My thoughts on healthy eating (for what they're worth)

Since I started this space in January to track my training progress for my first marathon, I have also been reading a ton of blogs out there about running and fitness. In the process of reading and discovering more running blogs, I naturally came across a few really great health and nutrition blogs. Running and eating basically go hand in hand, so it's natural that most running bloggers also talk about the food they eat at some point. I have learned so much about how other runners eat, new health foods I might not have discovered on my own, natural and alternative food sources, but most importantly I realized that my crazy way of eating was shared by thousands of other women (and men) out there.

Lil Bit of Background
Before I immersed myself in this blogosphere I wasn't really surrounded by like-minded eaters. My family never ate particularly healthy growing up (not particularly unhealthy either), my boyfriend enjoys healthy food but doesn't naturally crave foods inherently healthy on a regular basis (he used to have an aversion to anything labeled organic because he thought it was "made of beans or somthing" Men!), my co-workers in the past have never generally eaten the way I do. So for me to stumble across an entire network of people just like me has been pretty enlightening.

Someday soon I will share more about me and my background. I think that will explain a bit more about my eating and exercise habits and patterns. But in light of yesterday's post, I wanted to comment briefly about how I qualify the foods I eat.

I used to count calories and log all of my food on MyFoodDiary.com. Before I started using this site and logging my food and exercises, I thought I was a supremely healthy eater, and I was partly right. But I wasn't paying enough attention to some things that were adding a ton of extra and unnecessary calories to my day (like dressings, sauces, methods of cooking).

This site is a fantastic resource and it truly helped me refine my eating habits. It taught me the right ways to eat healthy. It also helped me to examine everything that I ate, in turn revealing some of the uglier facets of my diet. I would say that going through this process (about 2.5 years ago) changed my life, changed my outlook on food, and helped me to become a smarter eater.

How I Eat Today
Now I don't count calories. Partly because of the fact that I run so much but mostly because MFD ingrained in me the correct way to eat/correct portion size/how much I can comfortably consume in a day.

In the past few years, I have been desperately trying to add more fresh fruit and veggies to my diet. I read somewhere that an easy way to do this is when you are at the grocery store, spend the majority of your time in the outer edges of the store rather than in the aisles where all the paakged and processed foods are. This seems counter-intuitive but I had never thought of it that way, and now I cannot shop without considering that. Try it! It really, really helps you think about what you're putting in your cart.

Generally, I pick up a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and I incorporate these into all of my daily meals. For breakfast I usually eat oatmeal or cereal with fresh fruit and coffee. For lunch I usually have a veggie-packed salad, wrap or sandwich with a side of fruit or veggies. If I only pack a salad I try to add in some healthy carbs like whole wheat bread, brown rice or quinoa. For dinner, I try to cook something that we both will enjoy, that is also healthy and packed with fresh vegetables and a healthy meat. We rarely eat red meat or pork, we try to stick to ground turkey breast or ground chicken, or boneless skinless chicken breasts. For snacks during the day, I always have fresh fruit. I think I eat an apple every day, plus bananas, plums or whatever else is in season.

I also am getting more thorough about reading food labels and choosing items that I can actually read and understand the ingredient list. Although I am severely limited by budget these days, I spend a lot of time in the stores trying to find items that are as all natural and organic as possible and are also low in sodium. I cannot always afford organic, which is okay for me right now. I cannot get all of my gorceries at Whole Foods, so I shop smart at a few different stores and do what I can. I would like to be able to afford to eat organic produce and food exclusively, but right now that is not an option. So I focus on buying tons of fresh produce and purchasing organic when it is possible. The most important thing for me is to make sure that what I am consuming is made up of things that I don't find offensive and damaging to my body.

I do not diet, and I try not to limit myself too much. I actually think that diets in general are crap. My general rule is to be able to eat what I want one day a week. So if I want to share some french fries at happy hour on Friday, I will! Or if I want a cupcake or some greasy pizza, I can enjoy these things in moderation. I have gotten better at stopping myself from going overboard with junk foods, and the healthier I eat, the less I crave these things.

