Biking & Thoughts on Salt, Sugar, and Fat

Workout:
Had a great 20+ mile bike ride this morning with Tamara. It has been awhile since I've been on the bike for a long ride. She is about 4 months pregnant so our days of biking are dwindling. I met her at Haines Point for a lap workout. Nice and flat. She can't get her heart rate too high so for me it was a slow strength building ride. Then she made me do a sprint drill before we finished. She would ride super slow, I would sprint and try to lap her. I tried, but my hip cramped up after the first lap and the sprinting was done. Time to take the bike back to the shop and get it refitted...I shouldn't be in pain on a bike!

Thoughts on Food:
So I've been doing a lot of reading this weekend on Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint. Mark and Katie have been talking, blogging, etc about it as an alternative to the Zone. Zoning is hard for me...I always feel hungry and I eat the same meals over and over. I'm also well into the book, The End of Overeating, by Dr. Kessler, Elise's dad. I've also been reading the blog Byers Get Diesel and her 30 day Primal challenge. This reading has left me feeling like I shouldn't eat anything, which makes me want to eat crap even more so. I've ditched the grains, but still use flour tortillas (just one!) as a means of moving meat to the mouth and an occasional half of a hamburger bun. My cravings and infatuation with french fries and chips is even dwindling. Despite how hard I've worked to eliminate the processed carbs, "The End of Overeating" made me realize I am addicted to fat, sugar, and salt. How? Because as much as I've eliminated stuff, I love ice cream and eat it almost daily. I binge on boxes of crackers with cheese...yes entire boxes. Not often, but often enough. I crave salty, really bad for you chips every now and again. And its mostly because I'm just so hungry I resort to the worst kinds of foods. But some days, I really do just CRAVE all that is bad for you, then I binge. So why binge? Its usually because I'm starving, bored, depressed, or even lonely (I rarely binged on anything when Chip was home--he would call me out!) But as soon as he left, I went back to my old ways. I feel like crap both mentally and physically when I do this...mentally because I do it knowingly and willingly and then physically because my stomach hates me afterwards. And these days the effects linger longer than I expect them to, but the habits are slowing being broken.

As least after reading The End of Overeating, I know its not totally my fault. Just like some other psychology I've had to use on to get over other things, this too will be all about LEARNED BEHAVIORS. We have been conditioned, have learned, that all of these foods are ok to eat. Andd to eat when you're sad, bored, lonely, or celebrating, is a learned behavior. The links between emotions and food for me (and many people I know) are incredibly strong. And all you can do is unlearn it.... Unfortunately this doesn't happen overnight, conditioning your mind is like conditioning your body. I didn't get a pullup overnight, nor will I kick the ice cream habit in a week. So I guess when we say things, like "they must put crack in this (name your favorite cheat food)" I guess they really do. Why can't vegetables have crack in them? The more I try to eliminate from my diet, the more I realize what a picky eater I am. I don't like vegetables much and the more I have to eat them, the less I like them. I love fruit, but I know I cannot sustain myself on fruit and meat alone.

So what is a girl to do? I guess to start, I went grocery shopping and bought more vegetables than I ever have in my whole life. My challenge to myself is to eat them all before they spoil---I all to often buy healthy food and then let it sit and spoil---it is so wasteful! And tomorrow I am starting a 30 day no ice cream challenge. No ice cream until September 17th. If I cheat, I will promise to post it here. I will also post the results of the veggie challenge. Onions, though, last awhile...do those count?