Summer Food and Exercise

Since I have been keeping track of my food, my diet has definitely improved as my meals are once again centered around produce. That’s what I usually strive for, but somehow when life got really busy a few months ago, I started eating fewer vegetables and fruits.

A typical day of food often looked something like this: oatmeal with Greek yogurt and walnuts for breakfast, a sandwich with lettuce and few tomato slices for lunch, and some pasta with veggie sauce for dinner. I also made sure to eat at least one piece of fruit (since I don’t love fruit, this usually requires a conscious effort). Overall, I ate definitely too many carbs and not enough vegetables and on some days  not enough protein.

Lately, I’ve enjoyed going to the Farmers’ Market and bringing home big bags of produce again. And my meals are closer to what I want them to be again. Now my meals look something like this: a slice of wholegrain bread with 1/4 avocado & a big tomato for breakfast, cherries as a snack, a big salad with lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, spring onions, and egg whites for lunch, watermelon slices in the afternoon, and some grilled fish and a salad for dinner. I had seriously neglected eating fish for a few months…

Eating this way makes me feel so much better. I have more energy, and I enjoy the food I am eating again. I love looking at all the colors on my plate before sitting down to eat. Yesterday, I marveled at the color of the (very expensive) organic cherries I shared with hubby. Since the cherries were so expensive, I only bought a few – instant portion control!     


Since the weather is nice and not too hot yet around here, I have been hiking more again. Hiking is definitely my favorite form of exercise. A friend and I try to catch up about once a week while going on a hike. We both have busy schedules, so our hikes are shorter than what I used to consider a “real hike.” But we climb up some pretty steep hills and cover a little over five miles in about an hour and a half. It’s definitely a workout, and it’s great to connect with a friend at the same time.  I have also continued to take barre classes and lift weights a few times a week.

Getting older and living as healthy a life as possible has been on my mind a lot lately. There are no guarantees in life, but I want to make sure I maximize my chances of being able to live an active life for many years to come. Every day is the opportunity to make healthy choices. It’s not about being “perfect,” and I think there is definitely room for some “treats” and some lazy days. It’s just important not to make them the norm.

Lastly, I have been gradually increasing my coffee intake over the past few months. Do you see how there is a pattern of bad habits creeping back into my life when things get stressful? Last year I wrote a post about how to drink less coffee, and I’ll go ahead and take my own advice!

Questions: Does your diet tend to suffer when life gets busy and/or stressful? If so, what are your strategies to get it “back on track?” What’s your favorite form of exercise? Do you drink coffee? If so, how much?
 
Be well,
Andrea

Being Mindful

It is so easy to rush through the day from one task to the next and never really stop and pay attention to the moment. When life gets hectic, I have to make a real, constant effort to pay attention to each task and to be aware of what’s going on.

Being present and mindful is especially important when it comes to food for me as I am an emotional eater. I am certainly a lot more mindful these days then several years ago, but when things get stressful, uncomfortable, overwhelming, and scary, I tend to “forget” about what I am putting into my mouth. I don’t truly look at the food; I don’t really taste the food; and I therefore easily eat a lot more food than I need. I may also “forget” to eat mainly plants.

Planning meals and scheduling time to eat throughout the day helps me a lot to pay more attention to what I am eating. But there are still times when I don’t pay as much attention as I should.

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a  new app for my phone to keep track of the food I eat. Since I don’t count calories or points, and really never have, I like that the app is very simple; I simply input whenever I eat something. Writing down everything I eat certainly makes me more aware. There are many apps out there that do very similar things. I chose My Diet Journal because it’s easy to use and free. I don’t really like the word “diet” in the title, and I am looking at the “diet” part as “the things I eat in a day.”


To be completely honest, I started inputting everything I ate about four weeks ago, but after a few days, in the midst of life being unusually hectic, I convinced myself that it took too much time. When I’m really honest with myself, I just didn’t make it enough of a priority. How long does it really take to input a meal into a simple smart phone app? About a minute or two. Did I truly not have an extra minute? I think we all know the answer to this question. I think it was just easier at the time not to acknowledge what I was putting into my mouth (both when it comes to quantity and quality).

So a few days ago, I started again. No more excuses.

How is it going? Well. I like keeping track of what I am eating, and it certainly makes me think if I really need that handful of chips or those pieces of chocolate after lunch (not that there is anything wrong with either, but often it’s just not necessary). Sometimes I also write down how I am feeling. This is especially helpful when I “forget” to write something down (like the late night bowl of ice cream that I added the next morning. It certainly wasn’t necessary, but I wanted something to calm my nerves. I think a cup of herbal tea would have worked much better…). In addition to food, I am also keeping track of my vitamins, which I have been taking very inconsistently.

So for the time being, I will continue to write down what I eat to check in with myself and to help me to become as mindful as I would like to be again.Questions: Do you keep track of what you eat? If so, how? How mindful are you throughout the day? How mindful are you when you eat?
Be well,
Andrea