I think the number one mistake those who are trying to lose weight make is denying themselves the food that their bodies are craving. You have to learn to be an intuitive eater, but this does take time, so initially you're going to have to make some sacrifices. This doesn't mean when you're on a "diet" you're limited to 1000 calories a day and you can't touch sweets. If you love sweets and you're craving them, you're just going to eat more and more food until you satisfy that craving, which was probably worse than eating the sweets in the first place! Also, if you're working out alot, limiting your body the calories it needs will actually be counter-effective and will cause your metabolism to slow down rather than speed up.

The bottome line is that if you want to get healthier and lose weight, start exercising and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables! Crazy right? But it is literally that simple.

Americans tend to want someone to give them the answer, they want the easy way out, and they don't want to do any work to see results. So they turn to whatever fad diet is out there and might lose a few pounds, but end up gaining it right back. Eat fresh and natural foods rather than packaged processed ones, get active, and you WILL see results.

Challenges to Eating Healthy:
Living with my boyfriend has created some eating challenges for me. I went through a phase last year where I was doing a lot of baking for him (and for me because I love to bake) which meant that we had a ton of sweets around all the time. It is also challenging because when we're together I am more likely to cave in for the junk food, like pizza, chips or bar food. It's also sometimes hard to make a dinner that is healthy but one that he will also willingly eat (I think I have done pretty well with this, although I know he won't be sharing in my tofu dishes any time soon).

The people you're around can create huge nutrition barriers for you. My co-workers used to always tease me about the salads I brought for lunch, or the fact that I wouldn't go eat certain foods when we went out. My dad gives me speeches when I don't want any pork chops he's cooked when I come to visit. I have learned to just get over this because I know that the way I eat is the best (and healthiest) way for me. People are just different and everyone does things differently. If you let yourself succomb to the pressures of eating like everyone else, you will never reach your nutrition goals.

This brings me back to this blogosphere. The fact that I have not always been surrounded by healthy eaters has created a challenge for me. But connecting with all of you through this forum has made me realize that I am not a weirdo for eating the way I do. It's not crazy to crave health food stores and be super excited about Farmer's Market season. It's not insane to want to try out meat substitutes or soy milk or not wanting to eat a big hunk of meat at a barbeque (although I do love me some hamburgers and hot dogs). It's not weird to order a salad for lunch that GASP doesn't have any meat on it, or heaven forbid, I eat without dressing. It's not completely insane to want to buy organic even though sometimes it means shelling out a few more dollars. It's normal to care about how I fuel my body.

So thank you all for opening my eyes to this healthy network of those who are teaching me more every day about how to be a healthier and stronger woman. I have realized now that this is the one thing I truly love and am passionate about. Who knows where this will take me?

Listen to your body, not necessarily your mind...

I am not always the most motivated of runners. My number one bad habit is skipping a few days of running, and then paying for it dearly once I start back up again. My friend M who is running the marathon with me in May, likes to keep a day or so in between runs because she feels that her legs are fresher and she gets more out of each run that way. As for me, I would love to be able to do that, but taking even one day off is just such a slippery slope for me.

On Sunday, I ran my 12 miles and was feeling fabulous about it. I finally felt like I was getting into the habit of being the runner that I want to be in 2009 -consistent. So Monday came and I was scheduled for a rest day, that I had no problem taking, then Tuesday came which was my birthday!

Tuesday - Happy Birthday!
I had a good solo evening planning for myself on Tuesday, my bf had a night class and I was just going to do an 8 mile tempo run and then come home to study for my life insurance exam (that is getting closer and closer....) and basically just have a chill evening alone for the most part. I was kind of upset that I would be spending my birthday alone, but it was a Tuesday night and just another day.

So all day my mom was texting me happy bday messages, and kept insisting that I call her before I left work, which I thought strange. I kept telling her that I would be fine, after all I have been making it home on my own from work for a pretty long time now (I'm all growed up!). I thought maybe she was going to send me flowers, and she wanted to hear how they looked after they got here, even though I would obviously call her if I did get flowers, without her having to tell me too....so anyways, it was sketch.

Finally, it was closing time and she had sent me yet another text saying to "call me asap." Now, she had me worried. My mom is recently divorced and lives on her own, and has also just started going to the gym on her own after work, so there is no telling what could have gone wrong. Let me also add that she lives three hours away from me. So I call her.

