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Mike and I were eating at a buffet in Las Vegas back in January. I was trying to forget about eating healthy and just “enjoy” myself on the trip. Mike was looking past me at the wall.
“Cute penguin.”
I turned around to see what he was looking at. I didn’t see a cute penguin. I saw a corpulent glutton eating an ice cream cone the size of his head.
It stopped me in my tracks and I ate very healthy that night.
I’m continually surprised at what makes me eat healthy. When I look at this photo now, he looks like a cute little penguin, but that night, he looked FAT. He reminded me of why I want to eat healthy. He reminded me that taking care of myself isn’t about “letting go” and eating too much. If I think hard about it, I can almost see the blubbery penguin that I saw that night, but it’s difficult.
If somehow I could bottle that feeling, I would never have trouble eating healthy again.
ABC News was nice enough to use my photo of Black Toenails again. A special thank you to Radha Chitale, for contacting me about this. Radha wrote an AWESOME article called Freaky Fitness:
When it comes to exercise, you get out what you put in. So, when you devote a lot of work, you expect fabulous results. But, sometimes, the results of a workout are far from what was expected.
From surprise orgasms to black toes, a number of strange things can happen to the body when put through its paces. These issues often occur when the exercise is intense, when it lasts a long time and is atypical — running a marathon, for example.
I didn’t run a marathon when I got my black toenails. I walked on the treadmill pretty slowly for ten miles one day and then seven miles the next. It’s possible to hurt yourself without exerting yourself too much. If you’re curious about ABC News’ other article about black toenails and how to prepare for a marathon, there’s a link here.
It has been over three years since I gave myself black toenail. My feet look as lovely as they ever did and there was no cause for alarm, but I was mortified for an entire summer when my toenails fell off. For more information on how I dealt with my Black Toenails, you can read here:
The caption for this photo reads:
I’m faster than squirrels while riding on my Iron Duke.
Remember how that felt? Remember when your new tennis shoes made you run faster than you could have ever run before? Remember when you felt a surge of power from the speed of your bicycle? Remember how that felt?
Get that feeling back today. Instead of doing your normal exercise routine, go outside for a crazy run where you race to see how fast you can go. Pump up the tires on that expensive bicycle you bought two years ago and feel the chilly air race past your face. THAT is what exercise is about: getting to know your body and how it feels when you push it to its limits.
Feels good, doesn’t it?!
I haven’t written about it for a long time, but I am still hosting challenges on the NIKE+ Website. The reason I don’t post much about it here is because I can’t link to the actual challenges and you have to sign up to even see how people are progressing. Additionally you have to have a Nike+ iPod or Nike+ SportsBand to even log your runs. If you have a Garmin or just run the old fashioned way, you can’t participate.
With all of those limitations, mentioning the challenges here every week might be kind of irritating to all of those people who haven’t sold their soul to Apple and Nike. For the rest of us, however, I just thought I’d drop a quick note letting you know that I’m still hosting the challenges on Nike+.
What about Runner+?
I used to host challenges on Runner+. With Runner+, EVERYONE can run. You don’t need a Nike+ to log your runs. If you have one, it’s great, but if you don’t, you can enter your run data by hand. Unfortunately, there was the constant problem of people signing up for challenges that were below their level just to win. I didn’t have the ability to kick people out of my own challenges, so it was a fight every week. In the end, it was actually better to go back to the Nike+ website.
I’ll keep watching the Runner+ website to see if any additions are made to the usability, but until then, the challenges are available on Nike+.
This old commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken got me thinking:
The premise of the commercial is, “When there is great chicken like this, why cook?”
Why indeed? Not only is there chicken, but I can find any kind of food that I would want almost any time of the day. Why should I ever cook? I thought about it and here are a couple of reasons cooking is still a good idea:
When I cook, I choose the ingredients
I know EXACTLY what is going into that fried chicken when I cook it myself. There are no mysterious blends of 11 herbs and spices. I have COMPLETE knowledge. Instead of my choices being taken away, I can choose to cook with healthy oil, whole wheat flour and free-range chicken. I can be eating the SAME food, but know it is healthier.
I feel more connected
There is a sense of accomplishment with cooking and I feel more connected to my meal when I cook it. Even if it is a grilled sandwich, it is better when I’ve made it for myself than when I’ve grabbed one through the drive-thru window. There is something to be said for the pride of cooking.
It doesn’t take that long
I always imagine getting fast food to be so much more faster than just whipping something up at home, but when I time it, cooking usually wins. If I have all the ingredients in my cupboards, fridge and freezer, I can beat the drive-thru window every time. It’s easy to forget how time consuming just getting into the car and going to the restaurant can take. With traffic, long lines at the window and the drive back, I can usually have a meal made at home in just as much time.
It’s not that hard
As good as the Food Network has been to inspire people to cook, I think it has done just as much harm. Meals don’t have to be something like Martha Stewart would serve. They can be simple, easy to make and ugly. Making food pretty is important in a restaurant or a photo-shoot, but when your are making food at home, it doesn’t have to look gorgeous. Frankly, when you get food at a fast food restaurant, it NEVER looks like those commercials, so you really don’t have much to compete with.
After all this thought, the words still linger in my head. “Why cook?” The real question should be, “Why not?”
NakedJen has decided to start a new exercise program and get back to eating healthy. She blames it all on suffering from Divorce Brain, but it sounds like a good start to me:
On the first day of new regime, her dogs, Buddha and Stella, were unsure of what was going on, but by day three, they were excited to join her:
So, if you’re still reading, you might be interested to know, that I’m on day 3 of this insanity. This morning I didn’t even need the alarm at 5:00 a.m. because Buddha and Stella woke me up at 4:50 a.m. Stella jumped on my head. Buddha gave me kisses. It was still hot as Hades. We still did our 12.6 miles. I’m still going to yoga later today.
Jen also gave us a recipe for her Vegan Pineapple Nectarine Coconut Morning Bread. It looks delicious!
If you have been feeling a little stale with the heat and exercise, click on over to NakedJen’s post and remember that even in the sweltering heat of the summer, you can live a healthy life.
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