I am going to be a silent observer right now vs participant, although I may pipe up here or there, but where I am in the training, I am not going to drastically change anything...too close to my race to go messing lot with my diet. And I need all the calories I can get right now! That being said, I do try to follow a diet with moderation and have been trying to cut back to more natural food choices in general. But no one is perfect and I would say at least 30-40% of my diet is still processed foods. Something I need to work on, but right now I need to find more time in my day to make that happen...and right now it wont. I have been reading posts though and think all of you are making many positive changes. A few things I have already done through the years: 1) Rarely use salad dressing at home anymore, instead I will use balsalmic vinegar (golden has a lighter and less bitter flavor than the darker varieties) and sometimes olive oil, but generally I find if I use enough other ingredients in the salad you dont really need dressing. If I am eating out I generally ask for it on the side. 2) I rarely buy bread for home anymore and limit it to eating out. I dont even use wraps or pita or anything and I dont miss it at all. 3) I try to make my meals as colorful as possible with many different food varieties as I can. 4) Like Carolyn, I have gone away from using any table sugar to add to coffee, fruit, oatmeal, etc and try to use maple syrup, agave, honey if I do sweeten something. I do break this rule with baking though, I have tried many substitutions, but have found if something calls for brown sugar, it just doesnt seem to work for the texture and/or consistency that I like. That being said, I bake way less now than I ever used to do so. 5) someone mentioned Lara Bars - most of these use dates as the only sweetener, which I believe is ok in small doses, but you do have to look at the label (for instance the chocolate peanut butter one has sugar in the chocolate chips, however the almond coconut one only has dates, almonds and coconut in it). Dates are higher in sugar so be careful in that, but as a food choice can be better for sustained effort. I have used whole dates before prior to a shorter duration workout and had pretty good success, so I do use lara bars alot prior to riding and running and they seem to be okay on my stomach. Whole dates I have to be careful with as the skin can bother me if I eat to many of them prior to a longer workout. 6) Pure nut butters or most natural dont have added sugars. Again you have to look at the label but traditional ones like Jiff, Smuckers, etc will add sugar. But the 365 brand and trader joes brands will have nut butters without added sugar and salt. 7) Most traditional American condiments, with the exception of mustard have added sugar, I have almost completely eliminated these from my diet. They generally have a really high sodium and acid content as well. 8) Have fun! :)
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 18:12:58 +0000