Sandwiches: Why It's Better to Have Never Loved at All

I know this post title seems a little bit random, but I have a train of thought here, so just go with me, and we'll see what happens.

I have a love/hate relationship with sandwiches. Ever since I started having problems with my gallbladder, my family physician recommended that I go on a low-fat diet. It's great because it's helping me lose a little bit of the extraneous chub. It's bad because I eat a lot of sandwiches, in different forms.
There's not a lot of fat in turkey meat, low-fat cheese, and lettuce thrown on a couple slices of wheat toast. When I first got the order to go on a low-fat diet, one of the only things I could eat on some days was a salad or a turkey sandwich. And while sandwiches are great because they're easy to make and can be customized by the individual preparing them, they also start to get old after a while. While I'm eating my turkey sandwich, I have friends around me with hamburgers and fries, tacos, hot dogs, pizza, etc. And I start to miss the days that I could eat these things.

If "you are what you eat" is true, this is a semi-accurate self-portrait.

I've started to wonder if it would've been better for me had I never tried the things I can't eat now. If, somehow, we could go back in time and provide my family with the idea that I couldn't have fat from the beginning, it might be easier to ignore the siren song of ice cream and fried chicken. If I'd never eaten those things, I would never crave them, miss the taste of them, etc. Maybe, if I'd been conditioned to eat only fat free foods from day one, I would find the smell of fast food cooking a lot less appealing, and would instead enjoy the taste of fruits and veggies a lot more.

The problem is, I did experience those things. And right now, I'm experiencing the pain of not being able to enjoy them any longer. I hate it when I bake and can't taste what I'm making. I hate it when my friends have to change around restaurant plans because I'm coming along, and I can't eat at McDonald's or Burger King or Cook-Out. I miss Cook-Out milkshakes. I miss Chick-Fil-A's breaded chicken sandwich. I miss huge, juicy cheeseburgers with bacon hanging out the sides. I miss fries. I miss chili cheese dogs and fried Oreos and funnel cakes and ice cream sundaes (I really wish I could try a banana split one day...) and cookies and pudding and Little Debbie snacks and Drake's Cakes Funny Bones and Hershey's bars and Taco Bell and real dairy products (especially cream cheese and chocolate milk), and everything I just can't have anymore that I used to be able to enjoy. I understand that it's nice to be able to say I've tried them, but it sure makes it that much harder to give them up.

This is nutritional information for a salad. Total fat is in the double digits. Scared? Yeah, me too.

But this made me start thinking about this saying: "It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."
It made me wonder if this saying was really true. I mean, my love affair with anything that incorporated chocolate, cheese, and/or bacon was abruptly broken off, and I'm having a very difficult time moving on. I'm trying to talk myself through the mantra that I'm better off without that relationship, but it's so much harder. Honestly, what did I gain from my time spent eating all of that unhealthy food? I gained an addiction and a taste for something I've removed from my life permanently.

So what about love with people? Well, I suppose there's more to gain from a relationship with another person than there is from a relationship with junk food. By loving someone and losing them, you learn a lot more due to human interaction. It still remains a mystery to me whether or not it's worth it to date or fall in love with some people. I also think that, if you truly loved someone and that person loved you in return, losing them would be a crushing blow. You would almost be missing a piece of yourself. All the while, those who have yet to experience that kind of relationship don't feel that devastation.

"Ignorance is bliss." You might not think you'd be happier had you never loved that person, but you can't honestly say that you know. If you'd never loved them, you'd never have known what you do know because of it. I know I'd be a lot happier right now had I never experienced fatty foods. Who knows? Maybe you can't really compare milkshakes and turkey sandwiches to ex-boyfriends, but all I know for sure right now is that I'll be craving a Thin Mint Blizzard for the rest of the night.

This is the closest I will come to eating a Thin Mint Blizzard.