The Food Struggle

True Life:  I Love Food

Hey boy 'n' girls,  today I had THE MOST d'licious protein bar of life and it reminded me that perhaps I should mention something about food on this here blog space.  As you've heard me mention before, I'm a self-proclaimed food addict.  I've been working on training myself to only eat when I'm hungry over the past few years in an attempt to keep myself from eating out of boredom.  Poverty helps a lot with this since you can't eat when your wallet won't let you buy, so I've actually had quite a bit of success.  But for reals, when I eat I try to be conscious of how my body feels as I'm eating.  If you think about it, you may actually find that you're actually full a lot sooner than you think.   Apparently it takes quite awhile for the STOP EATING signal to get from the stomach to the brain, by which point you've probably already over eaten.  Something to be mindful of in the future.

The other thing I typically have issues with, as do most Americans, is portions.  Those can really kill a diet, especially if you're eating 5x a day as Insanity calls for.  My doc agrees that multiple small meals a day > 3 large meals, but that rule really doesn't apply unless you can get the portions right.  Otherwise you're just eating a lot all the time.  I don't count calories since I barely passed every math course I've ever taken in life, plus AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT.  So instead I've started using measuring cups for foods that are sneaky with their calories, fat, salt, and sugar. For example, orange juice is good & good for you, but that sneaky mutha f'er has 28g of sugar in only 8oz (1 cup).  That's a dagger and a half since a cup is hella small, and no ever drinks just 8 oz.  Peanuts/nuts of any kind are another thing to watch out for. As you probably know, peanuts are high in calories; eat a handful of them bad boys and you feel like you've eaten half the damn bag.  But the fat from peanuts is actually very healthy, so the payoff for eating them is great.  HOWEVER, it's important to watch out for the salt since sodium is a diet killer and hypertension is a people killer, not to mention sodium retains water.  Plus eating too many calories, although you're getting the good fat, is a diet killer as well.  So pretty much DON'T GET KILLED - much easier said than done, I know.  When I eat my dried cranberries 'n' almonds concoction I use literally use a measuring cup to get the portions right (1/4 cup).  It also helps make things last longer, which is crucial if you're broke...eating healthy is expensive, and anyone with student loans knows $6-7 on peanuts is a no-go if you still have to get gas to get back and forth to work for the rest of the week.

The other sneaky yet d'licious food:  fruit.  Fruit is great for you, but LOADED with more sugar than I care to tell you about at the moment.  To honest, that's probably a downfall of mine.  I try to make sure I'm getting enough fiber in on a daily, and I usually do that with fruit since I'm not the biggest fan of veggies (although I WILL thrown down some carrots and green beans at dinner).  Fiber gets digested very slowly in the intestines, so it keeps you fuller longer, therefore you eat less because you're full.  Or at least that's how it works in theory.  If you're a food addict like me, you'll find room for it somewhere, trust me.  But because I eat so much fruit, I have to really watch the other things I eat to make sure I'm not over doing it with the sugar.

I don't want to give myself diabetes tryna be healthy.  Wouldn't that be terribly ironic.

I once read an article that said eating healthy was 80% of being fit.  I've heard fitness professionals even say diet is more important than the actual workout routine because a poor diet will ruin a great routine; it will kill any and all gains you will have worked so hard for because you're not giving the body what it needs for proper muscle development and are covering your current muscles with fat.  Part of me wonders how much greater my gains would be if I had more self-control with my eating, since that's pretty much what my issue is.  Maybe one day I'll get it right (but probably not).  In the mean time between time, I'll just enjoy the body I have and continue to at eat healthy.  My weight never fluctuates, my blood pressure is excellent, sugar levels are fine, and my doctor isn't worried, so I ain't either.  Every time I step on the scale I have to remind myself that I'm mostly muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat, the number on the scale is deceiving.  If I went strictly by the number, I'm technically obese, but you can see by my "before" pic in the first post that, that's obvi not the case.  So ladies (and gentlemen who aren't afraid to admit they care about that number too), keep in mind body composition is an important factor when looking at weight and diet.