Wednesday, September 19

Hiding McDonald's Chocolate Milkshakes from Dave

If there is one thing that Dave is good at, it is insuring we eat healthy meals all the time. There's the occasional dinner out where no vegetables graze our plates, but this is a rare instance, especially with our vegetable garden and CSA-farm membership. Right now we have tomatoes and squash galore... and the last things I want to eat are tomatoes or squash. I want chocolate milkshakes.

Today I drove out to Target for a prescription pick-up, and suddenly I was starving. The past two weeks of school have been very busy for me, and I've been eating and running, or not eating regularly and then finding myself famished at 4:30pm, my last meal at 7:30am. And when the hunger hits, the blood sugar level drops dramatically. So I was walking to the car with my prescription and suddenly my body was crying out for something to eat. So I drove the car through the McDonald's drive-thru, ordered a small chocolate milkshake, and proceeded to suck it down as fast as I could before getting home.

It was around 5:00pm, and rush hour traffic should have saved me from having to come clean about ordering a chocolate milkshake, at McDonald's, no less, but unfortunately I was driving the wrong-way in the traffic, and I got home too fast. Plus, I was about to give myself a monstrous ice cream headache to boot. So I sulked up the stairs and hoped he wouldn't see the milkshake cup I placed on the kitchen counter.

But he did, and being Dave, he only said, "A milkshake, huh?" And thus I felt guilty that I had consumed a milkshake right before dinner. I told myself I shouldn't drink these things. But that's what I wanted. And it had to be better than a Big Mac and fries.

All of this is in my head, of course. Dave isn't passing judgment on the McDonald's milkshake; he's sad that he wasn't around to share one with me. It's my own guilt recycled around - you're feeding this baby WHAT? You don't want your children to eat junk food , and yet you're ordering it through the drive-thru and forcing the fetus to consume this milkshake? Yes, that's really where the guilt comes from - all the perfect mommy books and perfect parenting guides that tell me drinking one McDonald's milkshake will destroy this child growing inside. So dealing with my food guilt is really dealing with the perfect parent brigades - and it's about ignoring those people for a little pleasure, taken in small doses. Because I'm pregnant, damnit. And I should be able to have a milkshake.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

go ahead and eat whatever that little peanut growing inside you wants (as long as you also eat all the healthy food Dave pushes at you!). I want my first grandchild to come out happy and smiling :)))

Anonymous said...

And by the way....none of those "perfect parents" have perfect children. Only your mother and I do!!!

Anonymous said...

Sarah, I loved your blog. You should save them and publish it into a book. Anyway, I ate tons of m and m's when I was pregnant with Brian. He came out great so keep eating those milkshakes if you desire them. They DO have protein in them. Enjoy being pregnant!!Please pat your tummy for me and so hi to the little person. Love, Aunt Lori

Anonymous said...

I'm somewhat surprised that you aren't craving Boston Baked Beans - the candy version. I craved them so much that I bought a little snack bag of them everyday at work while pregnant with you. I can only wonder why I gained 40 (40???) pounds.

I was in line at the post office mailing something to you yesterday, and the clerk is pregnant. The guy in front of me joked, "Do you know how that happened???" And she said, "Yes! And I'm never doing it again!" Hah! MOBster (I STILL love that name!)

Anonymous said...

eat all the chocolate you want! you are a filter. the good stuff (hello...calcium!) goes to the baby. it's scientifically proven. really. really...it's just my theory. but i think that if you're body is really craving that stuff - there must be something in there that it needs, right?
i'm telling you...i craved chocolate milk. i had a big tall glass everyday. and look...he turned out fine.

Anonymous said...

So it's time that Sarah's little (bigger than her) brother gets in on this. lol. Tell Dave I said you can have milkshakes, that's a good enough reason right? I can't wait until the baby is born. Sarah, you will be a fantastic mother. :)

mikal said...

too bad mcdonald milkshakes are potato flakes
see, you don't have to feel bad that your feeding your unborn child all this bad ice cream!

Anonymous said...

Everybody forgets about the man during these 9 months, but I have not. Dave you stay strong and do whatever you need to do to relax. You have 9 months to prepare. It wont be easy to eat and drink whatever you want but you will need it. This will be for you and Sarah. If she craves something just eat it in front of her and say it wasnt very good. HAVE FUN

Anonymous said...

Holey jamoley! You've gotten the whole gang involved! Eat, or else you'll never be able to wear the clothes I sent you!