The Importance of Being Earnest

Yes, it's a pain, but it's also a very smart idea. I'm talking about keeping a food log each day, for as long as it takes to establish a pattern/routine/safety dance. Do I love jotting down every piece of food that passes though my lips? Heck no! Most times I feel like one of those exorexics who keep fitness logs down to the tenth of a second and chronicle all calorie consumption obsessively. But that's not the point of the log: the point is to heighten your awareness of personal triggers and to keep the dialogue with your body open. It's as informative as it is exacting but guess what? Small price to pay for feeling good. What goes in must come out and wouldn't you rather it be just another trip to the john and not, you know, Apocalypse Now?

Here's an example from last weekend's entries (I take the good with the bad, the darkness with the light, the sweet with the...ok - you get it.)

Sunday - August 30

7:15 am Coffee
7:30 4 oz Kefir yogurt drink
8:00 4oz whey protein shake
9:00 am watermelon
*feel too full for typical pre-run banana (uh-oh...bad move)

9:54 am begin run (supposed to be going 8 miles)

chug 10 oz Gatorade - nausea commences about 25 min. into run
*(I now know that I cannot have Gatorade/G2 and run. It actually upsets a lot of people's
systems so I cross this off the list and move on.)

32 minutes in, 1 packet Espresso Love Gu - nausea diminishes within 10 minutes (this is the carb/electrolyte packet and it really does help.)

Side note: I continued running normally for the duration, but let me tell you, it was not a picnic. I literally thought I was going to eat it on the Schuylkill trail somewhere between Betzwood and Norristown. Poor Biff! He was just trying to get a normal training run in when GG struck me unawares! We're both training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon (81 days away!) and this kind of shitteous nonsense has happened before but never this bad. Did I overdo it a bit coming off two weeks of nothing but applesauce, bananas and soup? Maybe. But I really, really wanted to run and I wanted to do it fast. The great thing about IBS is that you can pretty much kiss all certainty and planning goodbye. (Just plan to be surprised, know what I'm sayin'?) SO kids, don't temp fate. Stick to your routine, even if you happen to be feeling strong at that moment, and hope that all goes smoothly.

Post-run lunch:
1 tuna roll, 1 California roll with brown rice, 1 diet green tea
Snack: 2:45 pm Dairy Queen - medium Reese's Blizzard (aka DEATH)

Starbucks iced macchiato - 6:00 pm (idiot...I guess I lost track of the time of day - caffeine after 3:00 pm is bad bad bad)

8:30 pm: trail mix b/c I'm still full from all that lovely dairy (almonds, peanuts, dark chocolate pieces, dried mango and apricot)

***Start feeling like hell around midnight. Relieve myself three times between 6 pm and morning.

Monday - August 31
6:00 am pilates
*feel gross when I wake up, bloated, queasy but sometimes stretching/using those muscles helps. This time it doesn't.

6:20 am: 3 tablespoons plain yogurt, 1 banana, a splash of soy milk, handful of spinach, 1 scoop whey powder (blend) - 8 oz shake

9:45 am Fage with Almond Agave Granola (huge mistake: this granola has oats. durrrrrr.)

10:30 am A bunch of purple grapes (thoroughly washed)

12:00 pm handful of cocoa almonds

Feeling weak, sweaty, dizzy, nauseous - overwhelmingly nauseous and...

1:15 pm - vomited (into my trashcan, at my desk. :Applause:)

***
Addendum: Remedy here was actually puking. I felt worlds better after 1:30 pm and sipped some chicken soup with rice and my strength returned.

***

So, you see, if you keep track of all this seemingly inconsequential minutia, then you can look back at your daily consumption and pinpoint where things took a turn for the worse. It happens. We all screw up (note the rumheaded trip to DQ and, to add dairy to dairy, Starbucks in the early evening. Guten timen.)

xoxo,
GG