Little Victories: What You Eat

I passed through the gauntlet of Halloween and all its sugary horrors to some complacency on my part. While the basket of candy in the front room did tempt me with shiny wrappers and promise of good feelings, I was able to turn that craving off with my determination. The smaller stuff, the easier temptations that are always around a much harder and insidious.

This couple of weeks I had zero pizza, and zero conscious sugar. All WINS. At the same time, I ate a number of things simply because they were there. I was tired, or starving, or lazy and I went for the easy snack.

Again, this time it’s no reason to beat myself up, but more information about having good healthy stuff on-hand so the Triscuits aren’t so alluring. In years past I would eliminate the unhealthy foods completely from my pantry. But my kids starved. I do better now. I still try to limit their junk food (and we all do really well on this) while providing as many healthy options for them.

Another thing begins to happen this time of year as well, as the weather gets colder, and the daylight savings time is dropped, it’s easier not to exercise. And in my case, I’ve just picked up a new client with a large amount of work. So it’s time to shift my strategy a bit as well.

Exercise whenever it’s available. No excuses. If I CAN go I need to go. There are always going to be interruptions in my plans. And with added client work there will always be meetings that will take priority over my noon workout. But that’s no reason not to walk right after the meeting, before it gets dark and cold.

I have to admit the time change throws me more this time of year. My bio-clock still wakes up at 5am, thinking it’s 6am. It’s dark outside. And if I fight it and try and go back to sleep for an hour I wind up waking up 3 hours later, and LATE. That’s no good. So even the time change had thrown a kink in my simple plan. No worries.

Learn. Evolve. Do better.  And each time I fall off the plan, get back up and congratulate myself on the "learning."

This week I’m going to be ready for the complications. I’m going to stock up today on a few more of my healthy snacks. (Organic: Honeycrisps, tamari-roasted almonds, granola w/out added sugar) And I’m going to hit the trail and the courts as often as I can. If I get in two workouts one day, that’s cool, because the deadline maybe coming that will take an entire day out of my schedule.

I’m not lazy, but I do occasionally opt for the rest day. And when snacks are available that don’t meet my healthy criteria they are hard to deny when I don’t have any better options.

Always keep your options healthy. Always keep getting back to work. And when you can get out and exercise, do it. Always.

Take the next step,

John McElhenney

@fitbytech

GOOD READ: What I Had To Unlearn After Studying Nutrition – Mind, Body, Green

A few more details on those "smart eating" blue diamond almonds.

Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. It is produced from starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a white hygroscopic spray-dried powder.^[1] Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose, and might be either moderately sweet or almost flavorless. It is commonly used for the production of sodas and candy. It can also be found as an ingredient in a variety of other processed foods. – wikipedia