Back on the Wagon

Time to start eating healthier again! I stepped on the scale yesterday and realized vacation took its toll. Way too much candy and ice cream apparently. Actually, I don't think it was all vacation. I believe it started back at the end of April when I was in Chicago for work. A week of eating in restaurants is never good and then it seemed like May was a busy month.

At the end of May, about the time I decided I try blogging, I made a list of goals. I'm a list person. I love having something to hold me accountable and love crossing things off a list. I think this blog is basically that as well, mostly for me, to hold myself accountable and track things.

Anyway, one of my goals was to make sure I cooked at least 3 healthy meals during the work week and try to eat out less, especially on the weekends. This means to actually cook something other than grill a few chicken breasts, grab tortillas and a bag of salad out of the refrigerator and say we're having chicken wraps again for dinner. It seems like there have been a lot of chicken wrap nights lately because it's quick, easy and always something that works. I'm also going to try to incorporate more fish/seafood and try more vegetarian meals.

Throughout most of high school and all of college, I was a vegetarian, but was very unhealthy about it. I lived off of baked ziti, macaroni and cheese, red bean & rice and pizza. I still don't eat that much meat, but did start again after meeting my husband. During these eight years, I've also discovered that I'm no longer allergic to any fish or seafood. I grew up my whole life not having any since very young because I was allergic to it when I was young. I still don't cook much at home because I not real good at cooking with it yet.

There have been many, many times when I feel very guilty about eating meat, especially beef and pork and somewhat on chicken and turkey. I don't think I'd ever touched raw meat until I moved in with Kevin. But, I started cooking dinners and often made things with meat or poultry because those meals usually turned out and were edible. I seem to have bad luck with non-meat dishes.

I followed a trailer with cattle for several miles through town a couple of years ago and decided then that I wouldn't buy meat in the regular grocery store but would try a local butcher shop, hoping that a more local source is better. Can't say that it is, but I try to at least think so. Then, a month ago, I had to take my desktop computer in for a repair. To get to the place, I have to drive by a livestock auction. At the time I drove by, there was an area filled in with cattle. It got to me and I haven't had any beef since then. I'm not going to say I'm going to become a vegetarian again, but I'm going to try to make better decisions and just eat less meat.

I love to cook, but often it falls by the wayside when I get busy. Two years ago, I worked for a year on a cookbook as a gift for all our family members. I spent a year cooking, tracking, photographing and working on the book. I used Blurb to create it, which I highly recommend. I've done other photo books with it too. My book was titled Second Helpings. I loved that process and it made me cook and try lots of new things. I'm a very average cook, and lots of my recipes are just out of Taste of Home, which is simple, everyday kind of food. So, I'm thinking I can extend that and start trying to cook more again. I still want this blog to be for tracking my running but eating healthy goes along with that and can use this to extend new things I've tried cooking.

At least that's the idea, we'll see how it goes. Well, after that long post, you'd think I would have made some exotic meal yesterday. It was anything but, however, what I love is the season for fresh produce! Last night was salads, grilled chicken, rice and asparagus, with strawberries for dessert. The lettuce was out of our own garden, and the asparagus and strawberries were local. Much more local produce to come and can't wait for more to start growing in our garden!

Yesterday was my cross-training day, so I just did 30 Day Shred and have a short, easy run on tap for this afternoon.