I sometimes wonder if my calorie and fat gram counting is an issue.... for anyone else. I try and not talk about it too much unless I know a person is interested in the subject. Numbers are boring. I don't even like them.

I loss tons of lb's last year when I was training for AMBBR. I starting gaining lots of weight back after my trip up north last October and then that just lead right into the holiday season. Oy! I'd really been gluttonous with my food choices and portions. I mean out of control. Whack. Lame. I love delicious and rich food as much as the next person, but what was not cool was how I felt. (I know I've written about this in the past.) I was incredibly sluggish and just didn't feel good at all. All the bike riding in the world could not cancel out what I was doing. I decided to quit the way I was treating my body and mind. (The mind/ body connection is really quite something, isn't it?)

When one starts to think about what our body needs on any given day and compares that with what the average persons consumes in that day, it's really scary. We hear all the time how America is increasingly obese with healthcare costs on the rise. Well duh, we're bombarded at every turn with fast food and restaurant advertising. Food is yummy! Food is pleasant! Food is social! Food can be great tasting, but it can also be full of FAIL. Whether it be an over abundance of calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, whatever.... it's a problem in this country and increasingly, in others.

I honestly felt that I needed to pay more attention to what I was consuming. I'm not getting any younger and my arteries and metabolism are probably not what they used to be. Coupled with my regular road riding, I started doing regular grocery shopping to keep my kitchen stocked with great food and especially, fresh produce. I never realized how important non-processed foods are for the body. I eat a lot of greenage and fruitage. I think I just made the word 'greenage' up! Go me. See, eating well makes me loads smarter, too. Someone throw a math problem at me!* Anyway, I do still occasionally go out to eat with friends. It's still a must and I at least tend to make some smarter choices when I do.

I'm back to feeling a lot better than I had been a few months ago. Approximately 400 times better. And I won't lie, I'm also 10-15 lb's lighter as well. The trick for me personally is making sure I actually eat enough for all of the bike riding I do. It's all good and cute to have a beautiful morning out on the country roads for a couple of hours, but depraving the body of nutrition it needs after that is as bad as eating whatever I please and sitting in front of my computer screen all day doing nothing.




*Kidding. I detest math, don't.