... and I already stumbled last night, falling face first into a delicious plate of Crawfish Etouffee. (Hammers the Reset button repeatedly.)
"Clean eating". Okay, with the exception of that Cajun mishap, I can rationalize that I already do this, but my lovely Mel would give me such a whack upside my skull for saying something so laughable. I guess my point is clean eating can be, and is often, defined differently among not just individuals watching their food intake, but nutritionists as well. CrossFitters hold pretty true to either The Zone or Paleo diets and the success is undeniable. Case in point, the beautiful Erika Jeanne's success story.
Iron Cheerleaders: Erika Jeanne and Melissa Joulwan
Save for the occasional "Shark Week" food frenzy or a wretched hangover, I never really suffered from the American mentality of: Must. Hoover. Really. Bad. Food. Rapidly. From this emerges the well known cycle of: Eat bad. Feel guilty. Gain weight. Act surprised. Beat self up. Resort to latest diet craze for fast solution. I usually just fast track to "Beat self up", but over time I've been working on letting go of paying attention to what our fickle media says is beautiful and the resulting trap of comparisons.
I've turned away from much of entertainment "news" as it's a brutal, stomach-churning, unrealistic perception for even the stars themselves. Instead I try to focus on improving what will make me a better "me" across the board. I now just make up my own "me"dia in my own world and it works... for the most part... until I am faced with my own dietary wake-up call.
See, while I don't I suffer from the typical food over-indulgences, I do have some serious complacencies with food in general. My dietary habits are often atrocious. And I won't elaborate too much beyond that except to say one of my biggest failings is avoiding meals altogether. If food has the possibility of stopping me from my daily workflow, chances are good I'm going to be agitated.
None of this is because I don't like food. It's not because I necessarily feel fat, large, etc either. Shamefully enough, I do know the basic rules of good nutrition and I know these habits are just as bad as over indulging and, ultimately, is just another jacked up way to mess with my body. Not having better habits in my diet keeps me from reaching that next level--a level, apparently, I expect to magically "auto-tune" my body for me.
Before I left my last job, I had spent the last few weeks shadowing Mel as she ate her lunch. Being that she can whip up amazing dishes out of "dino-chow", and seeing how much she was enjoying her food, I was a bit more motivated to start making Paleo-esque lunches and eating with her. We'd prep up our food in the kitchen, play Boggle (never play Boggle with Content Strategists), and talk about what she'd put in her meals and how she prepared crazy-ass vegetables like Spaghetti Squash.
In keeping with the 15-day challenge, yesterday I brought my Paleo lunch to my first day at the new gig and ate it at my desk. Sadly enough, as good as it tasted, I really didn't want to eat it. I had become immediately distracted by access to my computer and pending tasks. Eating was fast becoming second, then third, then falling-off-the-radar priority, but I caught myself before too long.
"Life's such a treat... and it's time you taste it."
Mel had done such a good job conditioning me to get up from my desk, away from all things digital and go eat. Allow yourself an hour to enjoy your lunch free of work and multi-tasking. This is an extraordinarily hard thing for me to do, but I'm determined to at least give it a better than fair attempt for the next 15 days.
Fifteen days. Strict Paleo. Minimal to no cheat.
"It ain't a crime to be good to yourself."
