Improving Your Health

Lunch – 2:15pm

Roast beef/turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/ spinach, mayo, and flaxseed. 1 handful of homemade pretzels.

Dinner – 9:05pm – 9:40pm (35 minutes)

1 bowl of pot roast (meat, potatoes, carrots), 1 chicken salad sandwich

Weird thing happened today. I woke up feeling pretty good (I’m already getting over my sickness). Well, I started to get hungry around 1pm, but there was a problem. I was bloated as hell. The funny part was I didn’t know why. I hadn’t eaten anything all day. My question to you. How can you be hungry and bloated at the same time?

So I waited it out for a while, and then finally had something around 2pm. And then the bloating continued until about 9pm. At that point (I was hungry again and at Hannah’s parents), I decided to eat a home cooked meal.

All in all today, things went pretty well. Practicing the mindful eating is becoming easier with each day. Also I may have reached a breakthrough for myself when it comes to taking my time when eating. I will definitely be looking forward to that in the future.

And lastly, to cover the emotional eating topic, there have been several times where I’ve been upset, but the idea of food never came to my mind. So that’s been nice.

Lunch - 12:52pm – 1:20pm (28 minutes)

 1 McDouble, 1 small fry, 1 large coke w/refill

Dinner – 10:30pm – until ??

1 McChicken, 1 small fry, 1 large coke

You know most people would’ve looked at what I ate today and said that I did horrible. But I disagree. Sure it was fast food, and sure, it wasn’t the healthiest options on the list. However, I still practiced mindful eating both times and I didn’t feel any negative emotions. Why? Because I realize that the occasional treat is not going to make or break you. What matters is what you eat day in and day out.

So in the past, I would’ve totally kicked my ass for doing this. And brewing with negativity, I probably would’ve stopped the mindful eating. But, there were extenuating circumstances (You don’t think I would’ve purposefully would’ve done that do you?)

So yeah another day in the bag.

Lunch 2:15pm – 2:25pm

½ of a PBnJ w/flaxseed, and 5 grapes, and Seven Up.

Okay, I felt like crap today. I woke up and thought I’d been hit by a ton of bricks.  Even as bad as I felt, I didn’t want to stop the mindful eating habit. So I just pressed on. I couldn’t even finish my sandwich, so I knew something was wrong. This was the only meal I had today. Hopefully, I’ll be better tomorrow.

Lunch 1:05pm- 1:30pm

Grilled chicken, potatoes, broccoli, cheese stick, grapes

Nothing really special here, just my leftovers from the other day. Surprisingly, they still tasted good. This time instead of sitting on the couch while my client watched Tom and Jerry, I decided to sit by the desk. Although I could still see the TV, it wasn’t that much of a distraction and it made it easier to practice mindful eating.

Dinner 6:30pm – 7:00pm

2 burritos (eggs, pork chops, chili, green onions, tomato sauce, tortilla chips), and grapes.

My wife made some awesome breakfast burritos. I took my time and tried to enjoy them. Everything went pretty well for the most part. At the end however, I probably had a few more grapes than I should have. My wife and I were having a heated debate about politics and I noticed that it got me kind of eating on autopilot. Anyways though, as soon as I realized what was happening I stopped. In the past, I would’ve been tempted to beat myself up. But now I realize it’s just an important part of the learning process. And hey, at least it was grapes and not French Fries!

Two days down, only 28 more to go!

Lunch – 1:16pm – 1:43pm

1 burrito (turkey sausage, potato, ketchup), handful of chips, water, and grapes.

I know, you probably think I’m weird for putting ketchup on a burrito (so does my wife), but hey, I really like ketchup.   Practicing mindful eating at this meal was pretty easy. I wasn’t rushed or anything, but once again my client had the TV on watching Tom & Jerry. (I really need to figure out a way to deal w/ this issue). Other than that, everything went pretty well. Also, you probably noticed that I took 27 minutes to eat this meal. That’s pretty good for me, but I’d like to hit at least 30-40 minutes for each meal. (more…)

Sound the trumpets! Ready the brigades! Today is the day we wage war against the fat!

This is the first day of the 30 day mindful eating challenge! For those that don’t know, my dear friend Chris betted me $1,000 dollars to see if I could practice mindful eating for 30 days without messing up.

Okay, Chris didn’t do that. But I like to think that my health is at least worth a thousand dollars.

So cheers to getting off my ass and actually doing something! Clink.

So here’s the plan. (more…)

In my past, I’ve tried almost everything I could think of for trying to control my weight—I’ve taken them into extremes, both with diet and exercise. Many of my decisions led me to burn out and eventually return to square one. For example, running 50+ miles a week so you can eat whatever you want… it’s probably not a good idea. It’s just not sustainable and it’s a bit of an extreme. But I still did it.

And it worked for a while, until I realized I didn’t want to run 5 miles a day for the rest of my life. So, by now, you’re probably thinking what’s the point of all of this? Well, I want to show you how making one simple change can cause you to be healthier and have more energy. :) It’s easy and anyone can do it if they really want to.

All I’m going to do is create the habit of mindful eating. Instead of rushing through my meals or eating while I’m distracted, I’m just going to take my time (my good friend always makes the point, “Geez Ted, you inhaled that meal. You’re not an animal; you can take your time.”

Now I’ve struggled with trying to make this a habit in the past. When I first tried it, it was so damn hard to actually do it. There was definitely a lot of psychological resistance on my part. But, I stuck with it and it got easier. However, there was one main problem. (more…)

Let’s face it. You’re awesome and that also means your health deserves some long-term TLC. :)  So what’s up with the harsh headline?

Well, because Diets don’t get the job done.

Photo by Luke M. Schierholz

If you are looking for a short-term solution to a long-term problem then by all means diet. There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want.

But if you instead want to know how to make lasting changes to your eating habits, then please by all means, continue reading. (more…)

You know what would be awesome? If someone could show you a guaranteed way to overcome temptation every time it rears its ugly head—and then you could stay laser-focused and accomplish your goals no matter what. And no, that someone isn’t Jesus or Google.

Jesus never had to resist Taco Bell’s Beefy 5-Layer Burrito.

Photo by Mike Baird

Step out of Wonderland and take a step into reality. Nobody’s going to offer us a deal that good because it doesn’t exist. We’re human and that means we aren’t perfect.

But that doesn’t mean we should give up and let fate decide whether we can overcome temptation. On the contrary, you can get damn good at resisting temptations with some practice and the right approach.

No, there’s not some magical formula that’s going to guarantee your success every time, but there are reliable methods people have used for hundreds of years to resist temptation. (more…)

You know that guy with six pack abs— the guy who’s in shape year round and doesn’t have a problem resisting junk food?

Well… that’s definitely not me.

Too many late-night runs to Burger King have crushed that dream. In my defense, I blame Halo. When you’re kicking ass and taking names, you got to eat right?

Who am I?

I’m the guy who exercises like a mad man, but fails miserably when it comes to diet. I’m the guy that uses words such as “10 mile” and “easy” in the same sentence and believes that all men should train like Rocky because lifting boulders and logs is manly. (more…)