Lesser evils: Beef Jerky

Let me paint an unflattering picture for you.

It's 3:00 a.m. and you've been drinking heavily. The aforementioned wobbly behavior keeps you from getting into a car (and really, at this time of night you'd probably make a big mistake beyond drunk driving ... food choices are usually pretty awful at that time of night). You open the fridge and realize that you have nothing but spent milk, bottled water and more beer.

So you stagger over to a 7-eleven or gas station convenience store and you're met with some really bad options.

You could barely satiate your hunger with a sugar-loaded calorie-dense candy bar or a carb-loaded, calorie-dense bag of chips. Or, if you really want to shit fire, you decide to get some Spicy Roller Trash Meat Concoction like a taquito or a who-knows-how-long-it's-been-there hot dog.

And let's be honest, most of the "healthy looking" food really is packed with sugar and might not have any nutritional value whatsoever. Perhaps you can get lucky and nab some fresh fruit. Maybe a little bag of almonds could do the trick.

But sometimes the Call of the Booze will force you to take more drastic measures.

To my surprise, Beef Jerky isn't a horrible option when faced with this dilemma. According to the nutrition facts of a bag of 7-Eleven Teriyaki Beef Jerky, an entire 3-serving bag contains 270 calories, 3g of fat, 24g of carbs and 33g of protein.

Now it's not all rosy, though, since the 1800mg of sodium will account for a whopping 75% of your daily recommended intake. The snack is also disturbing for a person who needs dental insurance like myself, as the chewier pieces tend to make my jaw snap more than The Incredible Hulk.

Still, nutritional beggars cannot be choosers. The jerky has a relatively simple list of ingredients (only 3 or 4 things sound like Frankenstein monster concoctions) and will satiate your hunger with that heavy dose of protein.

Obviously, the focus of this blog is to be healthier and jerky is by no means a healthy food. That being said, another aim of this blog is to find practical solutions; when you're drunk you're far less likely to want to scramble eggs or make an elaborate salad.

Remember, kids: you don't have to be perfect. Being better is pretty good, too.