I'm Mike and I'm an Addict

You:  "Hi Mike!  Keep coming back."

For those of you who haven't been to an AA or NA meeting that's basically what you hear most of the meeting.

DISCLAIMER:
I'm not a clinically diagnosed food addict but I am treating this whole process like I am one.

So after my post the other day about the popcorn popper, I've been hyper-sensitive to my actions and how they would compare with my actions as an alcoholic.  You can relate anything to another thing if you try hard but it seems like a higher being is trying to tell me something as of late.

I regularly walk out the door 'forgetting' my breakfast and lunch in the morning.  My beautiful wife always offers to make my lunch and we buy stuff for breakfasts all the time.  I can't say I really do this consciously but I know that it would be cheaper blah blah blah.

So the other day I scrambled out the door with no lunch.  I got breakfast (2 bacon egg and cheese biscuits, hash brown and large iced coffee no flavor) at McDonald's.  As I made it through the morning, I felt grumblings and looked up to see that it was 12:30PM already.

I kind of go to lunch whenever since I'm not sure when I'll have time so I got up, walked outside and said, "What the hell?"  There was a boom lift sitting right outside of our employee entrance.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but it happened to be right behind my car.  Again, no big deal.  I walked out towards the lift to see if the operator was there so he could move it for a minute while I left for lunch.  Some guy in a douchey leather fedora started blabbering about how it just up and quit on them.

As I turned to go back inside I got angrier and angrier.  Not mad.  Angry.  Like this shithead parked that thing behind me on purpose.  He tried a half-assed apology but I just walked back inside flailing my hands and saying, "WHATEVER!!!!" as loud as I could.  I'm sure I looked like an even bigger water head than I felt.

Then I remembered the popcorn popper from the night before.  I had a huge breakfast that morning and had water and snacks so I wasn't going to starve.  I finally reasoned with myself and calmed down.  Not one of my finer moments...

Fast forward to today...

I went to McDonald's for lunch today just to get out of the office for a while and I didn't have cash for the vending machine.  I placed my order, paid and went to the pickup window.  As they handed me the bag I saw Mr. Monopoly (AKA Rich Uncle Pennybags).  For me the McDonald's Monopoly game should have been the warning sign that I was a food addict the first time I played.

Under the precipice of actually winning something, I would eat McDonald's as much as I could whenever they'd roll this game out.  I never actually won anything but free food (SCORE!) which wasn't really free considering how much I spent on food trying to win.

I thought about the Monopoly game at McDonald's as I drove back to the office.  This will be the first time since I can remember that I won't participate.  McDonald's in the central Indiana area will suffer but I'm sure they'll be fine.

Some folks would sit here and spew a twisted yarn of blame towards McDonald's and all other food vendors that come up with gimmicks to get you to eat their food and give them money.  I just cannot do that.  I'm lucky enough to be an American.  I have the freedom to choose what to eat and where I purchase my food whether it be fast or otherwise.  No one is holding a gun to my head telling me to eat anywhere.

tl;dr
I'm a self-diagnosed food addict
I'm starting to think about my actions in regards to food more often