Know yourself. Seems like really simple advice, especially when you're looking to make a life change. The problem is that we tend to get so caught up in trying to change who we are that we forget to take a look at who we are. This seems to hold true with every area of a lifestyle change, but most especially when it comes to diet. Diets, at least in the traditional sense, don't work. Sure, you can see short and even long term results from any number of "diets", but until you make a full on lifestyle change none of them are going to have any lasting effect. You can lose 50 pounds on a low/no carb diet, but as soon as you re-introduce carbs in to your life you are going to see every bit of that weight come back to you. If you can live the rest of your life that way then that's great, but I've got an inner fat kid that's always going to be there and if that little fucker doesn't get some cake every so often things get very unpleasant. Knowing and accepting these kinds of facts, as well as others relating to your day to day life, can mean the difference between lasting success or just another hurtful failure.
For those of you joining us for the first time, a quick recap. I'm a father of three, I have a pretty demanding full time job, and I go to school full time, add to that the fact that we have twins that will be making an appearance in a few months and we, as a family, stay pretty well busy all the damn time. When I find myself sitting around with what some people call "spare time" I always wonder what it is that I am am forgetting to do/neglecting. Basically, I'm really freaking busy all the time. As much as I would like to cut any kind of fast/pre-prepared foods out of my diet the sad truth is that I would likely be starving all the time. I pack a decent lunch and snacks before I leave for the gym in the morning. On nights I have school I even try to remember to pack dinner, but shit inevitably happens. I have to work late, forget to pack dinner, leave my whole pre-packed meal on the top of my car, realize that the apple I packed that morning that looked great in the four a.m. darkness has actually morphed in to some kind of sentient and angry hate fruit, etc. It's easy, in these situations, to just assume that there are not healthy and quick alternatives and run for the nearest mecca of saturated fat and shame. The worst part is, it's going to taste good. You're going to feel like eight pounds of shit fighting to cram it's way in to an extra small rubber, but dear god that sack full of grease laden shameburger was so....damn....good. So maybe next time you forget that lunch on purpose. Hell, maybe it's even a legitimate accident again, either way you're right back to the behaviors that got you all soggy around the middle in the first place. Kind of makes you feel bad for being busy all the time, doesn't it?
I'm sure we'd all like to have more free time to take care of our health in the best possible way, or to play golf and swill cheap scotch...I'm not here to judge. Being busy, however, is not an excuse to let things get out of control. Part of the problem seems to be rooted in campaigns to make us more aware of good eating habits. We've lumped all fast food in as the enemy, so the assumption becomes that it doesn't matter what you get, if it's fast food it's crap so you might as well just get whatever the hell you want. That's not at all accurate. Taco Bell has a "fresco" menu that is fairly reasonable health wise, 7-11 carries a really tasty Turkey Combo on brown bread that's under 300 calories, Wawa has several pre-packaged sandwiches that are under 300 calories (they even include a side of apple slices), Hardee's (aka, Carl's Jr.) has a turkey burger that is under 500 calories, and the list goes on and on. As a matter of fact, if you resist the urge to make it a combo at any of these places you save yourself about 500 calories just by ditching the fries. All of these places offer healthy alternatives, you just have to accept that they are there and make an effort to order them instead of typical fast food gut grenades. It's interesting to note that in a lot of cases these healthier alternatives actually taste better than the garbage that you used to shovel down your pie hole as well, and eventually you will come to prefer a chicken salad on whole wheat over a bacon cheese-burger dripping with barbeque sauce. Okay...so not every time. Sometimes you've just got to be bad, but you'll actually find yourself wanting the healthier alternative more often. You've just got to retrain yourself.
It's not easy to stay healthy when you have to grab a lot of meals on the go. Ideally we would be able to eat ever meal at home made from fresh ingredients and shared with our families. Unfortunately, that ideal is not possible for most people living in modern society. Being busy has become a way of life for most of us, but it's no excuse to toss your health down the crapper. Just know yourself and adjust accordingly.
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