Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Winds of Change

So a lot of stuff going on in The Fat Runner household...

We're cross-training ourselves into shape. Hopefully a nice shape. As far as shapes go, round doesn't seem to agree with my running. The biggest change by far though, has been nutritional. A complete 180 degree turn in that area and so far, our kitchen makeover has proven to be for the better. We have severely cut back on fast food and other processed stuff and the effects are already being felt.


Chicken Sausage Frittata
 My wife started feeling funny about two days after we started. I've been thinking of a word to describe what she was feeling and the best I could come up with was malaise. A general feeling of malaise. She felt weak, with no real desire to do much. I thought at first that it was the onset on a cold or something like that. Then, she told me "I feel like I need to eat candy or something sweet." Well, she didn't need to say anything else after that. She was going through withdrawal. A natural side effect of eating home cooked meals instead of processed is that you consume a lot less sugar. Sure enough, a couple of days later she was feeling great and I'm kind of surprised about how great actually. She is also doing P90X3 and she wakes up every morning charging to do it. Amazing how we get used to things and let them take over.

Then there's me. After a week of eating as clean as I have in a very long time, I was faced with the situation I was kind of dreading. I was on the road, no lunch from home and hungry. I had to eat something so after much pondering I settled for a Mexican food place and had some tacos. I went heavy on the salad and went for chicken instead of beef trying to at least minimize the damage. An hour later I was regretting that decision. I had to get to the bathroom. Bad. The tacos were really not agreeing with me or my stomach. I've never had any problems with eating fast food. Believe me. But after only a week of better nutrition my body just said "Hey! What happened here? You were throwing in the good stuff!"


Panko breaded Tilapia, asparagus and rice with beans
And it's not like we have been lacking flavor-wise. I love to cook so I took this opportunity to revamp our diet as a challenge. Chicken Marsala, Mexican Tostadas, Open-faced Bacon and Egg Sandwiches... it has all been made at home with healthy recipes and it has all been good. Of course, I've had to manage my time a little better to be able to cook. My wife is taking care of dinners (and subsequent lunch for me the next day) while I do breakfasts and try to keep it interesting on the weekends. Not only are we feeling great but the cut on fast food, as I mentioned in the beginning, has been severe, which is a good thing. Where we were doing 13-15 meals eating out, the average these past two weeks has been about 3-4. Not bad right?

9 comments:

  1. You're doing so great Frank! It's amazing how much better you feel when you eat the healthy things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Incredibly better I would say. You have been our inspiration for this you know. Seeing your transformation has been amazing.

      Delete
  2. The both of you are doing so well on this! My husband said last night that we need to start making more meals at home. Of course that was right before we went for Chinese take out. But he orders the seafood delight because he thinks it's healthier. I look forward to cooking more. I'd love to see more of your meals. That fritata looks great and is giving me some ideas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's so hard to break that cycle. We live such busy lives and lets not kid ourselves: It is very convenient to eat out. A little planning and effort goes a long way however.

      Delete
  3. It really is crazy how used to the bad stuff our body gets and then how un-used to it our bodies get when we start eating better. I agree that I feel a lot better when I eat out less and concentrate on eating healthy stuff at home. We've gotten away from it recently but we've been good this week so here's hoping it continues :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The thing is, you don't really notice it. When you"re eating fast food all the time you think you feel fine. Then you make little improvements and that's when you realize that things were actually not good.

      Delete
  4. So glad you are finding such a big improvement by eating more at home.It is amazing how eating at home can change so many things starting with feeling better. While I love going out to a nice restaurant, my favorite meals are include a nicely grilled fish such as Ahi tuna or swordfish with spicy sweet potato fries and a large salad with goodies like avocado.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's great that you mention that. There is nothing wrong with going to a nice place to eat and enjoy food. Even indulge and celebrate. But most of what we eat regularly at fast food places is actually not even delectable. I mean, has anyone sat down and took a good look at a McDonald's burger recently?(yes, I'm naming names) Not enticing at all.

      Delete
  5. This is so great to hear! While I'm sorry that your tummy didn't quite approve of your meal, it's amazing that you are already seeing the changes and benefits of less process and more healthy foods. You're right - it doesn't have to be boring and you don't have to sacrifice flavor. So proud of all your hard work!

    ReplyDelete