Just some thoughts

I hate to see the holidays get over so quickly, but am eager for the near-constant supply of chocolates and peppermints and other little sugary, fatty holiday items to disappear from the office. At home I'm mostly good and plan out what I eat pretty well. But at work, where I spend most of my time I might add, those little goodies prove too hard to resist. I counted it up one week and I think I was eating at least a chocolate a day — most often two! I want that to end!

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I started this whole thing out to lose weight, but more and more lately I've been focusing on being and eating healthy (as well as getting to my goal weight). I want to eat a colorful diet and choose (and enjoy!) foods that are really nutritionally good for me. Of course, I've got those things that I just CAN'T give up — ice cream being one of them, although I've recently started buying low-fat instead of regular (and it tastes exactly the same!). And there are those moments when I eat some pretty bad-for-me stuff. On the whole though, I've been pleasantly surprised at the way and the ease I've taken to the changes in my diet. My parents can attest to the fact that I was a notoriously picky eater. Most vegetables could make me gag. I had a few things I really enjoyed and didn't like to try new things. I'd rather eat out than in, although I didn't do that very much. I just wasn't very much fun at dinner time.
But in the past couple months I have been trying new stuff left and right. Brussels sprouts? Sure! Tofu? Bring it on! Lentils? Sounds great! And even more surprising is that almost everything I've tried has been terrific. Brussels sprouts, not so much. But almost everything else.

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I've been hooked lately on a BBC America show called 'You Are What You Eat.' In it, a very formidable nutritionist takes obese people who eat horrendously and puts them on an 11-week detox diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, legumes and beans and usually small portions of oily fish. The people usually go through a host of tests, including a very gross portion of the show where the state of their poo is mulled over, and in the end they are declared lacking in most essential nutrients. To get healthy is as simple as eating those foods full of the things they're lacking and exercising more. The show is full of great information about different foods and what they provide to your body (for example, pumpkin seeds are chock-full of zinc and, among other things, can do wonders to your sex drive!). I've learned so much from watching this show and recommend it to anyone. I never really thought about my body being like a machine I needed to fuel and maintain, even though I grew up hearing that term. To me, eating food was enough. I wasn't actually thinking about whether the food I was eating had any nutritional value or not, or what nutrients I needed or what those nutrients did. Now, I know I'll be thinking about that when I plan my meals or go shopping.