, too.  Darrell Lea uses real liquorice root and the color and flavor are derived from natural sources.  All five flavors are also vegetarian-approved.  Now, this product does contain sugar so you shouldn't go consuming bags of them at a time. But I figure it's better than Sour Patch Kids aka Vaseline poison.  I know that the ideal thing to do is to avoid bad ingredients.  But am I really going to dissect every nutrition label? And if I'm at a restaurant, forget about it.  Although I get a sense of pride from those people who make everything at home and demand to know what goes into their bodies, I think it'd be really difficult for me to turn down a plate of juicy ribs and mashed potatoes with mysterious origins from a restaurant. Really difficult.

I know that I'm always going to cheat a bit.  I just had doughssants over the weekend (Chickalicious' version of the cronut. Thumbs up!)  

I'm also going to a dreadful all-you-can-eat wings night next week. And I am going to kill it.  However, I'm really hoping to eventually wean out horrible food and make my own organic, more healthy versions of the vices I just can't let go of in my life.  

What about you?  Are you aware of what goes into your body and treat it like a temple or are you a pure hedonist/don't-give-a-flipping-burger-about-nutrition-labels kind of rebel?