 |
| Trust me, I love veggies! |
In my quest to become a healthier individual, the topic of food has to be addressed. Overall I think I am a pretty healthy eater. I grew up eating homemade meals and with eggs from our chickens and vegetables from our large garden. My parents were sure to introduce my siblings and I to new and different foods and were always sure to provide us with a healthy balanced meal. We were never soda drinkers and didn't eat sugar cereal (our splurge was cinnamon life!). The one thing we did have was homemade baked goods. I would call my Mom a master baker. She made homemade bread, cookies, brownies, birthday cakes (my personal favorite Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - a secret family recipe). Although we had those yummy treats around the house we were brought up to eat them as a treat, not as a meal. But still, even though it may be homemade doesn't make it super healthy!
 |
| But nothing beats homemade M&C |
To this day if you asked me to pick only one food or food group to eat the rest of my life, I would choose cereal or pasta or bread. Yup, you have it right, I love carbs and sugar. Don't get me wrong, I also love fresh fruit and love vegetables right out of the garden and love meat and protein (mmm.. bacon), carbs and sugar are my true loves. And this for me is a problem. Several years ago I started having lots of abdominal pain and cramps, etc. At the time I became convinced that I had a gluten intolerance (which devastated me at the time). So I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist and kicked gluten (which was not easy). I described my symptoms to the doctor and waited for him to tell me that I had to stop eating gluten. What he told me pretty shocking and it took me for a turn. He said - it sounds like you aren't getting enough fiber. Meaning, I wasn't eating a healthy balanced diet, so my body was struggling to process and digest the "stuff" I was eating.
 |
| A typical meal for me in the past |
Whoa. But I thought I ate a pretty healthy diet? I love fruit and veggies and meat. My problem wasn't that I didn't like the right kinds of foods, the problem was that I wasn't EATING the right kinds of food. Don't get my wrong, I love salad, but if you put a bowl of mac and cheese in front of me and a bowl of salad and said you can choose one of these - I would go for the salad. For a snack I would choose a bagel or muffin over an apple or yogurt. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat the healthier foods or I didn't have access to them, I was just letting my addiction to carbs, scratch that... SUGAR get the best of me.
 |
| There is a surprising amount of sugar in most processed foods! |
Now if I had changed my habits right then and there I would not be where I am now. I am where I am now because kicking the sugar habit has been a constant struggle for me, as it is for many people. Unfortunately, sugar is in everything! Yes, there are the good sugars in fruits and vegetables. I am not talking about those. I am talking about the sugar in bread, the sugar in flavored yogurt, the sugar in ketchup, and obviously the sugar in super awesome yummy stuff like donuts, muffins, croissants, cakes, brownies, ice cream!
 |
| US sugar consumption is on the rise! |
There is a reason why sugar is a problem. There is more and more information coming out that explains the dangers of sugar. This video from the CBS show 60 minutes does a great job explaining the hazards of sugar:
Is Sugar Toxic?
Other studies have been done that aim to prove that sugar is as addicting as a drug like cocaine. Here is an article from the Huffington Post:
Is Sugar a Drug? and from the Washington Post:
Rats find oreos as addicting as cocaine about this topic. All in all I have found that once I start eating sugar all I want is more. And many of the sugary are full of empty calories and are not filling, so you eat more. Fruits for example are full of natural sugar, fiber and often carbohydrates. They satisfy your need for sweetness while filling you up, so you don't over eat.
 |
| swag from one of my Fall races! |
In the past 10 months I have done a much better job at watching what I eat. During the summer I cut way back on sweets, but still ate a good amount of carbs ( pasta, bread, etc) because I was working out twice a day. I increase the amount of fruits and vegetables I was eating and really monitored my portion sizes. This helped a lot and I dropped 26 pounds between April and September. When summer ended and I had completed my triathlon, my days of duel workouts ended. I didn't have a big race to train for so I slacked off a bit. I also started coaching soccer at a local HS. because my days were long I turned into a bit of a DD junkie, bagels for the bus ride, iced lattes to cool me off on the bench, dinner stops at convenience stores, hot chocolate on the bench during late season night games, the list unfortunately goes on. This paired with the fact that I was exercising far less than during the summer was almost disastrous for my weight loss progress. I gained back a few pounds, started to slip out of my running routine and started to forget my healthy eating patterns. The only reason I didn't fall completely off the wagon was the fact that I had several half marathons on my calendar.
