Wise words Wednesday: Eating healthy

The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.  ~G.K. Chesterton

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So I've been on this exercise kick lately, but not exactly a full-on health kick. See, I work out, but I snack on really crappy foods. I'm a junk food nut and I'm a complete sucker for sweet treats. At work, M&Ms, Doritos and Coke Zero are my weaknesses. At home, I have dessert pretty much every night, and on the weekends we'll eat Bojangles for breakfast more often than we should (we indulge a couple times a month in BoBerry biscuits, sweet tea, fries and bacon egg and cheese biscuits, YUM!) and I'm more likely to snack on chips or cheese balls than to fix myself an actual lunch.


In my defense though, I have to say that my main meals are generally healthy, especially the ones I cook. We don't eat a lot of red meat, I almost never use butter when I cook, we get lower fat dairy items, and we try to incorporate fruit and veggies into our meals (the kids almost always get a side of fruit, Adam and I usually don't though). Plus, I drink a ton of water.


I guess that, plus the fact that I've been exercising has been my justification for my junky snacks. The fact that I'm still below my pre-pregnancy weight is also a huge factor. I attribute that to some awesome breastfeeding-induced metabolism so lately I've been kind of dreading what will happen when I fully wean Lorelai.


I'm sure weaning isn't too far off, so that has spurred me to try and change some of my bad eating habits, so if/when my metabolism does change, I won't suddenly put on a ton of weight (fingers crossed!). I'm also hoping that if I eat better, I'll have more energy and it'll help me with my running.


I'm going to start small. My plan right now is to replace my afternoon Coke Zero with a green tea, replace the Doritos with reduced fat wheat thins or other types of snack crackers/pretzels (only a slight improvement, I know...) and to add fruit and carrots to my lunch. Plus, I'm going to try my absolute hardest to stay away from those M&Ms and only have dessert a few times a week.

I know people say it's the overly processed foods that can make you feel blah, but I don't think I can cut out salty snacks altogether, cold turkey. I don't care what anyone says, the crunch of a carrot does NOT replace the crunch of a chip!! 


This is going to be a definite challenge for me. If anyone can suggest some healthy snack or dessert foods, I'd love to hear them! Wish me luck!

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Meanwhile, I'll be dreaming of...

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