The image to the left completely describes my feelings on salad. I would totally do that.
Because diet has always been my biggest nemesis in "being healthy."
My co-workers freak out and ask me what's wrong if they see me eating vegetables. At the Thanksgiving potluck, I actually ate an entire plate of meat. Nary a vegetable to be found.
No, seriously. Ham and roasted turkey breast. That's it.
Or my favorite... "Your fridge looks like it belongs to a bachelor. It's all expired milk and beer. There's no food in there."
That's not true. There's food in the freezer I can microwave... And two dozen eggs of questionable origins. And a half eaten package of hot dogs.
Oh god, I really am bad at this, aren't I?
Well, consider me the exception to the rule that proves the rule.
I'm not saying my abs are perfect by any means. And I will admit, I tend to focus on them during workouts. I love the burn of a good ab workout.
But people do occasionally compliment me on them and ask me how I got them.
What can I say? I'm blessed with good ab genes?
So I lie. BALD FACED LIES.
And if you are one of the people I have lied to, I apologize. But no one wants to hear the truth. So I tell people that I workout, and run, and above all else, watch what you eat.
I watch what I eat... As it goes into my mouth.
And my friends all laugh at the people, behind their backs. Saying, "If only they knew that 'watching what you eat' means McDonald's and pizza and Coca-Cola and beer... And Pizza Rolls. Dear lord, are pizza rolls my weakness. WHY ARE THEY SO TASTY?!?!
Well that's not true. I loved vegetables. Until I found out that potatoes don't count as a vegetable, they count as carbs. So my bad. What I meant was I love carbs. All the carbs in the world.
I do, on ocassion, eat vegetables. But more because I feel like, as a grown up, I should. Not because I enjoy them or want to. But out of duty and obligation and the sense that, maybe, at the age of 30, it's time to eat healthy.
But here I am, realizing that eating like crap actually DOES have an impact. I don't know how much it has on my body composition (I'm NOT, I repeat, I am NOT trying to lose weight), but I do know that when I eat like crap, I feel like crap.
I aim to do the following:
1) Eat more vegetables.
This will be hard. I just found out that they've stopped making my favorite salad seasoning. This stuff was the only reason I tolerated salads. And now it's almost all gone from my life for forever. UGH. WHY!!! The Salad Gods hate me.
2) Cook more food; eat less processed shit.
I have a tendency to go for the quick and easy. Things that can be microwaved in a matter of minutes. Lunchables. The saying, "If you are what you eat, I'm either fast, cheap or easy" was invented with me in mind.
3) Less fast food.
This kind of goes along with #2, but it needs to be stated. I LOVE FAST FOOD. So giving it up will be amazingly difficult. In fact, to quit entirely would be near impossible with the traveling I do. But if I'm NOT traveling, then no more Southern Style Chicken Biscuit sandwiches from McDonald's. No more Cheese Curds from Culver's. Sigh... I'll miss you old friends. Until we meet again!
4) Drink More Water and Less Pop.
Again, a hard one. Pop (or soda or whatever you wanna call it) is such a convenience thing. And I have a caffeine addiction. I won't lie. But I can, and WILL do better about increasing my water intake and I know that when I drink more water, I drink less pop. Mostly because I spend every half hour running to the bathroom to pee. My kidneys... My poor, poor kidneys. They're gonna be so overworked.
OK! So four goals. Manageable, obtainable goals. I'm going to try and hold myself accountable to these by doing some more "food journaling" using MyFitnessPal. If you're on there and wanna laugh at my horrible dietary choices, feel free to add me. Username jessicabrinks. So fancy, I know.
And hopefully, these "tweaks" to my diet will make me a better runner! Because ultimately, that's the end goal. I think...?
Until next time!
#runlove, y'all...