Food for thought..

Eating healthy is in direct opposition to yo-yo and fad diets. Instead of restricting yourself for a week, month, year, or however long, eating healthy is like learning to ride a bike. I think, I still have my training wheels on, and it's been a couple of weeks. I have learned how to eat out and eat in. Though I spend a lot of time looking up nutritional facts before I go out to eat, it's something I will only need to do once. Like riding a bike once I'm off, I can go wherever and not think about it. So for those of you that follow me and feel like it's a lot a work, I won't lie: it is! But once you've got it down, it becomes part of your everyday. So don't get discouraged. You can do it!

Okay, enough of my inspirational jabber..

Today I woke up and ran:

After I ran, I had a handful of grapes and a bottle of water. Then I went to the gym and did:

• Free weight squats
• Super-set Leg Press and Stiff legged dead lifts
• Super set of Side raises, tricep pull downs, and dumbbell bicep curls
• Super set of front raises, one armed tricep extention, and bicep curls
• Plank (my arms on the half ball and legs on an exercise ball)
• Reverse crunches (Reverse Crunch Exercise with a Balance Ball -- powered by eHow.com)
• Crunches on a half ball - legs up and straight

After the gym, I felt exhausted and very sick to my stomach. I had a flat bread turkey sandwich with low fat cheddar cheese, lettuce, and a tiny bit of light mayo. I put it in the broiler for a little, and it tastes delicious. Then, I completely crashed and slept for two hours. This was clearly my fault for not eating properly. Lesson learned! Upon waking up, I became a cooking maniac. So far I have cooked two trays of mini banana muffins and a tray of pumpkin muffins (the ones I posted in an earlier blog). I also am making right now roasted garlic hummus and Caesar salad that I also posted about earlier. I will rate the hummus tomorrow because it takes 40 minutes to roast the garlic, and by that time it will be very late.

Last, but certainly not least, my friend sent me this article from the New York Times. I love what this runner said:

“The whole issue,” he said, “is exactly that: getting enough calories. The first thing to worry about isn’t so much what you eat, but how much you eat. You have to take the time to sit at the table and make sure your calorie count is high enough. And when you’re a vegan, to increase your calories as you increase training you need more food. This isn’t an elimination diet but an inclusion diet.”

The story continues..

He said he spent a great deal of time shopping, preparing and cooking food — and chewing. He is among the slowest and most deliberate eaters I know, and there is something about his determination at the table that is reminiscent of his determination on the road: he just doesn’t stop.

Though I am not a vegan (not yet at least), I really appreciate the time he takes thinking about food and eating (I too am a slow eater so maybe I'm biased). It's an important part of our day, that gets pushed aside. I think of food as gas. If you don't have gas in the car, your car won't run. If you don't put great food in your body, or any food, you won't function.Food is this great space to take time for yourself, eating slowly, and being at peace. Eating is a lot like running to me (sorry for all the comparisons in this post). It's time where I get to do something good for myself. I mindlessly or sometimes super alertly think about my next research project or book. It brings a lot of inner peace that, I would argue, a lot of us are missing in the day. Hey, if you don't have the time, you can spend a couple hours one day and make a ton of food: freeze it, reheat it, crock pots are awesome. Part of living healthy is changing your mind set. I used to think, "I can't go to the gym today and I have no time to eat because I need to do x,y, and z," but I realized I need to include eating properly and working out as part of my imperative x,y, and z. For those of us with smart phones, I sometimes send emails, read, research, and write on the stair climber; multitasking is great.

What is living without being our best selves?