Pictured here is one of Nature Box’s free promotional boxes containing one full-sized snack and four single-serve snacks. (Photo contributed by Gretchen Balshuweit)
It all began with a Facebook advertisement and a single-serve bag of Parmesan Garlic Pop Pops – my whirlwind love affair with a snack-delivery service and the test of my self-control.
Facebook advertisements rarely have ever gotten my attention – at least until recently with my discovery of a couple food delivery services.
Having tried one service, I had to try another.
First I tried Hello Fresh, a meal delivery service that ships out boxes of pre-portioned fresh ingredients to its customers with preselected recipes. I liked the service. It was convenient and the food was healthy. It also got me cooking for myself, an activity that I used to avoid like the plague.
So recently, I decided to try another delivery service – a snack food delivery service. Just like Hello Fresh, I first discovered Nature Box through an advertisement on Facebook.
So often I would peek at the advertisement and the website only to keep on scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed shortly thereafter.
I was too hesitant to try the service at first.
But after trying Hello Fresh, trying Nature Box seemed like the natural second step toward making my grocery shopping a little more convenient. After all, who wouldn’t like to have their groceries delivered to their doorstep?
Finally, I got over my hesitation and signed up for my free promotional box. It cost me only a token amount to cover the cost of shipping.
The presentation of the product seemed attractive when the box arrived and I was eager to try my new snacks.
Truth be told, the snacks I received did not last long. I can’t say how long they lasted anymore, but not much more than a day or two, if that.
Self-control eluded me as I tried not to eat everything all at once.
Next time I would be better; I would exercise some self-control, or so I thought.
My next delivery was a full-sized box that contained five full-sized bags of snacks. The plan was to make the contents of the box last – eating one serving a day, five days a week over the course of four weeks.
Since this was a box that would be delivered monthly, it seemed natural that I would be able to use this service to stretch my self control muscles and do a bit of portion control to keep from eating the snacks up before the month was out.
I had it all planned out – all nice and neat. Somehow I forgot the eating behaviors that made me super-morbidly obese in the first place. As I thought this snacking plan over, I forgot that my self-control muscles are not as strong as they should be.
My first full-sized box did not last me a month.
In fact, the snacks seemed to serve as a nice little fill in for those moments when I didn’t feel like I had time to put a real meal together. One bag gone, two bags gone – and so I continued to eat until all five snack bags were gone.
“Next month I’ll do better,” I thought.
If only I were right.
Then the Lentil Loops arrived.
It was the first bag opened in that month’s delivery and I was in love. Black pepper deliciousness – it struck me as soon as I popped one of those loops into my mouth.
I ate just a few at first. Then I ate a few more. Before long the whole bag of the scrumptious salt- and pepper-seasoned snack was all gone.
The other snacks followed suit.
Down the hatch they went, not all in one day, but the box did not nearly last a whole month either. Gone in a week or less, I realized I had a problem on my hand.
The snacks were controlling me and I wasn’t controlling the snacks.
Sure, some of these snacks were attractive alternatives to whatever I might buy in a grocery store, but for me this wouldn’t prove to be the best choice I have made in my weight-loss journey.
My aim was to make that journey just a little bit easier by making my diet a little more convenient to save time planning and to reduce the amount of shopping I would have to do.
The subscription service is certainly very convenient. It does that. And the time spent planning is reduced as well. Perhaps even the amount of shopping I have done has been reduced as well. So in those aims I have accomplished my goals.
As I ponder the future of my Nature Box subscription, I find myself wishing that these snacks came in single-serving packets – all of them – although I don’t know if that would solve my self-control problem. Whether this would work or not, it would at least make knowing when to stop eating that much easier for someone like me.
The snacking I did before using this subscription service was different – it primarily involved protein and the portions were easy to control. Hard-boiled eggs, turkey meatballs, cheese sticks, cottage cheese or yogurt were easy choices I tended to gravitate toward. Pair those choices with a fruit, veggie or something with fiber in it and I had a snack that hit the spot.
The choices weren’t always cheap when the total came up at the grocery-store register, but I seemed to have better results in terms of self-control.
I think the Nature Box snack subscription service is great for the right customer. I’m just not sure yet if I’m ready to be that customer. Coming to this conclusion is about knowing my limitations and is not a commentary about the service itself. I loved it, but I loved it too much to trust myself.
If I discontinue the service, it will be a sad farewell for me. I’ll miss those Lentil Loops. I’ll also miss the Parmesan Garlic Pop Pops that I tried on day one.
I kept telling myself, I’ll pre-portion those snacks before I eat them. I never did. I can’t trust myself in that area yet.
Lesson learned.
If you want to follow my weight-loss journey, read about it occasionally in my column, “Healthy steps” or you can watch my weight-loss journey unfold and show your support by liking the page www.facebook.com/GretchenGetFit on Facebook or following me on Twitter @GretchenGetFit. Contact the writer at gbalshuweit@thedailyreview.com.
Healthy steps is written by Gretchen Balshuweit, news editor and now health and wellness page columnist for The Daily Review in Towanda, Pa. as she pursues her own journey to health and wellness in hopes of losing a total of 200-250 pounds of excess weight.
