The Six Basic Nutrients

As promised, I am going to expand this blog into not just a running blog (although that will still be the main topic), but also in a personal wellness and fitness blog!  The first stop on this wellness journey will be to define, and take a closer look at what makes up the food we consume.  What do we need to stay healthy?  What should we avoid?

I think to answer questions like those stated above the 6 basic nutrients need to be looked at closely.  In this post I will outline what the 6 are, and what I plan on doing to cover them.  I think it would be best to give each nutrient its own, in depth look.  I will do a mini series of posts over the next couple months to cover them all.  The first will be shortly after December 14th because I will be having finals all next week.  It might come out earlier than that if I have some free time.

Now onto the 6 Nutrients, in the order I will be writing about them:

• Proteins
• Fats
• Carbohydrates
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Water

I hope to do some research and write informal papers about them, so that they can be used as a reference for what these nutrients are all about.  Of course I also want to see how each of these nutrients will effect running, and runners and if there should be any variations to common "rules" because we are runners.

I am excited to get started on this project, and if you have any suggestions for points I should hit in my posts, feel free to let me know in a comment below!

Seriously?

I had made up my mind over the last few days that this time around, I would run just to run.  No schedule, no races, just running however long I felt that day.  Why would I do this you might ask?  Because I feel like that is where I fell through these last few months.  I would notice I didn't have time to run x miles one day, and I would feel discouraged and wouldn't run at all and thus, I became a couch potato.  So this time, I would run as often as possible, however far I could in the time I had!

Of course, that won't work...

I walked into my room today, and was promptly asked by one of my roommates and his girlfriend if I was going to run the Big D marathon in April with them.  Of course I can't say no, because I already bailed on them doing the warrior dash last weekend.  So now I am back in the training grind, this time for good.  I know I will have more than enough time to run this next semester, because I scheduled it to give me more time between classes.  So now I have a new countdown clock, 140 days, and my first marathon.

Today's Run
I ran a solid 2.5 miles today, mostly into wind.  Its odd, even though I am coming back from a lengthy break I have started better than I ever have before.  Usually with wind I move pretty slow, but today I was cutting through it and it felt great!  My face became slightly numb, but hey, its defrosted now and I can feel it so no trip to the emergency room!

So there you have it, another marathon in sights, maybe this time I will be able to do it!

Brett

Food Fight

Ah, the Food Pyramid

Is it just me, or does it seem that food guidelines are always changing?  If you live a busy life, it is extremely difficult to keep up with what is healthy and what will harm your body in the long run.  On top of that, it is difficult to eat healthy with our quickly moving lifestyle.

Lifestyle, I think that is a factor that a lot of people leave out when considering eating healthy, exercising and dieting.  I know that I forget to think about it.  The perfect lifestyle would include multiple hours a day to run, lift weights, prepare fresh food from a garden and eating REAL food.  Sadly, we don't all have that, and if you do consider yourself lucky!  I have the issue of living in a dorm with no stove and I am at the whim of the cafeteria for what my meals will be.   Let me tell you they don't pick the healthiest food, they pick the quickest food.

Going back to the Food Pyramid I see that I usually am missing out on a couple servings in each category, which is unacceptable.  The funny thing is that my school had an Academic Symposium on food and healthy lifestyles last year, yet it is still difficult to live the way they recommended.  So I decided that I am going to attempt to come up with a "cookbook" of sorts to help out anyone interested, but mostly college students.  It will take a while, and any additions will be added to the list with the contributor cited, but I want to find a way for money and time strapped people have healthier foods.

Before I end this post, I wanted to link to a book that I did read last year that got me more interested in health and food.  In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  I would recommend picking up this book if interested in how food has become unhealthier, and the western lifestyle has made food not really food.  It is a quick read, and you won't regret it!

Brett

Crazy Fall

As you may or may not have noticed, I have been MIA since September.  It has been driving me crazy, but I had to put blogging and sadly running aside for class.  We all make mistakes right?  That is the last time I will be taking 7 classes in one semester, that is for sure!

I think I am going to redesign this blog a little bit as well, to show my new beginning as a reborn runner!  Instead of just focusing on my progress as a runner, I want to learn more about the sport as a whole, write more "articles" and also focus a little more on total fitness.  One thing I have learned is that it really is important to live a healthy lifestyle when possible.  Eating healthier has defiantly helped me through this hectic time, but I really do wish that I had been able to run as well.  Oh well, I am still young and I can't wait to get back in it!

Tomorrow is another day, and it shall be grand.

Brett