diet

This best $5 you’ll ever spend.

| cheriarmour

If you’re like me, and the sluggish economy has taken its toll on your checking account, and you feel as if you’re being judged every time you have business to attend to at your local Wells (Ms. Armour, please insert your debit. ::lowers glasses, looks sadly at account balance::) buying a fancy high-priced lunch everyday just won’t work. So allow me to introduce you to the best $5 you will ever spend in your continuing quest to stay healthy and wealthy.

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So you could easily spend $10 at Whole Foods on a salad, especially if the spirit moves you to throw some eggs, some carrots, some dressing, and some cabbage on that thang. (They charge by weight). So last shopping trip, I invested in this Pyrex salad bowl Glad thing, some salad accouterments, and a little baby Tupperware for dressing. Enter the best and most economical lunch of life. I went nuts. Boiled some eggs. Threw a few croutons on it. Added some broccoli slaw. And went to town.

So in total you save money. You save the environment. And you’re enjoying a dank salad. My only admonishment? Don’t do what I did. I’ve eaten a salad for every lunch since like last weekend, and my body, in response to fiber overload, is extremely upset with me. Salad at your own risk. But invest in this thing and quit spending half your paycheck on overpriced salads!

Navigating bar food.

| cheriarmour

So I’m adding an element to the blog.  Super relevant, yet super challenging.  It’s the part where we’re young and we like to go out with our friends – so how do we navigate the downtown bar/restaurant scene without totally wrecking our diets/lifestyles/training programs?  Here’s a little guide with a couple of tricks to help you navigate when your frands call you up.

First, don’t panic.  It’s tempting to, when you’re training, or when you follow a specific diet, alienate yourself from friends who don’t eat or drink the same way you do.  But just because you’re watching what you eat doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to spend a little quality time with friends, right?  So your friends call you up and say, “Hey, let’s go get nachos and watch sports (ew) at the bar!”

Draft 1

“Okay girl!  Let’s go!”

So second, scope out the scene.  Google the place where you’re going to go, check out the menu, and make a plan for yourself.  Don’t expect yourself to make a great nutritionally sound decision when under duress.

Draft 2

Third, skip the sodas, skip the bread basket, and skip the appetizers.  If you can manage that, you’ve already won half the battle right there!  Between those three things, you could add on enough calories for a full meal, so if you skip those, you’ll actually still be hungry when your food comes out!

Eyeball the sides.  Can you replace the chips or fries with something else?  Is there a fruit option?  An option for a side salad?  Even sweet potato fries?  Go for the one with the least grease, and stick to it!  Fries and tots are completely awesome, but trust me, your belly will thank you in the morning on your next run.

Draft 3
Veggie burger with green beans on the side! Proof that you CAN find better choices, even when you’re at the bar, among the nachos, beer, potato skins, and fries!

Do your thing!  Enjoy your meal!  And enjoy pretending that you care about sports!

Finally, finally, if you slip up and go for something that wasn’t the plan, that’s okay.  Don’t beat yourself up over the stray fry or the dessert that accidentally found its way into your mouth.  Food is meant to be enjoyed, and dang it, you’re allowed to have a good time once in a while!

So fear not next time you go out with friends, and hey, maybe your good habits will rub off on a few of them!

 

 

Seriously, this horse meat thing is starting to freak me out. Do I take the plunge and go vegan? (Make me a compelling argument either way)

| cheriarmour

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/burger-king-horsemeat-admits-tainted_n_2593538.html

If you’ve been watching the news, I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the gross admission Burger Kings in France made after traces of horse DNA were found in meat across Europe.  Um. What?! How does that happen?  What I’m most bothered about at this point is the fact that experts are stressing that there are “no health risks associated with the consumption of horse meat”.  I don’t give a flying stink if there are no health risks associated with eating horse meat.  That is not what everyone is freaked out about, and I don’t appreciate the experts trying to deflect attention from the real issue.  But this horse meat debacle has certainly raised some questions for me in my own life.

I am a pescatarian, and I’ve been one for about 5 or 6 years.  I lean more toward the vegetarian side of things because fish is just so…fishy.  And it looks like a fish.  Which is beginning to freak me out too.  And I don’t ever see myself going back to chicken, beef, or pork.  I don’t judge other folks for eating it, but beef especially gives me the willies and the way it’s prepared just seems brutal.  My first job out of graduate school, I witnessed firsthand kitchen staff breaking down a cow.  Like it looked alive.  Except it wasn’t.  And that’s how this all sort of started.

So here’s my question as I start to get more and more freaked out by the concept of eating animal flesh.  Do I take the leap and go vegan?  What are the pros/cons of going vegan?  What do vegans eat? 

Cons. The first thing people seem to be concerned about when you tell them you’re veg is protein + nutrients.  As in, “that’s not natural, how do you get enough protein/nutrients?” And that could be a valid concern, if you don’t know how to feed yourself.  It’s very tempting, the first month of any new veg diet to default to eating chips and salsa and french fries with an occasional salad with balsamic.  But that won’t work for me.  If I’m hungry, I’m hangry, and I’m not prepared for the undergraduate belly I had to make a return.  Sorry belly.  We had some good times, but you made bikini shopping hell.  I’m all about the balance now.  I suppose the key is making a better plan so I actually have choices other than fries to eat.  Also, my parents might roll their eyes at me when I go home on breaks.  But they kind of started doing that when I sprouted locs at the end of high school.

Pros. It’s friggin tasty! I started going on dates with my Whole Foods girlfriend, Tessa to this place in Raleigh called the Remedy Diner?  And I’ll be darned it that stuff doesn’t taste better than meaty options.  When done right, veg options are tasty.  Also, it forces you to plan meals a little better.  And provided you’re eating a balanced meal, it’s super healthy and plant-based.  Now there are a ton of animal welfare, compassion, and eco-footprint reasons that are beyond obvious, right, so I don’t want to list them here.  One, because they’re obvious, and two, because that’s the point at which people feel like you’re lecturing them.  Again, I’m not lecturing, you carry on, I’m just trying to make a decision for me, not for you.  So chill.

So there’s a myriad of things to consider if I’m going to do this.  This is certainly not a decision I’m going to be making tomorrow, because I’m focused on the marathon right now, but it’s definitely something that’s in mind, and as I consider making this change, I will be a little more conscious of what I’m eating, and what I can swap out to make my transition a little easier.  Put your compelling arguments either way in the comments, and provided they’re not idiotic (kidding!) I will definitely log that away for consideration.