One-Month Challenge: No Fried Food, Week 2

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Khalea is giving up....wait for it....FRIED FOOD. Let's see how she's holding up....]

By Khalea

I’ll admit it. I cheated.

On Wednesday, I had 13 fries and two chicken nuggets from McDonald’s.

I feel like Kanye the morning after he dissed Taylor Swift at the Grammys.

Until then, I was doing really well. No fried foods at all. I lost the urge to dig into a drummette and enjoyed an apple or a granola bar instead—out of sight, out of mind. After I nixed fried foods, I made better choices in my diet like I thought I would.

Until Monday’s office party when I had a spoonful of shrimp fried rice.

I know, I know. Cheating twice in seven days doesn’t scream commitment. When the fried food is right in front of my face, staring me down, it’s like I can’t say no.  I’m ashamed of myself—I thought I was stronger. But other than those two weak moments, I really think I can do this. My family, friends and Facebook acquaintances were all rooting for me when I wrote about my first week.

“You can do it!”
“If you get through this month, I’ll try it myself!”

It feels really good to have the support of my loved ones. Even my mom told me she won’t fry any chicken while I’m home for the week. Everyone thinks that I can do it…now it’s up to me to believe in myself.

After walking my dog around the neighborhood twice (as punishment), I’m going to try some new, low-fat recipes. Another plus from this challenge is trying new dishes that I normally wouldn’t if I were chomping on onion rings. I already had some Greek food for lunch last week (where has Spanakopita been all my life?) and my friends and I are going out for Indian this weekend. If my mouth is preoccupied with new flavors then I won’t miss the old ones.

But until then I’ll be looking for more recipes, erasing all memories of my deep fried past and trying to move past those two mistakes. Next week will be a clean (and healthier) start, I promise. After all, I still have Strappy to fit into!

Got any ideas? Recipes? Inspiring quotes to push Khalea along? Share below!

[Check out the other One Month Challenges we've taken on. ]