Healthy Eating.. The easy way.

Its interesting, I am really an "all-or-nothing" type of person.   When I run/exercise regularly - I want to eat well, focus on my over-all well-being, get enough rest, etc.   When I get injured (which seems to be  the only thing that really makes me stop exercising), I start eating chocolate cake.. Fast food.. Ice Cream.. etc.

So, I want to change my focus to healthy living over all.  This will help me when I can not run, to continue to focus on great things.

[caption id="attachment_2876" align="alignright" width="225"] You don't have to deny yourself treats![/caption]

One of the BIGGEST aspects of Healthy Living is the food we eat.  I do very well at eating right - IF I pay attention.  So I am returning to my using MyFitnessPal to track my eating habits.  I have found that if I put in my food BEFORE I eat it, that I make much better decisions.  In fact, If I know I am going to be having some sort of "treat" that day - I put that in first thing.

The Joy of Cooking (and shopping?)

I love the weekend.  With it is a new-ness, even if it is the "end" of the week.  There is the joy of being unfettered from what we do every day, of avoiding the "work" requirements.

For my family, Saturday means some of the same things every week.  We are going to go out to breakfast, followed by shopping and then cleaning the house.  Shopping has gotten so it is taking much longer than it has in the past back in NY.  My family is starting to eat much healthier and we have a lot more choices of stores to shop at.   We are buying far more produce (which means Wegmans, or if we go to Annapolis - Whole Foods Market and the Fresh Market), and some items specific to health food stores (Mom's Organic Market if we didn't go to Whole Foods), and then probably Safeway for the remainder.  If we need some basic essentials, we might also hit Aldi's.

Hitting multiple stores has become even more important with our new outlook on the New Year.  While we were at Wegmans, we had a cart that was around 2/3 full (the full size cart) of produce.  The cart was topped off with tabouli, hummus (spinich-artichoke,) black bean dip and the like.  It cost around $100.

After Wegmans, we headed over to Safeway to pick up some things we need that were on sale there - and it was around $100.  Now, if eating health is supposed to be so much more expensive - shouldn't that have been the other way around?

While I generally dislike shopping for to long, this one was kind of exciting.  Why?

1) Tonight's dinner - Confetti Enchiladas.  We haven't had these in ages, and they are sooooo good!

Better Diet. (Not Dieting)

[caption id="attachment_2070" align="alignright" width="240"] Ok, So this is "Bad." I get that part.[/caption]

So, I started thinking about what I was eating a while back and how I could improve it.  The first obvious step - is eat fewer calories than I am burning.  Myfitnesspal works well on helping me with that.  Not only that, its method of using basic math to lead to weight loss - definitely works!

Now, that I have "burn less than you eat"understood - I am attempting to move into the "make better choices" stage - Some of which I have already begun.  It's obvious that broccoli is a better snacking choice than cookies.   But there is obviously more to it than that.

Let me speak up here and say that I am not becoming a vegetarian.  I did it for quite a while at one point in my life - and have no real plans on going back to it.  I like Bacon Cheeseburgers, and a tofu-burger with genuine tofu-bacon on it does not come close.

Cross training with Curb-Found Treasure!

So yesterday was my rest day.  Unfortunately I am finding that I really don't like having days of no exercise.  Maybe it's because I am staring at calories on my phone whenever I eat, or maybe it is simply knowing I'm not doing anything - but either way I have become one of those people who is driven batty by doing no exercising. I also feel bleh if I do NOTHING.

[caption id="attachment_1420" align="alignleft" width="270" caption="My Daughter Demonstrating our Elliptical"][/caption]

Last night I ended up staying late due to its being a board meeting night, and was headed out not to long after - due to it being cub-scout night.  I decided to tackle the elliptical for a simple 20 minute window.  Now there is a short background story on this elliptical.  I have a tendency to notice when my neighbors put big things out on garbage day, and also to consider whether or not it should have a place in my house. (My wife insists these things must take place after dark however..)  Well, we lost some fantastic neighbors about a month ago and in the process of their moving out some things appeared at the curb.  A never-before-used elliptical was too good to pass up.  This treasure still had the plastic covering over the display!  Now it isn't a high-end elliptical, but I thought it would be a fantastic tool to see if a good one was something my wife and I should pick up.  This one has multiple reviews on walmart.com, that mostly point out it has a short stride length.  As my wife is only 5' tall, this isn't a bad thing!