Keeping It Real

There was a great article on Health.com today about “8 Salads that Satisfy”.  Of the eight, only one has more than 400 calories per serving (404 on the Grilled Vegetables with Lentils) and they all look delicious.  http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20346776_1,00.html

I was talking to a co-worker in the break room today and she was telling me about how she has spiced up tilapia filets with different types of salsa.  And I am listening to this as I look at my standard roast chicken breast, cup of rice and a vegetable.  Now you all know that I am a creature of habit, and I am actually pretty satisfied with having the same breakfast morning after morning.  It’s fast, simple and filling.

But I have to tell you I have been struggling with my lunches and dinners.  It’s gotten to the point where even the word chicken is making me a little crazy.  Unless I try to “motivate” myself, and then all I end up doing is thinking about a Family Sized Bucket of Colonel Sanders Extra Greasy with a nice glass of gravy to wash it down.

So what happened to the excited fat boy that made wasabi encrusted tuna steaks, lemon garlic tilapia filets and stuffed chicken breasts his first month on the program?  I can tell you what happened; he got lazy and fell back to as close to his old food preparation habits as he could.  Before I started this journey the most intense food prep I wanted to do was to tear the box open, or POSSIBLY turn on the microwave.  If I was feeling really Martha Stewart I might boil water for a nice tub of pasta.

When I first started the journey I had taken a week off from work to transition back into the real world of people who don’t think a single serving is determined by how many containers are involved.  I had all day to work on planning a menu and prepping food, and it was all new an exciting and my menus were more interesting.  

Now I am back in the real world, work, school, volunteering, meetings, homework, laundry, the list could go on and on.  And I am back to trying to keep it short and sweet.  And the scary thing is I have found a way to do that.  I turn on the computer and the oven at the same time.  I throw 6 chicken breasts on the broiling pan and stick them in the oven, grab the laundry and drop it in the washer and go start my school work.  When the time goes off on the oven, I take out the chicken, move the laundry to the dryer and go back to school work.  When the dryer timer goes off, I unload and fold the clothes, go back and put the chicken (which has cooled off) into plastic bags and stick it in the fridge.  Sounds efficient, doesn’t it?    It is….it’s also boring as hell.

Because the next day when I open the fridge to pack my lunch for work I have a choice of…let’s see….chicken breasts, all the same, all bland.  Throw a cup of cooked rice in Tupperware, supplement with some salad and I am done.  No wonder we all get crazy when we start dieting.  If the fat wasn’t killing us the boredom would!

I’ve talked about the fact that a journey back to health is not fast and easy.  If it was I wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading it.  We would have all just done it.  It takes work, it’s hard sometimes, and the hard parts aren’t all in the gym.  Sometimes the hard part is scheduling time to prepare interesting, flavorful food for myself so that I have a diet I enjoy rather than one that is made up of baggies full of roasted chicken.

 If I want to be successful, and I do, then I have to put the work in where it counts.  Food preparation has to be a higher priority.  If it’s not, then I am just kidding myself about wanting to make a change.