Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Food for thought

"So what if some of my store-bought 'fresh' produce was picked 7 days ago and then trucked over 1,000 miles to be sorted and distributed and stored and finally put out on display? Food loses its ability to nourish my body every hour after it leaves the soil. How do I feel about the possible 151 hours during which the food that I am eating has been losing its value?" - Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet

I just started reading Growing at the Speed of Life by Graham Kerr. I grew up watching his show, The Galloping Gourmet, with my mom. He was funny and made cooking food look like fun but even then, I didn't really try cooking until I was on my own. Even then, like most people, I relied heavily on pre-prepared and processed foods. As I've struggled with my weight and exercise over the past couple of decades, I now know that a lot of my struggle comes from that struggle all of us have of convenience vs quality of food.

Kerr's quote is about how he began thinking in terms of starting his own garden. Like me, he never met a plant he couldn't kill. Last year I chose to start getting past that point. I planted some tomatoes, peppers, herbs, strawberries and a raspberry bush. Most everything survived. The peppers never really did more than survive as little plants, the chipmunks feasted on my strawberries and I shared the tomatoes with the squirrels.

But Kerr also got me thinking. I've been thinking about how to reimagine cooking for my dad as he now faces a renal diet again. I've been thinking of how to reinvent cooking for me as I step up to the plate. Between Jamie Oliver's show Jamie at Home, where he spends a lot of time in his garden, Growing at the Speed of Life and a book I picked up last year called Square Foot Gardening, I'm getting ready to tackle round two of gardening this coming season.

It goes hand and hand with starting over yet again with my running. Walking for 15 today will happen on the hills, food planning started with reading. Perhaps it's that 5 minutes I've been taking in the morning to just listen - who knows. I do know that I'm hoping to have something going here as the sun starts to shine and the air starts to warm.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Here we go, life's waiting to begin

...prophetic words that sang out through the speakers of my iPod during today's walk (with 2 1 min interval runs).

The workout for today was (w5r1)*2+w5 [that's walk 5 minutes, run 1 minute times 2 plus walks 5 minutes] and Mother Nature decided to throw a snow storm at us today just to challenge me. It takes more than a little spring snow to stop me, at least today. When I hit the shuffle button, the song "The Adventure" by Angels and Airwaves popped up with that line.

I started off the day 5 minutes of meditation, made sure to put lettuce on my turkey sandwich and counted all my points. Small changes... small changes... small changes...

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Small Changes...

Today is the first day of a 12 week walk to run program. Yes, I'm out of the boot and the splint and have started back on the road to running.

The walk/run schedule for the week:

Days 1,3,5: walk 15 min
Days 2,4,5: (walk 5, run 1)x2 walk 5

I did my 15 minute walk today and it felt good to be outside again. I downloaded the Nike+ GPS so I don't have to deal with sensors that may or may not work.

I also picked up a copy of Elie Krieger's book "Small Changes, Big Results." The concept being that you make a series of changes and at the end of 12 weeks you've developed the habits of a healthier life style. It made sense to start the same day as my w2r program. This week is about building a healthier pantry, taking 5 minutes to breathe/meditate and start a walking program.

Bottom line - one day down, 80+ more to go.