The Orange Diet

In sophomore year of high school, my mom would give me $1.50 for lunch on days when I didn’t make a lunch. The idea was that I could buy nearly healthy school lunch. I never liked cheese zombies and the thought of waiting in line for zombie and tomato soup wasn’t that appealing. So I devised a new diet. For 50 cents, I could buy an orange slice from the vending machine. Pepsi had an exclusive contract with our school, so their products were cheaper here than other places. Evidently the candy vending machine people weren’t on as good a foot with the school because junk food cost 65 cents from the machine. I’d pick up the slice during break or right after class then meet Ben for lunch.

Ben and I usually wandered over to the hospital where we parked our bikes. The gift shop at the hospital sold candy for 50 cents a piece, and I opted for two of my orange-wrapped favorites: a bag of Reese’s Pieces and a Kit-Kat. This orange themed meal was really quite enjoyable, though milk probably would have gone better with the chocolate. I ate my nutritious disaster (dubbed the orange diet) and Ben ate his dinner rolls and dried fruit in the lobby of the hospital or somewhere outside on the grounds. Sometimes we’d make it back to campus.

I’m not sure exactly why I stopped the orange diet, but shortly after quitting it, I lost weight. It was probably the combination of riding to and from school, climbing after school, and just being around Ben and Troy. Still – that’s a lot of saturated fat for $1.50. It probably doesn’t compare to toay’s double burgers, but I’ll take it over two patties any day.