To juice or not to juice (as in fruit and vegetable juice not pro-baseball player juice) that is quite the question these days. Whether tis nobler to pulverize and strain your kale like the hipsters do, paying 9 dollars for a 10oz cup of the swill, or eat it cooked like your grandmother tried to make you do wayyyyyyyyy before the idea of juice bars came into being.
Kale is disgusting, so gross. For me it has been since the 70s when I stared at a big glop of it on a plate at 1321 Highland Drive in Baltimore. Give me a kale chip smothered in sea salt and I can dig it, but to get it in my body any other way is a battle.
CONFESSION: I have read the articles online now deeming kale the magical elixir and I have choked down many overpriced cups of kale juice waiting for that BAM...instant magic to transform me into a lean, mean paddling machine. Such did not happen and I am not really sure if "lean" will ever be used as an adjective to describe me again. To save money I went to the store and bought kale (we have a juicer thanks to a Lowe's gift card we received at our wedding) but I had to add a bunch of apples and a serrano pepper to act like I was enjoying what I was drinking. Still no lean me. I should have bought a toaster oven...to make me some TOAST! Toast is fuel!
Paleo seems to be all the rage now. That incorporates kale into the program doesn't it? I see a ton of awesome looking dishes on my friend Amy's Facebook page. That girl can cook some dang good looking food and I don't even think she uses a food stylist. My mouth waters and I get hungry looking at the pictures she posts. Those dishes look good and I bet they taste even better. Unfortunately, I don't think the Paleo diet includes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm out.
There is too much pro and con about the same issue whether it's juicing, strength training, low carb/no carb diets, and every other aspect of the athletic lifestyle. Information overload and it's too much to get your head around. I always wonder whether or not I am doing the right thing when it comes to eating and training because I like staying up to date on what researchers say, but maybe that is not the best idea. I should be the researcher for me. You should be the researcher for you.
I am by no means a nutritionist, but I will compare my way of thinking with the literature that is out there. I check out some websites and I have even bought a few books to help me learn how to eat well, or maybe properly is a better word. Is there a correct word for the program I choose to follow? The way I eat constantly changes. It goes from good to bad to middlin' to well-thought-out to downright stupid to rabbit-like to fine. I'd like to make healthy the best word to describe the way I eat. To do that I need to think back to...when was I the healthiest and when was I the least healthy?
Least healthy: November 1985-August 2002, October 2002-not too long ago
September 2002 was when I was the healthiest I have ever been.
I was in the woods for 28 days on an Outward Bound excursion around the North Carolina-Tennessee border. Whatever we ate then did the trick. We ate a lot of meals that would probably send Laird Hamilton and med-degreed nutritionists into fits. Breakfasts consisted of bagels sauteed in butter and smothered in cream cheese, Cream of Wheat, granola, oatmeal, and bread. Lunch was canned salmon, beans, cheese, sardines, crushed crackers, and bread. Dinner was pita pizzas with veggie toppings, pasta with tomato paste tomato sauce, beans, breads, cheeses, and carrots. There were more items but not many. Meals were subsidized by apples, oranges, and various trail mixes that had chocolate, nuts, pretzels, cereals, and dried fruits. You know what I did after these meals...I carried a 70+ pound pack up and down mountains from sunrise to sunset, climbed unfathomable rock cliffs, canoed down rapids, and dropped to a very low, but very healthy, percentage of body fat. At the end of the 28 days I ran a half marathon up and down three peaks, beating the rest of my group by 40+ minutes and almost breaking the best time ever posted at North Carolina Outward Bound School. I was sprinting for close to half the race and I give most of the credit to Cream of Wheat. I was older than the rest of my group by almost a decade.
Of course my body needed this fuel to survive a very rugged lifestyle. Today, I definitely don't need the fuel that kind of diet demanded, but I do need some of it. I'm getting older and I am trying to maintain an "elite" level of fitness. I truly believe that in order to do so I cannot adhere to any kind of diet that excludes items. I think one has to be smart and analyze the way they eat with the way they feel and their level of activity. I see a lot of people that look amazing at races but do not perform at a level I would have imagined. Give them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I bet you would see one hell of a difference! Or maybe not...it all depends upon the person and what lifestyle they lead. We are all different so we have to be honest with ourselves and, I think, maintain a balance that constantly changes depending up our lifestyle.
I think the hardest aspect of eating is discerning our cravings. Know your cravings! I crave ice cream and Snickers bars all the time. I know those cravings are coming from a not-so-good place. Sometimes I crave cereal and sometimes I listen to these cravings. I look back at what I did leading up to the craving and what I plan to do after the craving. If I put in two workouts beforehand and would like to workout the next day you are correct if you believe I succumb to that craving and have a bowl of cereal. I'm not eating Frosted Flakes but I'm not eating raw bulgur wheat as well. I totally enjoy some granola that isn't too processed knowing that I am going to burn that stuff off in the very near future. Not every time you feel hungry do you need to eat. Water helps; tea helps. Also, don't wait too long to eat so your cravings and your hunger don't join together to mess you up. Your stomach is roughly the size of your fist. I try to remember this but sometimes that 12 inch meatball marinara Subway sub is too dang good to only eat half...
Really? A 12 inch meatball marinara Subway sub all in one sitting. I know my fist ain't that big!
At this point in my life I tend to look at eating like staying hydrated. If you are thirsty you are already behind the eight ball. Eat a little portion of something healthy before you feel hungry. Snacks are good. Pop tarts probably aren't the best snack and neither is an over-processed protein bar. Keep it simple. If it takes you more than a few seconds to read the label on an item then put it away. There are no labels on apples, bananas, and almonds. I really dig dried figs as a good snack that will fill me up and the ingredient list on the label is really short. Short labels are good. No labels are better. I'm a realist. SOme of my food is going to have labels and I am not going to know exactly what everything is...and I am okay with that. A few minutes of exercise and a glass of red wine will offset that big word or two on the label.
Balance is key. Know yourself and know your schedule and eat accordingly. Don't let the do's and don'ts on the web rule your eating habits. Be smart and examine the way you feel and your activity level to determine what you put on your grocery list!! And don't be lazy!! Cooking your meal is much better than buying your meal and it really doesn't take that much longer. I get lazy. We all do. If we keep it simple we can easily succeed when it comes to eating in a way that is best for our bodies. Rule your own inner kingdom and discover what fuel keeps you at peak performance.
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