Yesterday I had a pretty relaxing day too. It was the first time in the last couple weeks of craziness I was able to evaluate myself, where I am now, and where I want to be in the future. I write down goals I have for every area of my life periodically and yesterday was a much-needed day of inventory. I think the main area that I have lacked in is my health. I was reading this article in Glamour Magazine written by one of their bloggers that did an experiment of eating only foods she saw advertised on TV for a week. Applebees, Chilis, Jimmy Dean's, Burger King, Yo-plait, Kellogg's. Some very very unhealthy, some you would think were not. It was interesting the effects she, a normal organic-whole foods eater, experienced. I connected to some of the feelings she was having after just 5 days of eating not so healthy:
"I wake up feeling foggy...normal tasks like making a phone call were suddenly making me off the charts anxious... no coordination.." Ugh. It's not hard to understand that diets overly saturated in fat, sodium, and refined sugars have serious negative effects on the body and the brain. But this article pinpointed exactly what happens. The fat, sugar, and salt, overstimulate the release of the brain chemicals dopamine (responsible for euphoria) and norepinephrine (involved in mental activity). So when any of those levels of refined sugar, fat and/or salt are increased and then take a nosedive- we feel uncoordinated, anxious, unfocused, tired, etc. And the worst part is that these changes can happen after ONE MEAL. On top of that, your mood is negatively affected too (that whole euphoria thing is unbalanced.) This explains my recent hatred of the human race.
My downfall: sugar. I don't normally crave fatty, salty snacks or processed foods like a lot of people do. I crave sugar. Not baked goods (ok..sometimes bread) but candy. Dark chocolate, which has positive benefits in moderation, gummy bears, sour patch, fun dip, shock tarts, sweet tarts, laffy taffy, jelly bellys... Willy Wonka is my hero. Sugar is my health's kryptonite. I'm addicted. Last week I made the addiction far more extreme with my 3 days of crappy lunch choices followed by a binge of pixy-stix. Why I thought this was a good idea, I will never know.
All of this to say, I related to some of the side effects this woman was having. I have been feeling almost ill the last couple of weeks and it's because I'm not taking the time to focus on my diet and health like I normally do. So in my goal re-evaluation that was the #1 thing I need to get back on track with. I am tired of feeling like I'm not with it and have zero energy.
I also am registering for the Virginia Beach Surf n' Santa! It's a 10mile run in December. At first I was thinking "oh no... long runs in the snow again?!" (I experienced a LOT of deep snow runs last winter in my failed training for the Country Music Half.) Then I realized, I live in Virginia Beach... I don't even need my yack trax! It's not going to snow enough for that. If I can run 8 miles in the Michigan snow I can run 10 miles in the Virginia cold.
I have 53 days to train.
Here's to healthy living!
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