No lamb, no garden, no immaculate conception but there IS something about me.

5.03.2012

My thoughts on food.

I woke up to a bun on the lam this morning. A crash woke me up earlier but then I went back to sleep convinced it was something falling over in my shower (that happens) and came out into the living room after I really woke up to find the bun come flying out of the closet she's not allowed in (because Trixie's litter box is in there). Turns out she went all Hulk and somehow forced the doors of her cage open. She came right to me and is now sitting in her cage looking really guilty but I haven't actually found anything she destroyed which is a damn Christmas miracle in May. Time will tell though because I have no idea how long she was out.

Buns.

I am FINALLY getting over this Illness of Doom well over a week later but am still really tired and haven't been able to run in almost two weeks. Seeing as I have the Mountain Goat this Sunday, the 10 mile race I've been training for for 6 weeks, this should be interesting. And by interesting I mean terrifying because I might die at this one. I know I say that a lot but this time I mean it. I'm still excited though, oddly enough. There's going to be a few hills I walk for sure and I will be nowhere near my time from two years ago but NEXT year I'm looking to do it in under an hour and a half. And I will.

I was just reading Self magazine and I saw a quote from Bethanny Frankel (who I don't particularly love but only because she's borderline insane) who said something that really rings true to me: "Any diet that says to limit eating watermelon but processed protein bars are good means we've become stupid" and I completely agree. The issue that I have with diets like the Paleo Diet (which you may remember I was researching a few weeks ago) are that they teach you that some foods are "bad". In my opinion if it's fresh then it's good for you, even breads. Yes, I am limiting my carbs right now but that's because it's my own science experiment. I don't think carbohydrates are bad for you and if I did I wouldn't be planning on spending the next 4 days eating as much as possible to be ready for my race on Sunday. Your body needs certain things for fuel and to be honest, the whole "eating like a caveman" thing frustrates me to no end because they weren't healthy and they didn't live very long. You can even fast forward many years to find sailors dying from scurvy from lack of vitamin C or people with an iodine deficiency which is why it's in iodized table salt now. I was worried that I was eating too many grapes but then I realized it's fruit, for goodness sake! And it's better than eating a bag of donuts so whatever, if I'm going to eat 2lb of grapes a day then so be it. I'll be past that phase soon enough since it's just one of my random food obsessions.

To add onto that some I was talking to a friend about losing weight yesterday and I told her one of my mantras and that's that there is no such thing as good and bad food. Food is fuel and it's not something to reward yourself with or something that you deserve because you had a bad day. It's something that your body needs to run properly and the better fuel you give it, the better it will run. That being said eating a piece of chocolate cake (or heck, even half the cake) doesn't have to ruin your whole eating plan for the day nor will it take 4 years from your life or force you into a gluten allergy. The idea of eating clean and limiting refined sugar and watching your carb intake is a good one and one that I try to stick to but sometimes cake just has to happen. And to be honest, I spend more time worrying about the rate at which we're burning through fossil fuel (that we get from countries that don't have unions or regulations on collecting it to keep their workers safe), the rate at which we are overpopulating the planet, the decrease in farming because it's no longer a high profit making business, the melting of the polar ice caps and whether or not my cat is hyperthyroid and how the hell I am going to medicate her daily if she is than I do about what I should and shouldn't eat because it will cut 45.6 hours off of my life.

In short, there are a lot of things in life to worry about so what you eat shouldn't take up too much of your time. Eat mostly healthy foods. Stay away from fast food places but if you need to eat some chicken nuggets once in a while then go for it (for the record the Happy Meals at McDonalds have some awesome apple sticks that are highly chemical filled and highly delicious). Don't beat yourself up if you eat a Kit Kat..or two. Or a Panera smoothie. Just get off the couch and exercise if you do! And for pete's sake be easy on yourself if you're trying to lose weight. My mom, who has been a size 6 my whole life and who is 5'7", tries to tell me all the time that her trying to quit smoking is much harder than me losing over 100lb. Ha I say to that. HA! She has no idea. No one makes a sugar patch to slap on when you're craving a Chik Fil A Milkshake or a fake cheeseburger to eat that tastes just like the real thing but with none of the side effects. And people who are trying to quit smoking are commended and congratulated while people who are trying to lose weight are expected to do so. It's not the same thing. At all. (This is not to say that quitting smoking is easy by any means and I am well aware that it's not).

Anyway, a book I really like is In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and the first page says this:
Eat food.
Not too much.
Mostly plants.

Sadly, he forgot cake. From Wegman's. The Ultimate Chocolate Cake. But otherwise that's a solid motto. Stick to that and you'll be in a good place.

Of course, this is all just my opinion and it's how I choose to live. If something else works for you, rock on! And tell me about it, there aren't a lot of things I don't like to research the snot out of :)

1 comment:

  1. Laaaate comment here. But I so agree with you on the topic of food.

    The most maddening diet to me is Atkins. How can you eat 2 lbs of bacon a day, but an apple is off limits? WHAT. But there are so many diets out there that seem bat-crap crazy to me. Limiting fruits and vegetables is just insane.

    Since going vegan (I hate saying that. But whatevs.) and eliminating a lot of processed food, Gabe and I both agree that we feel SO much better. It wasn't like we ate Burger King every day prior to that, but once we totally eliminated meat and animal products, we realized neither of us were feeling sick, low-energy or hungry shortly after eating.

    Personally, I have no problem with others eating dairy or meat. Whatever, as long as you feel good. Just to test ourselves, tried to have a cheat day, I had cheese and he had bacon...we wound up sick and in bed after one meal. Haha. That'll teach us. :)

    Every body is different, and I agree...it's totally a moderation thing. Too little care about your diet causes problems (problems I know all too well!) but too much care can cause undue stress and makes for difficult social situations. I agree about cake, too. Cake happens. ;)

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