I want to talk to you today about eating healthy. Let me explain.
Most of you know, my older sister Abbie and I share a cute little apartment and this semester we have endeavored to eat ultra-healthy. Initially we were going to do a three week cleanse and eat only lean meat, fruit, and vegetables (but I think it's safe to say healthy eating is here to stay.) Abbie started finding all kinds of great smoothies on Pinterest and after a Christmas of eating all things unhealthy, we were incredibly motivated. The more we talked about our game plan the more aware we were that it was not practical for us to cut out grains completely (hello college students have proven that man can live on bread and peanut butter alone). Once we got back to Lynchburg, we beelined to Wal-Mart and stocked up on smoothie supplies, fruits, and veggies. For the last 3 1/2 weeks we have been doing incredibly well sticking to our "clean" diet. Not to say there hasn't been a few sweet things here and there, but for the most part--we've been very good. That is, until we ran out of groceries over the weekend.
It is amazing to me what a difference I felt going from eating incredibly healthy to the more traditional college student diet. For example, this morning I had Research in Nursing for 2.5 hours at 7:40 and I had the hardest time keeping my eyes open. This could be because I didn't sleep great last night, but more on that later! You might be thinking, "Duh you couldn't stay awake. It's Research in Nursing at 7:40!" but here's the deal. This is week 3--the first two weeks I had no problems staying awake and feeling engaged in that class. In fact, up until today I had not taken a single nap this whole semester! I'm curious to see if my bout of lethargy disappears now that our refrigerator is restocked--I have an inkling it will.
Another difference I saw was in my workouts. The first couple weeks of school I was working out every day. And I'm not talking about those panzy 10-minutes-on-the-Elliptical-followed-by-10-half-hearted-crunches-workouts. No no, these were intense hour to hour and a half workouts. The kind that left me feeling like I had just been taken out by an angry Elephant. Two weeks ago I went running through the mountains (gotta love living in VA!) and I was amazed how far I ran. I had a blast even though I was running on a trail that was less than 2 ft wide with inclines that either had me skidding down or had my calves screaming as I ran up. I told Abbie later that it was SO much fun and that I "felt like I was in Twilight" ;). I say this because I had the energy to get through those workouts and to go galavanting through the mountains. As soon as the good food decreased so did the length and intensity of my workouts.
Also, I'll throw it here, when I'm eating right and working out like a sparten, I feel great about myself. Which, I'm not going to get into right now, but that's huge for me! (If you're confused go to my other blog and read my testimony )
Here's another difference I've noted, I could not sleep last night. I can't remember the last time I had trouble sleeping. Normally, my head hits the pillow and I am out, but not last night...coincidence?
Alright there's my 2 cents on eating healthy. If you know me personally, you know I'm not nit picky about eating perfectly healthy--heaven knows this girl LOVES chocolate--but I'm really loving cleaning up my diet. Let me know if you want any tips or smoothie recipes!
Em