Me: "What's going on?!"
Mom: "Oh nothing, just wanted to find out where I should take my baby out to dinner for her birthday in Charleston!"
Me: "You're not in Charleson."
Mom: Sqeals of happy laughter.
Me, thinking: This is going to mess up my training schedule! (But I don't really want to run anyways....) But this is awesome! My moms the best! FREE FOOD!

So she had surprised me, and they all (all being her and the bf) had lied to me all week, making me think I was going to be all alone on my birthday. It worked!

Basically, my mom is the best and drove all the way down here to surprise me for my birthday and take me out to dinner, which was fantastic! But of course, I missed my run Tuesday night.

Wednesday - Get Your Coach Potato On/Your Remote Ready
Enter Wednesday. I am sluggish from eating (way) too much Yo Burrito and Dos Equis at my bday dinner the night before, and I cannot concentrate on work. Plus I didn't get enough sleep because the old people in our building who centrally-control when the A/C is turned on, didn't have the A/C on so I sweat like a pig all night and kept tossing and turning (yay South Carolina sunshine!). Add on to all of this, that when I get home last night I know that the bf will be at another night class and I have the apartment ALL to myself, with a partially eaten bag of Cheddar Sun Chips...and you guessed it, I sat in front of the TV on my couch eating Sun Chips instead of running...and I enjoyed ever minute of it.

But I was pretty miserable come bed time and I had eaten, let's just say, way too much food that will go unmentioned lest you all think I am a fat pig. (I really like food, and that's probably why I like running so much because it enables me to eat food. A lot of food.)

Thursday - Sunshine and Butterflies!
Because I didn't run Monday, Tuesday OR Wednesday, I knew I had to get up and run this morning. I knew if I didn't get up this morning and go, I might not do it tonight as I have a meeting right after work.

So I got my happy self up at 6 AM and ran for 70 minutes at a very slow pace, because of course, I felt entirely crappy from having three glutton filled days off from running. While I was running, I was thinking about my training so far and what I had learned from it, and one central theme was running through my mind:

"I have learned to listen to my body, and not always my mind."

But what is that you say? Distance running is all about the mind? Well, not necessarily. Like I said before, when I miss a few days of running it is harder and harder for me to get back into it. If I listen to my mind, I can find one million excuses to not go out on a run. But then I think about how my body feels, and I realize that I just have to go out running to feel better. When I don't run my energy levels are low, low and lower, I feel fatter than I really am, my mind is not as sharp, I cannot concentrate at work and don't get as much done, and I'm generally just a more angry and annoying person to be around.

Another aspect of this realization is put in place after I have set out on a run. I used to always start out each run a little faster than I should, because it felt okay, and I wanted to hurry up and get it done with. Most of the time I would just crash and burn mid-run and end up either taking walk breaks, or cutting the run short altogether.

Recently, I have purposefully started out each run slower than I wanted to/could and in the last few miles I was easily able to turn up the pace considerably. My mind has been WRECKING my runs in the past, with all of these thoughts rolling around in there about how much this sucked, or how I had things to do other than running, how my legs hurt, how I just wanted to be anywhere but here....and I ended up running too fast and burning out too soon. I don't think I have realized that until now.

So I have learned to surrender to my body, and I listen to what it tells me now. It tells me to take it easy on myself when I haven't run, to let my body warm up and cool down, and to just chill out and enjoy it.

My run this morning was no where near quick. I think my average pace was even over a 10 minute mile, which is never somthing I let myself do. But if I had stuck to my plan of doing an 8 mile tempo run, I would have burnt out somewhere around mile three and limped home with my tail between my legs. (Or even worse, had a repeat of last week's puke session.) But instead I enjoyed the early morning air, relished the sunrise over the harbor, and didn't constantly check my pace on the Garmin. I just let myself run.

I think this is what has hindered me from being consistent in the past, and if I can stick to one thing in 2009 I hope this is it. I keep wondering what my marathon time will be, if I will be able to keep up with M, or if she will just smoke me. Now I know that I am not going to let msyelf worry about that. If I can just remain consistent, that is all I ask for. I know that everything past that will then fall into place.