Healthy Living

One of my resolutions this year is to cook more. I've gotten lazy the last few years and I haven't been making enough good, healthy meals. So this year I vow to make that change.

Today was a good start. Cheri and I typically make eggs and browns on Sunday mornings, but today we mixed it up a bit. Instead of fried eggs, we went with omelets. Then we cooked some grape tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled them with fresh basil. Then we added some pineapple, raspberries and blackberries and a glass of OJ. This was our first time cooking the grape tomatoes, and we both agreed that they tasted good but weren't great for breakfast. We'll have to try them again as a topping on a salad or pasta.

Lunch was excellent. We made salads with loads of veggies...romaine, frisee, radicchio, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, salad seasonings, grilled chicken and some light salad dressing (I went with light ranch, Cheri chose a light raspberry vinaigrette). On the side we had sliced apples and oranges.

Dinner...Turkey burgers on wheat buns, white cheddar mac and cheese, peaches, pineapple, melon and raspberries. Excellente.

Today Cheri and I went for another run - her second winter run - and this one went much better than last week. It's about 20 degrees warmer than last week so the weather wasn't such an issue for her and she's gotten in a few more miles (treadmill) since then so her fitness is coming back. After the run, I went to the pool.

Yesterday, I went to SBR Coaching to ride the Computrainer for a couple of hours. I wanted to do the Janesville Tri course followed by the Diamond in the Rough tri course that I did last time, but SBR wasn't able to convert my gps file of the Janesville tri so I had to pick a different route. I went with the Verona loop of the Wisconsin Ironman course. It was about 42 miles and it took me 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was the toughest workout I've had on the bike since mid-September. It felt great to work that hard, but I was completely spent. I had a swim workout planned for after the ride, so I decided to take it easy and not push the pace too hard in the pool since I was so tired. It was a pretty good workout considering how tired I was.

We had some serious fog today, so bad that there was a massive pileup on the Interstate that has the Interstate closed right now.

Eat Your Veggies!

I haven't been eating that well lately. I've been lazy and taking the easy way out too often: pizza. I love pizza and will always argue that it's not as unhealthy as many people make it out to be. But it should be eaten in moderation because it's not nearly as healthy as many people would like it to be (me, for one).

I have always eaten a fairly healthy diet naturally. I don't eat much fat. In fact, I had to work on adding fat to my diet a few years ago because I was getting almost no fat (seriously, I was getting less than 10 grams of fat per day). I eat a lot of turkey and chicken and lean meats. Whole grain bread. I love fruit. It's easy for me to stay away from sweets and alcohol (I think I've only had one drink since February. That was a margarita I had this summer that was...well...it was a little embarrassing. It was hitting me hard and I milked that drink forever. Pitiful). The tough part for me is veggies. I'm learning to like them, but it's not easy.

I did some veggie research this weekend, and I'm going to make a new year's resolution to eat at least 2 servings of vegetables per day. I should probably get more than that, but 2 servings per day would be a lot more than I'm getting now so I want to keep it realistic.

Veggies offer tons of nutritional benefits for everyone, especially athletes who are training hard. They're packed with antioxidants and nutrients. I read that cucumbers have a mineral called silica that's good for your connective tissues such as ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Yes, I picked up some cucumbers at the grocery tonight. Garlic supposedly (it's debatable) increases the nitric oxide production in blood vessels and helps increase blood flow. A lot of athletes are paying big money to supplement with nitric oxide and they're not getting the other many health benefits of garlic. Spinach, broccoli, asparagus...most all green veggies are completely packed with nutrients. It should be everyone's goal to eat at least one per day. If you want more info, go here... http://www.whfoods.com

My Nitric Oxide showed up, but it's not what I ordered (maybe I should've ordered garlic). I bought the 4 oz tube, and they sent the 2oz tube of Nitric Oxide 4 Her. I'm counting on it being the same thing in a different bottle, but now I'll have to contact them and see if I can get another 2 oz bottle or partial refund. If I start lactating or crying during commercials, you'll know why. Maybe this will make me a more sensitive person...or maybe not since that last sentence wasn't very sensitive and I already used some Nitric Oxide.

Speaking of being sensitive, here's a story that proves we've become a bit too sensitive...and ridiculous. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=499827&in_page_id=1811