Chipotle, considered

The Generation Y Big Mac

The NY Times has had the blogosphere pinging this past week with a look at just how many calories you eat when you eat Chipotle. Chipotle is what I referred to last week as the "New McDonald's", a "fast-casual" restaurant chain that serves up Mexican-influenced food that is easily customizable and supposedly healthier than the old "fast-food" McDonald's. With a close look at exactly what people are eating, the number of calories consumed at Chipotle are really not that different than what people were eating at McDonald's.

You can be cynical and just mutter 'Murica! under your breath, and assume fat-asses will get their fat-ass calories no matter what, whether wrapped in an image of the Hamburglar or lubricated with the sheen of "food with integrity™". One fully-loaded Chipotle Burrito packs the caloric and salt punch of two Big Macs. I only had my first Chipotle Burrito last Spring and was kind of surprised how heavy it was, but also was surprised how much I liked it.

'Murica.

It's been NYC law for a while that all chains with over 10 or so locations must post calorie counts, and this law is being rolled out nationally. (Thanks, Obama!) While McDonald's is pretty cut and dry with everything being the same anywhere, with Chipotle everything is customized so each item displays a range of calories. Being all modern and with-it, Chipotle has a user-friendly on-line nutrition calculator that takes the mystery out of it. According to the research, a typical burrito is over 1000 cal, and once soda, chips and guac are added, can easily double for almost an entire day's budget of calories. 

Personally, I skip cheese, rice and sour cream but always go for the guacamole, and my burrito is just under 900 calories, which for me is a very large meal. I match it with a homemade 2/3 pounds of big green salad (200 cal) after a day of light eating to stay somewhere near my calorie budget. For years, McDonald's big defense of their explosively fattening food is that it was "a healthy part of a balanced diet", failing to really define or advise on what that meant, leaving it in the laps of the individual. In this day and age, finally we are being given the information needed to individually tease that out.

Still, it's the new McDonald's. It can be brushed away as cynicism that this is just more of the same, but there is an edge of truth to it. Convenience as a tent pole is an American value that blurs what we are actually sacrificing.  Cheap food at the expense of our planet is another blurry tent pole, but I have to give credit to Chipotle for starting to alter the landscape of massive meat producers in the US by pushing back on ethical and environmental standards -- when the chain goes ahead and pulls an in ingredient due to lack of availability of a meat due to a major producer not meeting their standards, it makes the news (and yes, good publicity for the type of consumers to whom it matters.) I'm wary of corporations gaming the media to produce positive thoughts to maximize profits, but at the same time the ideal of free-market capitalism is that if there is enough left-wing pinko commies in the market place who want to eat, supposedly the market will start to reflect that. It's just the cheating, stealing and profit-at-all-cost ideology built into corporatism that makes me very uneasy.

Actually, McDonald's is becoming the "New McDonald's" with an international interior/exterior design facelift and a new system of customizing burgers. It's kinda....sad.

When I first started looking at seriously changing my eating permanently to permanently change my weight, I indulged in McDonald's once a week during the week as an emotional sop and release. That soon was replaced by Subway's veggie burger, just as convenient but marginally healthier. I'm finding that once-a-week habit now being replaced by Chipotle, though the shear number of calories makes it an uneasy fit. Gosh, I may have to stop being so lock step and maybe mix it up week to week to suit my needs of moderation on the fly! Now wouldn't that be something. Something in my head is whispering perhaps this is an interesting path to walk down.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2817
Dramatic week, not as hard as past months, finding my appetite coming back with a vengance. I guess that's a blessing and a curse.

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MONDAY COUNT: 3345

SLEPT: 10:30pm - 7am, 8.5hrs
Ironically, because of feeling better than I have in a while, my hunger came back with a vengeance.

AM SNACK: 9 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, Fage  with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, momma salad, cheezits 310 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, poppa salad with dressing, 200 cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, cashews, 340 cal

DINNER: 5:30pm, flounder, asparagus,  485 cal
1945

EVENING SNACK: 6:30pm, popcorn, +/-400 cal

VARIOUS SNACKS: 7:30-8:30pm, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, crackers and cheese, +/- 1000 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2565

SLEPT: 11pm - 7am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 7:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:30pm, mussels and fresh pasta in wine & olive oil, 1 donut, herbal tea, +/- 700 cal

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310cal

DINNER: 6pm, sautéed chicken breast over poppa salad with dressing, pickles,  445 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, cashews and chocolate chips, +/- 600 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2755

SLEPT: 11pm - 7am,  8 hrs

AM SNACK: 7:15 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 255 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, Chipotle Burrito, poppa salad with dressing, 1080 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, cashews and chocolate chips, +/- 500 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2870

SLEPT: 11pm - 6:45am,  7.75 hrs

AM SNACK: 7 am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, pickles, 610 cal

PM SNACK: 7pm, momma salad, cheezits, 3100 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, Souffers French Bread Pizzas, 840 cal

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, chocolate chips and cashews, +/- 500 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2550

SLEPT: 9:30pm - 6am,  8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice,  80 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, Fage with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:30pm, poppa salad with dressing and sautéed chicken, pickles, 420 cal

DINNER 1: 5:45pm, hot dog and fries, ice cream, +/- 800 cal

DINNER 2: 8:15pm, ramen, shumai, +/- 900 cal