We all know that my early plan to lose weight on the FHMA journey was quickly exposed for the fantasy it was. Early attempts to eat well were soon washed away by the trail of ribs, hamburgers, french fries and pizza I left across the nation. And, let's be honest, when you leave with three food books in your car -- Roadfood; Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; and Hamburger America -- what other outcome could really have been expected? If there's a book out there about the 100 best salads in America, I don't know about it. And, even if I did, I wouldn't buy it.
But one man decided my nutritional collapse wasn't good enough as a narrative story, and that it should also be quantified. So faithful reader Mark Potts -- he of the excellent Recovering Journalist blog -- graphed this nutritional implosion, based on my own nutrition ratings. Here is the end result of his work. (You can click on the image to see it larger).
The blue line is the rating we gave each restaurant; the red line is my own personal nutrition rating. The black linear line clearly shows the nutritional decline in my eating. Alas, if only the blue line were the nutrition rating and the red was the restaurant rating. The combination of healthy eating and bad restaurants would have made for a 20-pound loss. Sigh.
Anyway, more posts to come this week, as we finally get around to some best and worsts, send out some new photos of the pups and get some final feedback from those of you who were nice enough to stick with us and we circled the country.
Glad to have you back, if only temporarily. Seeing the graph it's a wonder you didn't gain more. Maybe Joan would like the salad book?
Posted by: Pat P | June 28, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Wonderful to hear from you again! Looking forward to the coming post.
Posted by: Kim Ingram | July 01, 2009 at 03:13 PM
There's nothing like a graphic to explain evolution quickly and succinctly. No interest in reading about salads, so, if you find the book, please take a pass and certainly don't plan a trip around salad.
Posted by: Sarah | July 01, 2009 at 05:47 PM
I'm not sure what it proves but this graph is hilarious.
Posted by: Royelen | July 14, 2009 at 01:17 PM