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Tag "nutrition"

Many say the 4th discipline in Triathlons is nutrition. It’s all about what your body can handle, and taking good care of it. I admit, I’ve never been a healthy eater, but a good way to improve that is to be aware of actually what is being consumed. Before all this started, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, I was tracking all my food intake and fitness calorie burn via the Livestrong iPhone app and website. Everything I eat, good or bad, is tracked. I’ve set up my target calorie count (which I’m still not sure if I should aim higher since my level of activity has increased), and for a few months now I’ve recorded everything. I don’t think I’ve skipped a day yet in these past four months.

From the consistency of doing all this, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how much I’ve been eating vs how many calories I’ve been burning with all these workouts. Weekends are tough because if you look at the chart above, I’m burning thousands and thousands of calories, and I’m still not eating enough! I also have to be careful not to load up these calories with junk food calories though. What do I do?? I still don’t know. Is it better to be at a comfortable negative net calories than even net calories filled up with unhealthy calories? Time to do some research or talk to my coaches, and I’ll report back here.

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Active.com Nutrition came out with an article titled, “Simple Strategies for Better Eating Habits“. It’s a great article answering some of the common questions I had on my initial search for eating healthier. Nancy Clark, the writer, talks about common perceptions of certain foods, like protein, if it’s something you really need. Is organic food better for you, or does it even make a difference?

She also writes, “If you want to improve the quality of your diet, think about one thing you could do each day to contribute to a healthier intake. Write down your goal for the day, then assess your level of confidence in achieving that goal. For example, your goal might be to eat fruit with lunch.

A closer look into my nutrition and eating habits will be something new I will incorporate in my training. I have never.. yes, NEVER, paid attention to what I eat. We’re not getting any younger, and my metabolism clearly isn’t as what it used to be, so I’m making a point now to be mindful of what I eat. I will explore many different tools in the next few weeks and I’ll report then to you here. Probably the closest form of nutritional discipline I’ve had is refraining from drinking coffee and soda. I won’t go out of my way to get any of those. Even that said, if it’s there, I’ll try a different alternative. I really don’t need caffeine to keep me awake through the day. I’ve already noticed that being active alone does wonders for me day to day.

The next big nutritional challenge. Thanksgiving in a few days.

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