My day started by not waking up to an alarm clock. See, during my short semester break, I'm doing things for myself that I don't often get to do...like sleep. I was sucked in by Interview with the Vampire last night and fell asleep on my couch. I went in to bed around 2am...and woke up at 10:30 this morning. Normally, on the weekend, I'm up no later than 7am. Anyhow, I was feeling a little guilty about sleeping 1/2 the day away and decided to skip breakfast and just have an early lunch. Bad idea! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Really. We need to 'break the fast'.
Think about it, what time do you eat at night? What's the earliest that you eat the next day? How long does it take you to get hungry during the day? Sure, you're body doesn't need as many calories to sleep...but your body is doing some important stuff while you sleep! To do all that important stuff, your body uses up energy. That means that you don't have a lot of energy left to start your day. And remember the leptin and the ghrelin. Yeah. See, here's the thing, you've got to eat to stay healthy. You've also got to eat to lose weight. There's a big difference between cutting calories and starving yourself.
Anyway, I could feel physical hunger. So what did I do? I went shopping before eating. After shopping, I chose to got to a Panera further from the store because I thought it'd be less crowded. Ha! Not so...but still, I was hungry. When I was standing on line at Panera, those pastries and cookies and brownies looked soooo good! I was cranky, I could barely be nice to the woman at the counter, I was annoyed that the restaurant was so full. I was run down, out of energy and lugging the new set of towels and some cute shoes I had just bought. Luckily, I ordered the salad and onion soup. In the end, I made the right choice.
This is a great example of how WHEN we eat is as important as what. We all know that it's not a good idea to eat late at night or before bed. I know that I don't follow that one. It's also not a good idea to go too long without eating. Now, what's too long for me and what's too long for you may be two different lengths of time. I think this is one where you've just got to know your own body. It's also going to vary by your activity level. For example, I know that my work-outs are much more difficult if I don't have a small snack about an hour before. My body needs that little jumpstart of 100 or so calories of fruit and maybe a little cheese or handful of almonds. Obviously, I don't want a big heavy meal before working out, but I feel a little nausea if I exercise on an empty stomach. I can also feel my body just dragging and every move is that much more difficult.
So, make sure that you're eating often enough. It's recommended that we eat something like 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Well, that's a lot of eating! The snacks that you eat between meals are where you'll up your veggie and fruit intake. Generally, one piece of fruit is one serving. Think of 1 cup, that's generally a serving of vegetables. Hard to picture 1 cup? Instead, think of a baseball. 1 baseball is about 1 cup. What is a good snack? Well, an apple and a low fat cheesestick. Carrots and a tablespoon of hummus. Both excellent snacks! Cut up a red pepper and snack on that...just add a protein that you like. Combine a fiber with a protein and you've got a snack! Just make sure it's snack size...especially if something like peanut butter is your protein! (PB goes really well with a tart apple, in my humble opinion!)
That all being said, here's what I ate today:
I was so hungry that I ate half the salad before remembering to take a picture! This is/was the Greek Salad from Panera (with cukes added and 1/2 of the dressing normally added), the Bistro Onion Soup, a baguette and a cappuccino (you can sorta see the mug)--and notice, I'm reading...pre-summer term reading! I'm such a nerd!
So, after lunch, I went home. A few hours later, it was time to go running (Yup! Work-out number 5 for the week!!!). I was not particularly hungry, but knew that I needed to eat something. I chose an apple. I'm out of almonds (lost in the flood...) and decided not to have cheese. Cheese makes my throat a little mucus-y and I really did not want that while running. J and I managed to run 4.05 miles tonight!!!!! We ran from my house, clear to the other end of Boston!!! Boston is a pretty small city...and we ran a short side of it.
After our run, we stopped at Whole Foods and I got a fruit salad that contained mango, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I gave most of the blackberries to J. I like them just fine, but I definitely prefer raspberries. Anyway, I don't run with my camera or my phone...needless to say, you'll have to use your imagination for the fruit salad. But let me tell you, that mango was like manna from heaven!!!
Pre-packaged salad from Trader Joe's, the Tuscan Italian salad, or something like that? I put on about 1/2 the vinaigrette it came with. I didn't realize that I grabbed three chicken tenders, until they were thawed. Yeah, I ate them all. Lastly, a little basmati rice with a bit of butter. Yeah, the rice was probably overkill...
Yeah, so, in case you missed it, I worked out five times this week!!! Way better than my 3 times per week goal! AND, I ran 4 miles today!! It was rough, but now that I've done it, it will get easier. I just want to know that I won't die during my race in June! This coming week may be difficult. Tuesday will probably be a short run, there's talk of going out for BBQ on Wednesday and I'm going out for Southern food with a classmate on Thursday. Even more incentive to pay attention to the rest of what I eat all week!
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