Importance of Quantity

When it comes to food, yes, the quality of what you're eating is important. That's why so many Paleo sites emphasize the need to get organic, pastured, free range foods. But another thing that's just as important is the quantity of what you eat.

Eating disorders and disordered eating (yes, they are separate concepts) are far too common in today's society. I'll bet that usually when you think eating disorder, you think self conscious teenage girls. It's not limited to girls. It's not limited to teenagers. I suspect most people are at least a little disordered in their eating. That does not mean that I think most people have eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia. It means I think people use food to control and react to stress, or as a reward system, or mindlessly eat to stay awake or to help them focus. Some people just don't eat enough good real food for meals and gain weight from all the snacking they do to try to fill themselves up.

No, if you do these things, you are not broken. Neither is your relationship with food. You just need a little adjusting.

Take a look at what you eat. Try keeping a food journal for a week. Write down every single thing you eat (even those 3 m&ms from the candy bowl sitting out on your coffee table). Look at it at the end of the week. How much of your food consumption was real food? How much of it was during meals? How full were you after those meals? How full were you at the end of the day?

Also note down how much you moved, and how much sleep you got. Exercise and amount of sleep also play key roles in how your body reacts to your environment (including the food you put into it).

Now, you've done your research, you've gathered your data, and it's time to start adjusting. Things do not change overnight. It will require a little work. If you found you snacked a lot between meals because you were hungry, make bigger meals. If you snacked for any other reason aside from being hungry, start cutting down on your snacks. If you ate mostly TV dinners and rehydrated meals, you know what you need to do (eat real food!). If you rarely exercised or slept, make those aspects of your life a priority. I understand the book is good, or you really want to see what happens on your Netflix show, but put in the bookmark, hit the pause button, and hit the hay. Having a solid 8 hours will help you focus and be more productive the next day.

I would also recommend not counting your calories (in most cases). They're just numbers. They're an estimate. Obsessing over amount of calories consumed vs amount of calories burned does not encourage healthy eating habits. 17 calories is not going to make a difference either way. You'll probably be much happier when you stop doing that. Maybe try going by macronutrient ratios (protein, carbohydrates, fat) and vitamin/mineral content instead with a focus on making sure you get enough.

Try eating real food for meals, eating until you're full (not stuffed), eliminating snacking, exercising (whether just walking or something more strenuous like weightlifting, swimming, or running), and getting 8 hours of sleep a night.

In other news...

I haven't made any of the new recipes yet, and I still need to write up the one for the chili, but I'd rather give it another go before I post it to see if I can get it to be a little less spicy.  Last night was zucchini carbonara night. Abbs was really impressed at how easy it was to make. She's keeping track of what meals we make for during classes, I think, so she knows what's good and easy and quick. Tomorrow I'm making damn fine chicken again (another classic), and tonight she's making turkey burgers I believe. So much yummy food.

I think I've mentioned earlier that right now I have plantar fasciitis (PF) and am avoiding running. It's been going on 2 months since the last time I ran, and although I'm antsy to get back to it, I'm also finding that I actually do enjoy biking and swimming. Yay! There's a challenge going on at the pool where each length (25 yards) counts as a mile, and they want to see who can swim the farthest away from the pool. I got roped into it by someone else from the tri team, and we roped in someone else, with all of us hoping to get to Hawaii. Hawaii is nearly 5000 miles away from here. Right now I think I'm hovering around 1300 miles (respectable!) with a little over a half a month to make it the rest of the way (not happening, I'd like to maintain my status as second place holder though). My average biking speed has increased, too, I think, which is also exciting. There's a race this weekend that I'm doing as a relay, and I'll be doing the bike leg. It's only a sprint, so it should be pretty easy.