Posted by FeedtheFiend

Date Posted March 16, 2007

I try to eat healthy foods. I eat whole grains, lots of greens, lean meats, and I stay away from ALL processed foods or sugar as much as feasible. My portions are small, but they are spread though out the day. As a supplement, I drink a few protein shakes to cut some hunger pangs. While I had known about the right things and ways to eat for a while, I only really started applying them last year, when I worked out with a trainer for a few sessions. As important as the actual workouts were, so was his constant berating of me when I would tell him how I had eaten. Even when I see him now, before saying hello, he asks me what I have eaten.

When I first started really dedicating myself to eating healthy, I would go to the grocery store (even when I was hungry, which is a big no-no, and also my main takeaway from "Work Out") and have absolutely ZERO clue as to what I could buy. It was a little bit frustrating, but after a while, I became conditioned to ignoring all the bad stuff (most of the stuff that is there) and going for the whole grains, etc.

Another thing I have learned is to NEVER buy snacks to keep in my apartment, because I know that I will eat them all. If I were to buy a box of Cheez-its, I would finish it in a matter of minutes. One of my all time favorite snacks is nachos, and when you make them yourself, you can put as much cheese, salsa, and other things on it that make it taste so good, but it is really so bad.

I'm pretty good and set a good example, right? Wrong. When I visited my family during the winter holidays, I was awful. What's worse is that they generally are the ones who struggle to eat properly and cut the bad things out. For example, pasta for dinner, which is often very late, is a staple. The horror! Although, they have been phasing that out.

I should be helping them, but instead of setting a good example when I visited, I was the one leading the charge to get a cake, to celebrate something or other. When they were going shopping, and they asked if I wanted Cheez-its, I said yes, get two boxes.

Just as bad, even when I was not enabling, I was at least participating. Like, when they already had a bag of chips, I ate them, all. Things I would never have normally even considered became fair game.

To be fair, it was the holidays, so I permitted myself some slack. Had I been at my apartment, then that would never have happened, though. One of the things people do is make those little concessions, and unfortunately, lots of little concessions add up to a whole lot of extra crap, which is what happened with me.

Anyway, from now on, I vow to make sure I set a good example even when I do go visit people, or at least, not really set an example so much as stick to my guns. It does make it more difficult when you are a guest, because you don't want to seem high maintenance. But, still, making too many exceptions can be a perilous road in terms of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.