So, have you foam rolled today?
NO?!?! C'mon look what I did before my nightly ice cream treat tonight...
Yup, my high density foam roller on the hard wood floor...pretty intense. But look, I'm still smiling...
And you know when else I'll be smiling? When I am back here...
How about we all learn from my mistakes and prevent injury? Good I'm glad we are all in agreement.
Okay I'll stop now.
On a different note, let's talk about how you eat. Not what you eat, but how. I am a big health magazine reader and I constantly read about how you should always sit at the kitchen and not focus on anything except for your food. That way you will not "forget" that you ate, your body and your mind will know you ate and therefore you will not be hungry right after. I'm sure this is great advice for some people but I have to say I completely disagree.
For me, it is far more important to eat slowly. If I eat slowly, I improve my stomach's digestion AND I ensure that my body has time to realize I am full, so I will not eat more. I believe I have read it takes 15 minutes for your body to realize you are full. If I eat too quick, it would only take me 5 minutes to grab for more food. For me, eating slowly means distracting myself while eating. I eat breakfast at work while getting things ready for the day, and dinner with my computer or a book. It has been known to take me 45 minutes to eat my morning oatmeal if I am sending e-mails, prepping lessons etc. Although I pay almost no attention to my breakfast, I am still not hungry until morning snack time. If I ate at home, I know I'd eat quickly and then be searching for breakfast #2 before I even got to work.
When I used to teach half day kindergarten I ate lunch while prepping for the next day, or sometimes in my car on the way to tutoring. Now, when I have 30 minutes to eat lunch- with nothing to distract me except conversation with coworkers, I have to literally force myself to not scarf down my lunch in 10 minutes. This is not to say I am an extremely fast eater. When Eric and I are at a restaurant, it will normally take me twice as long to eat my meal than it takes him. I just find it much easier and more practical to distract myself while I'm eating so I eat slower. What can I say, I love to multi-task. Since football started, Eric hasn't been home for dinner anyway so I don't have to worry about not sitting down to dinner with him. I may change my tune a bit when I have kids, but I am sure they will distract me enough to not put too much attention into my food :)
I realize what works for me, may not work for anyone else. But if you find yourself eating too quickly when you focus only on your food, try doing some other things and see how it goes. You may "forget" you ate like they claim will happen in magazines- but perhaps you will find it works well for you.
If you feel that you have eating down to a science, how do you eat? What works best for you?
And don't forget to foam roll :)
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Popular magazines have so much conflicting information, and a lot of the time it's not based on actual research. And if it is, a lot of the time they screw it up. Haha. They're always like, "research shows.... research shows...." well, show me the dang study! Who were they testing? What kinds of tests did they run? I still like reading health + fitness mags, but I try to take that info with a grain of salt. Like you said, everyone is different. I like to read a little bit while I eat, but stop when I take a bite and concentrate on the food.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I hear ya on the injury front! Injuries stink. It's good you're rolling, though!
First off - I love your wood floors!
ReplyDeleteI eat while mutlitasking and totally agree with you. It helps me slow down and then I eat less. I would probably eat at the dinner table if I had someone to talk to, but when it's just me and my plate, I kind of start to mindlessly eat just to be done sitting alone at the table!
I work at home now and let me tell you, it's awful when it comes to snacking!! I really have to hold myself back, all day. I don't have anyone to talk to or to keep me busy. It's awful, yet the benefits override it. I mean I roll out of bed and work in my PJs (although I usually change).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've found a good routine with the breakfast, and AMEN about slowly eating. It's super important, I tell that to all my clients. I also realize my stomach upsets and bloats easily when I eat fast, no fun.
Thanks Kelly! Last night I wanted to foam roll so bad, it's like my muscles were craving it or something. Weird, they were achy and I had to sleep in a quad stretch position to help them calm down. I'm going to order the one from amazon.
ReplyDeleteI think slow eating is key, it really helps me too. When I eat too fast, even when focusing on the food I don't feel as satisfied, but if I eat slower and wait 20 min afterwards I usually don't crave more :) I really like to eat slowly.
I definitely find that eating SLOWLY helps me!
ReplyDeleteMy friends are always so entertained when I foam roll! LOL!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I enjoy eating at the dinning room table and other times I enjoy the TV. I hate how quickly I have to eat lunch at school. 25 minutes to get them settled, get my lunch ready, eat it, have a quick check-in with grade level teachers, go to the bathroom, remind them to finish up their lunch and get them up and trash thrown away. It's crazy!
ReplyDeleteWhen I eat dinner at night, I am focused on dinner and the conversation with my husband. Sometimes I play little games with myself, challenging myself to make myself eat slower than him. But at other meals, I am usually multitasking. And i do love my bowl of icecream on the couch in front of the tv!
ReplyDeleteI also love my foam roller. It's helped a lot!
I'm SOOO guilty of scarfing my food down quickly. It's embarrassing.... I am ALWAYS the first one finished. Maybe it comes from growing up in a big family and wanting to make sure nobody could steal my food? Haha, I don't konow. But eating slowly is GREAT advice! I'm working on it - when I remember.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know it was better to use the roller on hard wood flooring. Man, I was all screwed up before I started following your blog. High density foam, hard wood floors....I was doing it all wrong.
ReplyDeleteI come from a long line of fast eaters. We were big on family meals growing up but we also always had things to rush off to! I am trying very hard to take it easy and slooooooow it down!
ReplyDeleteI default to eating quickly. But reading can help me to slow down. It was especially helpful when I was in school and mealtimes were one of the few times of the day that I didn't study.
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