I Can Do Hard Things

Here is how to master food: save all the treats and give them to me :) I will sacrifice and save you from all those yummy mini chocolate covered donuts! I will! :)

Joking aside, I think the hardest thing for me with food is moderation. I love my treats, but had to learn how to eat and enjoy a 1/2 cup of ice cream instead of 3 cups at one sitting - with hot fudge and toffee pieces :) Also, throughout the day I keep a big mug of water around. I find that drinking 8-12 oz of water is usually what my body wants, NOT food. But, food tastes so much better and is more fun to eat. I heard once that when your body is thirsty (just needing a bit of water, not dehydrated thirsty) it sends the same signal as hunger and it is very difficult to discern between the two. So, most of the time when we 'snack' it's because we're either bored or our body IS telling us to eat, but it really just wants water. So long story longer...I find having a full mug of water handy at all times really helps with the food thing.

LOVE the miles...and the time is coming down too! woot woot!

I was going to tell you the same thing RAD just said about the water :)

Also, if you can get off anything white and eat more protein and greens, your body cravings for sugar and starch (carbs) diminishes and you aren't addicted to them anymore. That's a nice feeling.

Glad you go to run today :)

Thanks Rachel! I just think about treats all day long it seems like! I totally need to drink more water because I do drink a lot of Cherry Coke (need something good to wash down those donuts!!).

It does feel so good to be running. I really have to make sure I don't get going too fast (not that I am all that fast anyway), but I am hoping that the slow comeback will pay in the long run!

Okay, I'm going to get on a little soap box here and many may disagree with me, but I will put my rant out there....

Soda is SO bad for you, but especially diet soda. You didn't say the Cherry coke was diet, so I will applaud you for that (I hope I'm not wrong), but the caffeine and the high fructose corn syrup in soda will CAUSE those cravings. Diet soda will actually reduce your metabolism and cause you to gain weight. The chemicals in those drinks are really bad for a body that you want to perform well. I am NOT a fan of 'fake sugar' in any form: Crystal light etc etc. Those fake sugars have SO many bad nasty chemicals that wreak havoc in your body and your body stores the chemicals for years as well. Caffeine on the same note has been linked to bone loss (possibly because it reduces your intake of dairy?) as well, so in trying to strengthen our bones for the pounding needed to endure our running we should not drink much caffeine either. So, one of my biggest suggestions to you would be to throw out soda all together. It's nasty stuff.

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest I will say that I do drink soda, and the occasional Dr Pepper as well. Again, all things in moderation. But, when I do drink soda I try to drink the stuff that has just plain 'ol sugar. My body processes and uses sugar - it stores chemicals, and I try to avoid the caffeine as well. Mostly though because I get a HUGE crash from caffeine and it has very negative effects on my brain (just ask my kids how grumpy/depressed/unmanageable I get 3-4 hours after finishing it). So, this is my soap box...and I will step down now and we can all return to normal life and have a coke :)

Rachel you make me laugh :) I know soda is bad, but it is one of those small pleasures in life! I appreciate your reminder....there are many areas I need to be better at. One of my favorite scriptures is "show me my weakness"....I have lots :)

Snacks are so hard. I'm not doing so great at moderation right now, but a couple of summers ago I got all stern with myself and just cut out desserts/candy and soda. I ended up losing about 20 pounds (also with running and quitting eating before I got full). Now I allow myself the snacks if I eat something healthy first - today I got snack cakes after I ate an apple, and jelly bellies because I ate some corn. It makes it so I don't just survive on junk all day, and I eat less because I'm less hungry. Plus I don't get cranky about denying myself what I want. :)

Oh - but I think for sure it's kind of an addiction. Or a really hard habit to break.

Toby, I'm glad you can laugh at my rant and know I'm not trying to offend anyone. Like I said, I drink it too! My biggest weakness is probably tootsie rolls - they are bad too! However, I think I could eat a Costco size bag every week! I have a candy jar at home JUST for tootsie rolls :) It drives my husband crazy, because he finds my stash of wrappers (that I'm too lazy to throw away) all over. mmmm...too bad I'm out right now!

I'm with Catherine, do the 'healthy first' thing, that helps too. A lot of times if I can keep myself eating healthy 'snacks' to begin with I don't crave the junk so much.

We really need to get together for a run on a Saturday sometime!