I have noticed that I actually WANT to run in the mornings. My body is responding. My resting heart rate is down to 48 from 56, my split times for miles have come down a minute and a half from when I started. But something is....off...
One of the things I used to love when I was an athlete in college was how much I could EAT! I LOVE EATING! And I love eating whatever I want - who doesn't? When my little monitor says I've burned so many calories during my work outs, that gives me license to just eat with abandon, right?
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| I burned 720 calories today! |
Yeah. Well first of all, sweet cheeks, you are NOT 20 years old anymore. Second of all, do you notice how you drag on the mornings after you've had two glasses of wine or chocolate or an enormous helping of chips and salsa (or all three?)? The whole "food as fuel" concept has not really stuck with me yet. Food as enjoyment, food as reward, food as comfort? Yeah - got those concepts in the bag.
And the more I read and understand about inflammation inside our bodies and blood vessels, the more I realize, I'm flunking out on the nutritional portion of my training.
From Dr. Dwight Lundell, cardiac surgeon from Mesa, AZ.
There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.
When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.
Click here for Dr. Lundell's article.
In my normal food cycle, I would take time to beat myself up about how poorly I was doing nutritionally, how I was essentially taking sandpaper to my blood vessels with my chips and salsa and then go ahead and continue on the downward spiral. Seeing as that strategy does not work, it's time to double down.
If I were flunking or really struggling with something in my pre-med classes, I would double down and be really intentional about carving out more time, making notecards, recopying notes, relistening to lectures. Time to take that tactic for myself in relation to my "nutritional training".
What I'm wanting for myself in this part of my journey, is the feeling of satiation that comes from eating well and fueling my body well. That feeling of getting up in the morning (having had enough sleep! But that's a topic for another day...) and knowing that my body has what it needs for my workout, but also for my day of work, class, lab, being with my family, etc...
Wish me luck! Here's to continuing on the adventure!
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| Post run on a cloudy, humid Phoenix day |
2 comments:
You are succeeding in many ways. Keep up the good work and remember how many other things you are juggling.
Em, that was such a great blog and a great perspective on recommitting to oneself. Just know you are not alone.
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