Saturday, February 14, 2009

Out of the Game...Temporarily


Once I decided to make a much more concerted effort to stay on top of the blog game a bit more, it would only make sense that I get an injury and am taken off of the running path for a bit. Not entirely sure what is going on, my my IT band/hip are rather sore and my knee has decided that it wants admission to the pity party as well. If things do not start feeling better over the weekend I will probably start looking for professional opinions on the happenings.

The biggest problem that I find when I am unable to is my diet. I love to eat. And when I am running a lot I can get away with eating more and also tend to crave primarily healthy food. However, when reduced to a more sedentary life, my old culinary cravings surface. Namely anything served on a value menu or off of a rotisserie at the local 7-11. Am I alone in this or are there other active people out there that have similar issues? Perhaps it is that when I am moving about a lot I crave the foods that allow me to keep that energy level, but when I am down for the count, I crave those incredibly rich foods that leave you in a coma for several hours after eating them. Oh well. Love to hear your thoughts.

3 comments:

  1. Sucks about the injury :( I feel your pain, I may have a stress fracture in my leg. I haven't run in a few days, and I'm doing the bike instead. It stinks to not be able to run.

    Haha, the rotisserie at 7-11! My friends in high school and I used to score hot dogs from there when we would skip school. I can proudly say I haven't eaten anything from there in many years, but I can certainly relate on some level. I try to eat healthy most of the time, but when I'm not exercising, I get a little more creative with my food. Like putting peanut butter on everything, or pouring an entire box of cereal and half a carton of milk into a big bowl and eating it for dinner :) Actually, I guess I would do that regardless...

    This is probably retarded, but it's my best stab at it. In school, for example, when I had a light class load, I got nothing in life done. Not really, but I would slack off, mess around, felt unmotivated, my grades weren't as good, I was more likely to be late for work and just be generally less productive. But when I had a full-load of classes and full-time work schedule, I got everything done. It sounds counter-intuitive, but my sleep was more normal, my grades were better, my out-of-work schedule was usually busier and more organized... everything just sort of fit. We're intellectual creatures. We're not supposed to sit around mindless all day. We need schedule, routine, stimulation...

    We are active creatures, and not meant to be sedentary all day like we are. I think when we're inactive, our bodies get outta whack. We're evolved beings with lives that require very little of our evolutionary instincts. I feel better as a whole when I exercise - I'm happier, sleep better, eat better, skin looks better, etc etc etc. When I'm exercising, I have a purpose for eating, and I get to actually use the fuel going into my body for real energy, instead of that box of donuts sitting in my belly as I plop down in my chair and my eyes go back to staring at the computer screen. I don't know, I think eating, exercise and good health/choices all go hand in hand. I think when we've removed all the natural physical challenges of life (getting somewhere by foot, cutting down a tree to make a fire, etc) our bodies are like "uhh... something's wrong. what do I do?" Maybe some people turn to eating as simply something to do. But even if you don't seek food as an activity, with no real physical challenges, your body only needs food to live, and not really to exert itself. So it really doesn't matter what you put in it, one food isn't really all that different from another - unlike when you're exercising. For example, I can eat a turkey sandwich or a couple slices of pizza, and sit at my desk and feel OK. But if I eat pizza before a run, I'm throwing up grease half way through it. And if it doesn't matter what we eat, I guess the tastiest morsel wins! Which in your case would be the rotisserie at 7-11, and I would stick a straw inside a jar of peanut butter start sucking.

    Just expanding on it a little more is the idea that eating makes us feel good. And so does running. If I go for a run, and afterwards, I'm hungry... a healthy meal is going to make me feel much better than an unhealthy one. I'm already feeling good from the run. Putting some comfort food in my body would detract from that good feeling, so I don't, because I want to feel good. Comfort food gives you a different good feeling than running does, one that I would say isn't nearly as good. But say I'm sitting around, doing nothing, and I'm hungry. I probably don't feel all that good. The idea of some comfort food is really appealing. It will make me feel good (not in the same way running will, but better than just sitting around), so I eat it, because I want to feel good. I think this also is inline with what you were saying about eating foods that allow you to maintain a good energy level when you exercise. I dunno, think there's anything there?

    Hope I didn't ramble too much :)

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  2. Please tell me you didn't eat that.

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  3. Of course not! They were battered and deep fried before eating. We called the executioners. Sweet, juicy little bacon wrapped mushrooms smothered in buttermilk and breadcrumbs.

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