Where on earth to start this blog entry…
On the 15th of April I blogged my #i8this goals. To be accountable. To make sure I stuck with them. This is the follow up. To be accountable. To show my successes – and failures – and to come up with the plan to address these…
My #i8this 7 day challenge was the following:
Drink more water and improve my hydration. In particular, make sure I have one litre before lunch.
Remember to swallow each bite before I take my next.
Finish reading the Marc David “Slow Food Diet”.
Keep a food journal for 7 days.
Make an appointment with my nutritionist.
Read Ankur Shah’s “Sometimes We Walk Alone” and aim to finish it by the end of April.
Always make sure there is breakfast food in the house and I have enough time to have breakfast sitting down.
So how did I do?
Not very good, honestly. 3.5 out of 7. I think that is a failing score, but we don’t do failure here. So that means I have 3 things not yet finished, and that my #i8this challenge lives on.
Here is what I did…
Drink water and improve hydration. Done.
I made sure I had water on my bedside table. When I woke up I had about 250ml first thing, before I even jumped in the shower. Then I grabbed a water bottle before leaving the house, and aimed to finish this by mid-morning. That put me at about 750ml. And I refilled the bottle and kept it going throughout the day. I felt much better for it. Hydration is becoming a habit, again.
Chew, swallow, swallow before repeating, repeat. Done
It is too much information to go into detail, but it is gross to stuff more food in your face without finishing what is already there. When I do it, it means I eat too quickly, often get an upset stomach, and that my whole sense of satifisfaction/feeling of hunger is messed up. So I’ve revisited this and corrected it. Constant awareness required, but it is a habit that I am breaking. Thank god as I am sure I gross people out when I don’t do this!
Breakfast – food in the house, eaten sitting down. Done. Ish.
I have made sure there is always a breakfast option in the house. I am particularly loving the Justin’s Nut Butter on toast – I picked up the Nut Butter when I was in the US and brought it home, and I so wish they sold it in the UK! But I have lots of options in the cupboard and fridge now. And yes, I am eating while sitting down. Not so for my coffee, which I still stand and drink by the sink occassionally. But the food is consumed while sitting, listening to the morning news on Radio 4, in a relaxed and present state of mind.
Here’s my half completed task…
Food journal.
I did food journal. But only half the week. I discovered a big thing that week. On weeks that I do not plan well, I eat out way too much. I also discovered that when I swim 5000m in one go I am hungry for days after. My journal looked insane – two dinners on Sunday night after the swim – yes I did that. Non-stop fruit the Monday after the swim – did that too. Eating out Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday lunch, Tuesday dinner… You see a pattern. I was eating out too much. So I stopped journalling. This behaviour was entirely different to the months before, and almost resembled about a year ago when I last journalled. What was going on? The only commonality – I did an event, didn’t do a good food order for the house as I was focused on the event, was spending more time training, was tired from the event and training… Yep. A pattern. A bad pattern. So as my training ramps up I need to have more good quick food in the house. I also need to complete a week of food journalling, but I will do this once I make my nutritionist appointment. So that I can come armed with the most recent patterns and eating for her analysis / fine tuning.
And the things I still have to do…
Marc David’s Slow Food Diet.
Blast and damn. I can’t find the book. I am wondering if I lent it to someone. If I can’t find it on my shelves I need to buy another copy and start again.
Ankur Shah’s book.
I haven’t started it yet, but it is by my bed. I will be bringing it with me to Tokyo next week. I think the flights and jetlag will give me some time to read. I still intend to reflect on it when I am done, too.
An appointment with my nutritionist
Not done yet. But I have sent an email. These appointments are hard to schedule as they require time off. I am hoping to do this around the time of my first triathlon, to fine tune for my A race this year.
What next?
My personal #i8this continues. Thanks to Christine “The Holistic Guru” Lynch for setting this challenge up again. It is a great way to keep reminding myself that nutrition matters. And yes, I’ll keep reporting back. Accountability counts, right?