Adding healthy things
Haven’t been eating very well lately. Haven’t been eating much at all, actually, since I’ve been sick and my appetite has been low to non-existent. Most of what I’ve been putting in my mouth is microwaved burritos, simple sandwiches, or things like cherry turnovers, chocolate bars, tortilla chips, and the like. And I can recognize that my body, feeling sick, and then putting food of questionable nutritional value into it, just makes it feel worse in the long run. Not good; it’s a downward spiral, the opposite of a virtuous cycle.
What am I trying to do to change that? I am abiding by one of the best rules I’ve ever learned from dieticians and nutrionists: instead of removing unhealthy-but-loved things from my diet, creating a lack and a hole that is unsatisfying to me, I will aim to add things that are healthy on top of what I’m already eating. And by adding things to my diet I am hopefully satisfying my hunger enough that it has at least a chance to squeeze out the unhealthy things, because I can only eat so much, y’know?
Last night, late, around 9:30 or 10:00 pm, I got hungry, and wasn’t sure what I had in the fridge that I could eat. I worried it was too late, too close to bedtime, but still didn’t want to go to bed hungry. I went downstairs, and on the way down, realized I could make a little charcuterie plate. I had cheese slices, pickles, carrots, some ham slices… it was the perfect idea. Light enough, but I could include good, fiber and nutrient-rich, things. I cut up some carrots, some celery, and then also included a couple of slices of that salty black forest ham. I poured a little jalepeno Ranch dressing into a cup to dip the carrots (and, frankly, the ham) into.
Overall it was a better meal for the additions. Instead of me nuking another carb and fat laden burrito, I got a nice spread of items. I felt mentally better and physically better.
Today, for lunch, I fell back on the burrito thing. But, as I did last night, I sliced up a carrot and ate them along the cheese, salsa, and sour cream topped burrito. And again, I felt the better for it.
This “add things that are healthy” idea is a good one and I plan on doing it going forward as much as possible. Can’t wait to feel better overall.
I’m also walking for at least 30 minutes a day. That hasn’t yielded as much benefit as I’d hoped but at least I’m getting outside, getting some fresh air, and moving around a bit every day. It’s not vigorous exercise but it’s better than sitting in my computer chair all day, which is what I’m likely to do if I don’t force myself to add exercise to my daily routine. Adding good things is the rule and it works for physical activity as well as meals and food.