Food, and other news

I think I've been talking about food a lot here, but that's okay because I think about food a lot. Cycling burns an incredible number of calories (at a fast pace it's about 1000/hr) so I do a lot of eating. And I'm trying to make a pretty big shift in my diet, so I'm thinking a lot more about what I eat. I'm even tracking what I eat every day, just for fun.

Anyway, I've made a few discoveries on the road to changing my eating habits. Some are pretty obvious, but make a significant difference when I actually do them, others kinda surprised me.

1. Eat more fresh produce. With the prices as low as they are at the public market, there's no reason not to buy it. It's nutrient dense, low calorie, zero fat, and just plain yummy.

2. Eat more often. I should have started doing this ages ago. I'm eating about 5 times each day now, which means that I eat less each time and have more energy throughout the day. Often what I'm eating is just a piece of fruit, some bread and hummus, or a muffin. But that's usually enough to get me through another hour or two.

3. Read labels. If I know what it is I'm about to consume, I'm more likely to consume an appropriate amount of it.

4. No food has to be ruled out as long as I'm careful about portions and total fat/calorie consumption for the day. For example, I made a box of mac and cheese today. Generally not a healthy food, but when I only eat a third of the box, and an apple, it's not that bad. I just made sure that my dinner was mostly fat free.

5. Plan ahead. I usually figure out what I'll have for dinner each day and then plan the rest of my meals based on that. I also plan to make leftovers, lots and lots of leftovers. They're starting to fill up the fridge because I'm saving them for lunches once class starts.

So there are my words of wisdom for healthier eating habits. It's working for me so far. I've got a lot of energy, my mood is more stable than it would normally be under the circumstances, and I think I'm starting to slim down again. No concrete measurements yet, since I don't have a measuring tape or a scale, but I think I am. Also, I'm recovering quickly from workouts, which means I'm eating right. If I don't consume enough carbs during/after a workout my glycogen gets depleted and the fatigue and delayed-onset muscle soreness is much worse the next day. Fun with physiology!

As for the other news, there's not a lot to report. I haven't even been outside today, since it's been raining and there was nothing to do anyway. I'm really looking forward to classes starting so that I can be busy again. I did get my first tuition bill in the mail. Not as bad as it could have been, thankfully, but it'll definitely eat up my savings pretty fast. Yay for the Federal Nursing Loan Repayment Program! They'll pay off most of my school loans if I agree to work in the US for two years after graduation.

Time to go make myself some turkey burgers to throw in the freezer... there I go talking about food again.