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Body & Soul

Dining at the Quik Mart Before the age of nutritional correctness, gleaning a meal from a convenience store wasn't such a big deal--Slurpees and corn dogs did the trick just fine. But these days the aged Polish sausages under the heat lamp don't look so good, and too often the sandwiches in the cooler look like the wilted survivors of some dreadful ordeal. So what to do when it's lunchtime and there's not a minute for anything but a surgical strike at the gas station Mini-Mart? Surprisingly, beyond the beef jerky and past the cheez 'n' crackers combos dwell a group of acceptable fast foods that will fuel a human body for half a day with minimum danger to artery or palate. Milk, packaged trail mixes, fresh fruit (often available at convenience stores), supercharged fruit juices like Odwalla and nutritional bars form the basis for this meal plan, which works best when proteins and carbohydrates balance. Sample lunches: trail mix, yogurt and fruit; trail mix and a pint of milk; yogurt and an Odwalla Superfoods juice; and the pièce de résistance of convenience-store dining, a pint of milk and a Power Bar. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]