All the try I have

I try to eat healthy. I really do. But here is the thing, I am not really good at it at all and ice cream is too delicious.

This morning, the internet made me very aware of my lack of healthy food habits in my life. (One of my fellow Bluffton grads is a vegetarian dietitian living Chicago and she has a very healthy food blog). Let me tell you, after looking at her beautiful blog, my eating choices feel really childish. Last night for supper, I had eggs, toast and popcorn. Not only that, I do not like eating large chunks of vegetables. Seriously. If you dice it up really small, I (sometimes) have no problem. Maybe it's a texture thing. But give me a massive broccoli stump to eat and I'm out. No thank you.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately (as I do from time to time. My healthy eating goals really roll in and out with the tide). I think my version of "try" is not really all the "try" I have in me. This also applies to working out. I have found that I can push myself a lot harder than I think I can. Prior to straining my IT band again, I had starting running sprints about once a week. And surprise! I could do it. In fact, pushing myself to run sprints actually does what the internet says it will; it made me a "faster" runner. (Faster is relative here. I am still not awesome at running. Probably because it sucks and I hate it). I also managed to get my resting heart rate down to the lowest it's ever been. I actually have my cardio classes to thank for this. Going to Cardio x twice a week and kickboxing once a week has really made me realize that I am capable of more than I thought. Now if I could only get that hip better.

But with eating healthy, it feels a little bit more tricky. Probably because I love food too much. I cannot wait to try new recipes, old seasonal favorites and the occasional throwback dish my mom used to make when I was a kid. As I've mentioned before in previous posts, my focus for healthy eating has mainly been to
1. increase my daily water intake
2. increase my daily veggie and fruit intake
3. Find ways to reduce my daily intake of sugar

Number 1 on that list has been easy for me, especially at work where I drink water all day at my desk through a blue straw. Slurp Slurp done.

Number 2 ebbs and flows. Really, it's a lot easier to do this in the summer time when fruit is fresh and often on sale. But now that fall is here and winter is creeping its way in too, this has been harder. I do not like eating hard plums, woody pears or mushy peaches. So I don't. Instead I just focus on apples, which, from Dillons, are fairly decent most of the time, oranges and the occasional grape cluster. That's it. My plate is never very colorful.

Vegetables are even harder for me. Typically, I make a main dish for supper and then serve it with one side. Fruit is a lot easier to do because it might just be a bunch of grapes or applesauce (if I have it  canned and right now, I do not). The amount of veggies one is suppose to eat would basically require me to eat it at every meal. And let me tell you, I have no idea or desire on how to eat vegetables for breakfast. That sounds awful. Even when I do try to up my veggie game, I still practically only eat carrots, spinach and green beans. (well, and potatoes, which hardly count). Again, the lack of color in my meal is alarming.

So the struggle continues. And now I have oreo thins in my house because Dillions gave them to me for free! Jerks.

All this to say, I know I should try harder and that my try is actually probably more than I currently think it is.  I just got to keep at it.