Keep The Faith

Anne H.

Maintenance. 

It’s all about maintenance. After a while, it gets tiring! We maintain our training efforts, we maintain our good nutrition, consistently try to grow in our careers, maintain our relationships with friends and family, and oh... after a while something may have to give! So, it would be nutrition, I’d say. It’s the easiest category that won’t talk back and you always feel that you can turn it back around in the right direction in a snap!

Where am I going with this? Life is stressful, and sometimes hard. Treating yourself to your favorite comfort food makes life full of pleasure for that moment, but doing this too often might not be such a fabulous idea. Having a bad day? Have that burger and fries. Get it over with but try not to overdo it. Over the last few weeks, I found myself at Shake Shack twice, and started to feel a possible addiction developing for those chocolate shakes. I had to make a pact with myself to hold back these urges otherwise all of my hard training and focus on nutrition during the summer months will just vanish.

Did you know?

Take it easy on the shakes!

When we are stressed, our bodies react in a very interesting way. A hormone, namely, cortisol, is released to help to fight the stress and provide energy. Cortisol releases stored sugar so your body can react quickly to the stress. High cortisol levels make us crave fats and carbs, which are the type of foods that feed the response to stress that cortisol provides. Unfortunately, these foods are not on the “top ten” list, so it is very hard to eat healthy when you are stressed. For me, I must have a lot of cortisol generating over the last few weeks, as this is a busy crunch time for me in the office. When I get home from work, instead of eating bad food, I try (very hard) to eat a few of the following items some friends of mine suggested to me.

• Yogurt: Stock up the refrigerator before you start your work week: this seems to be working! If I’m eating dinner at 10 pm, I feel much better about eating a healthy yogurt
• Eggs: Easy and simple to make, it’s a good protein to have when you’re tired and need something fast.
• Edemame: A great snack, healthy, low fat and satisfying.

Make healthy choices when it comes to snacking.

Overall, when life is very busy or stressful, always try to eat regular meals and healthy snacks, and add protein into your regular meals. Limit soda and coffee (now that’s hard for those of us spending most of the day at our desk, Ha!) and incorporate whole foods, munch on some fresh veggies and fruits.

If you have any other healthy low fat ideas, please let me know. I need to broaden my list!

Happy Fall, everyone, and good luck to all Fall marathoners! -Anne H.