Nutrition Goals

Nutrition goals have been noticably absent from my overall training goals. The reason is that I have really horrible eating habits and can go days without a fruit or vegtable. One day this week, my food intake consisted of leftover artichoke dip for breakfast, a large bag of popcorn for lunch, cheetos as a snack, bratworst on a white bun for dinner, two snack sized bags of peanut M&Ms and two glasses of red wine. How pathetic is that? I am only admitting it to embarrass myself into better eating habits. Quick does not equal healthy! It wasn't even that good. Well, except for the wine and peanut M&Ms which were pretty tasty.

When I was pregnant with my two babies, I followed the book What to Eat When You're Expecting religiously. The diet consisted of specific portions of protein, carbs, one yellow or orange fruit/vegtable per day, two leafy green vegtables per day, and I don't remember what else. I kept a daily log and charted my progress. Whatever was left at the end of the day had to be dinner. I also ate chocolate and Dairy Queen blizzards but I got all the nutritious food in too and didn't gain excessive weight. Why could I eat well for my children but I won't do it for myself?

I've been reading some lately about performance gains from carrying less weight and having a well-fueled body. I need to lose six pounds just to be at the weight I was over the summer, not to mention the additional 10 I really should drop.

So here's the plan. I am going to start logging my food intake on week days and weight once per week. Not here but on my own - it's just a little too much information! I'm going to have at least three servings of fruit and/or vegtables per day at least five days per week. And I'm going to think about the junk food I eat before I put it in my mouth. I'm good about drinking lots of water throughout the day and milk, so I will continue those habits.

The Food Pyramid people would be horrified, wouldn't they?