September 15 - 17: Fruits and vegetables and track running

I am in Day #11 of eating healthy and I think I see results.  It might be too early to tell.  You often cannot see the changes in physical and mental health after only eleven days.  There are always other things you can attribute to how you feel...anything from nice weather to a good night's sleep.  I am using an app on my ipad to track my moods related to the monthly cycle.  Again I will not see patterns until it has been more than eleven days.  I should have done this years ago and at one point I tried with a written calendar.  There is something easier about having an ipad...especially with chimes to remind you of things.

I loved this quote about healthy eating from my gym's website:
Clean food is basically food without any added unnatural or processed ingredients.  If you can’t find the ingredient or food in nature, then it probably isn’t clean.  For example, an orange is a better option than orange juice (processed and added sugar).  And orange juice is better than an orange creamsicle (who knows what is actually in one of those).  The more steps food has to take from its natural state, the less clean it tends to be.

Clean foods are the best because our bodies are designed to thrive off real food.

This is simple yet why do these nutrition gurus make it complicated?  This is exactly what I have been doing.  Eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and "clean" foods as much as possible.  Not everything I eat would be considered "clean" but I am incorporating more of it in my diet.

Exercise:

Monday:  Rest

Tuesday:  Track workout.  I ran at South around 5:30.  I did one of the workouts from the triathlon Facebook page, but cut it in half so it was five miles total.  Hal Higdon's plan had me doing five miles so it worked well.  I had not been to the track since the first week of August so it was great to be back there.  I liked running with others doing their own workouts versus the elite triathletes I cannot keep up with.  I do like the track the more I do it.  The speed workouts do make a difference.

Wednesday:  Swam 45 minutes.  My swim partner slashed her tire on the way into the gym parking lot.  She hit something in the road.  We waited with her while she called Triple A so we had a bit of a late start.  It was still a good workout.  We chose a workout with more 400's and 300's versus speed swims.

Eating:

I have been having a bowl of cereal and milk or vegan salads in the mornings.  I have not had brown sugar on my oatmeal in almost two weeks.  For lunch I have been eating a lot of fruits like banana, grapes, or apple and vegetables like beets, cherry tomatoes, or carrots.  I have been eating deli slices.  For snacks I have been having rice cakes or a few wheat thins.  For supper Monday night we had Rob's potato dish and last night we had pulled pork.  Tonight we eat at church so who knows what it is--going to try to avoid the junk.  It's hard when the youth group's diet is chips and Mountain Dew, but I can resist more than I could years ago.

Sleep:

I've had no sleep or insomnia issues the past two night.  I just have had full days of child care--today I have the afternoon off.  I am pretty much done at 8 PM.  I am trying to not to leave anything for the evening so I can relax and read and get to bed by 10.  It helps the kids are not doing fall sports right now.  This might be harder once basketball starts, but I am hoping to stick with the established routine.