 |
| keeping my feet moving! |
And where I am I now? Completely and forever back on the wagon! I ran in the Boston Prep-16 miler at the end of January (and no, I'm not running the Boston Marathon, yet!). With that on the calendar I knew after Christmas it was time to get my butt in gear. I have returned to boot camp 3 days a week, started doing long runs again with my running peeps on Sundays and started running with a fellow boot camper twice a week at lunch. How am I sticking to my healthy eating habits? For one, my boot camp is doing a new healthy eating/weight loss challenge. Over the course of 3 months you get points for drinking your allotted amount of water each day (half your body weight in ounces) and you get points for eating 5 servings of fruits and veggies daily. At the end of the challenge the person with the most points and the person who loses the highest percentage of weigh split a pot of money! That is my first motivator. I wouldn't mind winning some cold hard cash! The second is that I really want to break my addiction to food with added sugar. To do that I am trying to follow the paleo style of eating.
 |
| turkey as the wrap! |
The Paleo diet may seem like a new fad diet, but really it is a quite simple and smart way of eating. The Paleo (or Paleolithic) diet:
"is based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups
our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the
Paleolithic era, the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the
beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These
foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging
beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish,
seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils
(olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy
products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars and processed foods
were not part of our ancestral menu." (from thepaleodiet.com)
It really has a simple and basic premise- no added sugars, no processed foods, no dairy, no legumes. To some this may sound very hard and it can be. I have found that eating paleo is difficult if you don't plan meals ahead of time, aside from that - it is fairly simple. I have mainly been eating paleo for 2 weeks now. To prep myself for this new style of eating I have read a few books that have helped me understand the why and the how of eating paleo. I read
Paleo for Beginners: Essentials to Get Started by John Catham,
Paleo Diet for Athletes Guide: Paleo Meal Plans for Endurance Athletes, Strength Training, and Fitness, and Paleo Diet Explained - Eat The Way You're Born To Eat, Lose Weight, Gain Energy And Live Healthy by Daniel Adam. Yes, there are days I have "slipped" or treated myself to a non-paleo food, but for the most part I am right on track. And, aside from the initial withdrawal from sugar (yes, I still do crave sugar), I am finding that I am staying full longer, feeling more energized and am actually looking up recipes and cooking more! My overall goal is to eat more whole foods that are no processed and contain no added sugar. This means no more relying on a box for my dinner!
 |
| chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli - simple but filling and tasty! |
This new way of eating paired with my increased amount of exercise has made a huge difference in my life, in only 2 weeks! I have lost 3 pounds and am just feeling better all around. A few nights ago I was stressed and turned back to my old friend boxed carbohydrates for comfort (did I forget to mention that I am a comfort eater??). I felt good right after I ate, but an hour of so later I crashed. My mood dropped, I felt physically and mentally drained, just all around nasty. The next morning I realized what had happened - an influx of added sugar that my body didn't need and really couldn't handle. So I'm wondering, is this the secret? Is eating "paleo" or in a more clean and basic manner that could help increase my energy and in turn productivity and happiness? Well imagine that! What you eat can effect how you feel! I can't say for sure that I am paleo for life, but I am hard pressed to imagine too much over processed sugar filled foods in my future!
 |
| Paleo lunch - turkey, avocado, cucumber, greens wrap! |
 |
| Love having energy to hike in the winter!! |
It's Marked On My Calendar....May 25, 2014 
Over the past month or so I have continued to push myself. I ran my first ever 14 mile run, 16 mile run and 18 mile run and this past weekend I completed 20 miles. It was cold and crisp out, but I felt great, actually that is a lie. It was cold and windy and I felt like crap. I was tired at the end, my legs ached and my lungs burned, but I finished, barely. For me it was not only a physical battle (running on snow covered dirt roads didn't feel great on the ankles, legs or butt), but it was an extreme mental battle as well. I didn't do an out and back run or a nice big loop, it was a 5 mile loop that we (my running friends) did 4 times. If that doesn't create a war in your head I don't know what does. Each time we circled around to where the cars were parked I thought about hopping in my car and taking off. But I didn't. Instead I refueled and changed out my frozen water bottle for a fresh one and continued to slog on.
The last lap had to be one of the most difficult things I have ever experienced. I wanted to stop and curl up in a ball, or better yet, knock on someone's door and ask for a ride to my car. But I didn't do any of those things. I kept on running (very very slow at times), I fought the continuous battle with the little voice in my head, the one that says "you should stop, you're tired, just walk". In the end I made it, 20 whole long miles. My reward for finishing the run, a big yummy calorie filled breakfast at one of my favorite local diners - The Wayside. Mmm, mmm, coffee, bacon, eggs, french toast, chocolate milk. Heaven. 
With winter hopefully nearing it's end (haha, yeah right!), I am constantly aware of what the date is and what month we are in. Between now and May 25th I have other races and other goals to work on. This weekend I am doing an obstacle course race at Norwich University. In March I am running in the Savin Rock Half Marathon in Connecticut.While in San Francisco in April I am signed up for the Sasquatch Scramble, a 13.1 mile trail race! The weekend after returning from CA I running in the Middlebury Maple Run Half Marathon in my hometown. And the last race I will run before my marathon is the Vermont Corporate Cup 5k race right here in Montpelier.
