Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This morning, mine consisted of:
It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe to eat. -Robert Fuoss
Ingredients:
Now, there’s a protein-packed meal that also happens to be delicious 🙂
Sometimes that’s all you can focus on or hope for…that you can put one foot in front of the other and make progress towards wherever it is you are going.
For me, this was hill number 3. I still had 2 more big ones to go.
I must’ve been insane to do hill repeats at the hottest part of the day. It was still only 95 degrees in the shade, and the humidity wasn’t helping.
Also, I hate sweating, but there it was
streaming down into my eyes,
blurring my vision; causing me to use every ounce of energy as I lifted the 100 lb weight at my side to wick away the condensation on my face.
Focus. Focus. This is just a short workout. Think of how great you’ll feel afterwards.
My legs are burning. They’re on fire. My quads are on fire. I want to stop. I can’t stop. Don’t look down at your watch until you’re at the top. No matter what your time is, at least you will be able to say you got through it…
Running has transitioned for me over the years. It’s like having my own private diary composed, instead, of physical movement.
Early in the morning,
late at night,
in the quiet park trails…
No one else sees the deliberation of each foot plant; or the elegance and freedom of the next; nor the personal, persistent struggles that you face just to climb that first hill or ride out the last.
The quiet sighs of victory with each step taken; each breath drawn.
Each one is mine and mine alone.
It’s National Running Day, a day in which various organizations within the running industry join forces to help promote running as a healthy, EASY form of exercise. All you need is a sturdy pair of shoes and a great attitude! For more information on National Running Day or to find out how you can participate, check out the official website 🙂
To feel the warm, humid summer breeze in my face, see the dew on the morning grass and hear the silence of a day that has not quite begun makes it all worth it. -c.v.
The fork, spoon and knife were not designed to assist us in eating. Rather, these utensils were intended for use in battle.
At least, this is what I’ve been telling myself more and more as I struggle to make the choice between eating the orange that’s in my hand versus quietly resisting the urge to run out to the store, buy that king size Snickers bar that I really really want and SHOVE the entire chocolatey bar of deliciousness in my mouth.
Ah, decisions. decisions.
Up, up and away!
Don’t get me wrong; it’s perfectly fine to indulge in something that’s probably not-so-good-for-you every now and again. However, it seems as if too many of us find excuses for eating poorly, citing a lack of time, poor scheduling, etc. And the result that we end up with goes straight from whatever is on that fork directly to our stomach, hips, thighs or rear ends. Needless to say, we have become a nation of people who overwork ourselves at our desk jobs but probably don’t put as much work into improving our physical and mental well-being.
According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the prevalence of obesity has steadily increased in the United States since 1976 [source]. If you don’t believe these guys, all you have to do is look around you, and you are almost guaranteed to see someone who is packing on the pounds. Why, just the other day, my boyfriend and I were at a store, waiting in line, when he decided to make a game of counting all of the overweight people who passed by the window.
He couldn’t keep up.
Are we lazy?
Recently, I have been studying up on the effect(s) that various foods have on my own body. When I went to the supermarket, I decided to test myself to see how long it would take me to food shop if I stopped to read every label of what I was purchasing.
It took me 2 hours to purchase roughly fifteen items.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI),
Food labels play an important role in the battle against obesity and diet-related disease, which are responsible for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the United States each year. [source]
It’s no wonder that so many of us don’t really take the time to read the food labels while we’re at the supermarket: it takes too much time. When most of us shop, it’s usually in accordance with one of the following scenarios: we’re usually starving; we are with someone else (i.e. kids, husband, etc.); or we are in transit to some other obligation (i.e. heading home from work, etc.). And if we run into someone we know while we’re in there, or if the store is crowded…forget it.
No excuse.
Even if you claim you are pressed for time, the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, only you can decide what was actually worth your time to fit into your busy schedule. Keep in mind that even if you don’t have the time to go for a 10 mile run in the morning, you can still squeeze in a quick workout from the comfort of your own home. Jumping jacks, dancing to your favorite song while you put away the dishes or make your kids their lunches for school…it all counts for something. That being said:
Now for goodness sake; put down that ungodly piece of junk food; pick up a pen and start charting out a better way to live your life!
When most people go on a diet, they are generally actually making themselves fatter. Each time they diet, they lose muscle. -Mark Hyman, M.D., Ultra-Metabolism