"So...how'd it taste?"

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Do you ever eat food without really thinking about it? Is there any other way?

Holly had just taken one of those delightful looking frozen pizzas out of the oven. I mean – they look awesome on the box and smell pretty damned good, too. Typically, it ends there, though. The pizza was for Jack – we were eating something healthier…noodles, spinach, mushrooms…all fried up in olive oil.

“Are you going to eat that whole pizza, Jack?” Holly asked.

I think I heard his response and it sounded like “nope” to me. I reached for a piece, put it to my mouth and…

“Wow. Did you eat the ends of your fingers off or notice how it tasted?” Holly said.

I looked down to check. They were still there, but I couldn’t find the pizza I’d picked up. I looked down at the floor. Nope, Hadn’t dropped it. I noticed a funny aftertaste though, and it wasn’t spinach.

“I…um…no…still got my fingers. It tasted like…um…pizza, I think,” I replied.

“Yeah? What were the toppings.”

I was totally busted. I’d eaten something whose taste was unremarkable and which I hadn’t give a thought to or liked. And I was looking at the last two pieces thinking maybe I’d have another.

This is the behavior I need to curb. I eat things because they are there – not because I’m actually hungry. Habit, I suppose. And fast? Yeah…that’s me. I’ve finished everything in site long before I know if I’m hungry anymore. I grew up with five other siblings vying for the same possible seconds. No one ever beat me to them.

Although I believe the lack of activity to be the biggest culprit in gaining weight, I do know that eating plays a role. I am a proponent of keeping temporary food logs for the simple fact that it causes me to pause and think about what and why I’m eating. I may eat it anyway, but at least it’s a conscious act. I have a couple of links – fitday and calorieking – where you can check the caloric content of the foods you eat or log your intake to see how many you consume. I’ve done this for a week at a time and it’s an eye-opener. I try hard to eat normally while I’m doing it or to at least list the things I would have eaten if I wasn’t monitoring so I could know the damage I needed to control. My biggest problem? Eating from boredom. First, though, you need to be aware you’re doing it.

Well…at least I stopped at that one, tasty piece. The workout? It was a run day and I had no intentions of going for an hour again. I logged 41 minutes on a warm, sunny spring-like day. The trails are practically dry and firming up. I felt pretty sluggish and I’m starting to see a pattern. If I’ve ridden outside before my runs, I’m more exhausted on the runs. I can only assume that the outdoor ride is tougher on the legs, which makes sense. I will adapt, though. At least I used to when I was younger.

I returned after dinner with Dakota and we did our off-trail marsh hike as the sun was setting. We walked through the dark with a sliver of a moon trying to light our way. We’re both pretty good in the dark in the woods. Probably because she’s a canine and I’ve walked it a couple of hundred times. Owls were calling to each other, but it was eerily quiet otherwise. We covered our trail in 45 minutes.

Oh…I did not eat anymore of the tasteless pizza. I did wrap it for Jack, though. He actually thinks it tastes good. Tomorrow…yoga with Eric. Trying something new.

Run duration: 41 minutes. Hike Duration: 45 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 135 running. 70 hiking.

Calories burned during workout: 700 running. 335 hiking.