Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Dear Self: Remember this feeling

During my trip to Atlanta at the end of spring break, I wasn't making the smartest food choices. Because the conference center had limited food options, I ate barbecue and Mexican for lunch and snacked on protein bars. And let's not even get into our dinner choices and airport meals.
A four-course meal at the Melting Pot? Sure, why not...I totally won't regret that!
Immediately following my return from ASCD, we had the week from hell at school, and I responded by unapologetically comfort eating and crawling into bed early every night without any kind of workout in between.

During that week and a half, I was bloated, gassy, lethargic, irritable, and over-tired.

This week, I made up my mind to pick healthier meals and snacks and to stop lying to myself about how poorly I was eating. I spent the week focusing on choosing nutritious foods...
...and I'm feeling energetic and downright svelte. My mood has lifted, too. 

So this is just a quick reminder to myself: food choices make a difference. I don't even honestly care about being healthier or looking better. I'm not paying attention to calories. I'm just trying to put better things in my body.

It's literally about allowing myself to enjoy life, because I'm not happy on the days I'm bloated and irritable. Who is?
Healthy GF pizza: thin crust, just the right amount of cheese, ground turkey, zucchini, and tomatoes!
Is five minutes of flavor - that pop tart, ice cream, plate of nachos, mug cake - worth days of discomfort? I've finally decided that the answer is "no." I guess this is just part of getting older; I can't eat everything I want and feel perfectly fine afterwards.
Healthy, balanced, and not a nacho in sight!
I've never really liked the "food as fuel" mentality, so this is the first time I'm actually seeing how these choices affect me and make a difference in my daily life.
My first attempt at anything resembling meal planning: four days worth of salads for lunch, already made and ready for work!
I have no problem saying no to gluten, but junk food is hard for me to turn down. Snacks are my weakness, so I've filled the fridge and pantry with healthy, easy-to-grab choices. I'm hoping that taking a moment to reflect on the obvious difference I'm feeling will help me make smarter choices from here on out. At least most of the time! (After all, I'm already planning to fully enjoy Passover this weekend, and that means dessert!)

What are you favorite healthy snacks?
What's your favorite splurge food?
Do you have trouble saying no to unhealthy food choices?

ABK

12 comments:

  1. Good for you Ali!! During my peak weeks of training a while back - I know, right, what a time to not make the best choices - I'm not exaggerating when I say that we were eating out for every meal. We hadn't been grocery shopping in forever and I was too lazy/tired to pack and prepare lunches or breakfasts.

    Ever since I started taper 10 days ago, I got my butt in gear, went to the dang grocery store and started making better choices. It's really crucial that I fuel my body right in these few weeks. I've brought lunch to work every day and am really making an effort to get the protein I need. I'll be honest, I don't notice a huge difference in how I feel physically, but emotionally I feel better. I feel more in control and I'm proud of myself for taking charge and making better decisions. And my wallet is happy too!!

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    1. I feel like when I'm training super hard, that's when I crave more junk food! Maybe because it feels more filling or something. It's really hard when you have to eat out a ton. I've found that PDQ and Pollo Tropicale are my best "healthier" fast food options around here.

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  2. I'm glad you're feeling better - there's nothing worse than a constant feeling of being bloated! It makes every action so uncomfortable!

    I have recently been trying to make the connection for myself between sleeping, eating and running well. I KNOW that all three things are connected, but that knowledge doesn't always translate into action for me. I used to only track my mileage and how my body felt during a run in my training log, but now I'm trying to add in some reasons why I think a run did or didn't feel good (not enough sleep, hadn't eaten since lunch, etc.). Doing so has really helped me to see how all three things work for me specifically rather than just having the general knowledge that poor sleep/poor eating is bad for running. Slowly but surely this is helping me to make better choices. A couple last week I went to bed at 11pm instead of 12:30am... baby steps!

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    1. I love that you've added your food and sleep habits to your training log...I bet that's eye-opening! I definitely notice a difference in my running if I get even an extra 30 or 40 minutes!

      I kind of wish I hadn't made this connection because I know I'll miss my junk food :(

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  3. So I have suffered from disordered eating, so my huge accomplishment was when I stopped counting calories and allowing myself to have junk when I want it. Because I know I can eat whatever I want, I don't crave it all the time, and when I do crave it, I don't pig out. Now of course I am not perfect so I'm not saying I never overeat or anything like that. But it's a huge improvement. I used to be so all or nothing. If I ate even a MORSEL of something "junky" the day was ruined and I'd just eat crap because, well, the day was already ruined. Such weird thinking. So I guess this is my round about way of saying it is veryyyyy rare for me to eat junk for several days straight. But I do eat junk every day. I love tortilla pringles, wine, and sweets. My favorite "healthy" snacks are cheese, bananas, and pretzels with peanut butter in them! Yes, I consider peanut butter pretzels as healthy. :)

    Oh and the thing is, most things you can make healthy if you make them at home. Tacos, burgers, pizza, etc, when home made, can be very healthy!

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    1. I like having the mental freedom to eat whatever I want, but I'm starting to realize that physically that's not working for my body anymore. It sucks. I'm fighting to keep it from becoming mental, honestly. I know I'll overindulge on Passover because our Seder dinner will be huge, and I want to be totally fine with that and not feel guilty!

      I have found that homemade stuff can be healthier. I'm so excited to make that pizza again. It was delicious and super healthy!

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  4. Since it's just the two of us, I only grocery shop every other week. The first week and a half its really easy for me to eat healthy with lots of fruits and veggies but near the end of the second week I start to eat what ever is convenient and tend to just buy quick stuff for lunch and dinners which are not very healthy! I hate to say it but it's kind of good that your body is telling you that it does not react well to certain foods. I have not found any ill effects when I eat junk food so. It makes it hard for me to stop..lol

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    1. Ooh yeah, I know how that is! When the pantry starts to look picked-through, I gravitate toward unhealthier options. I guess I need to work on not buying those things in the first place, but honestly, we grocery shop once a week and I still run out of the good stuff by the end!

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  5. I have had a rough couple of weeks in the food dept. I have eaten too much junk and just not made the best choices and used lack of time as an excuse. Yes, I am busy. But I can still do what is right for my body!! haha!
    Some of my favorite snacks are hard boiled eggs, peppered deli turkey, jerky, and raw nuts (almonds and cashews are my jam). The meals just take a little prep and this post helped remind me how much better I feel when I eat well too! :)

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    1. Mm, hard-boiled eggs are a favorite! I love them. I tried turkey jerky awhile ago and didn't love it. I do love cashews! I've found sticking some healthy snacks in my workbag keeps me from scarfing down everything in sight the minute I get home these days.

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  6. Nice job on eating well. I always feel a lot better when I'm eating healthy. I am generally pretty good about food, but by no means perfect (one time... kind of recently, I ate an entire box of captain crunch... not the best food choice). I eat too many carbs and probably not enough protein, but I don't really worry too much about it. I have been trying to be better about eating things with vitamin B12, since I am vegetarian/vegan and it's kind of tough to get.

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    1. I do feel better when I eat healthier...I hope I can still enjoy my junk once in awhile. I definitely eat too many carbs, which is weird because you'd think Celiac would stop that. But carbs are definitely my weakness!

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