You know food interests me. I love the idea of clean eating and eating the "right" kinds of food. I would LOVE to lose the 5 extra pounds I've had for the last 5 years but I'm not sure how to do it seeing that I already eat well.
As is so often the case, discernment in this area of life is so important. I lift 3 days a week. The other days I'm either cycling or running. Then almost every weekend I have a race. In the last 30 days I've done:
- One triathlon.
- One 32-mile ultramarathon.
- One 13.1-mile half marathon.
- One 5-mile trail run.
- And one 10 Miler.
Not too shabby for someone who is as undisciplined as I am. But as I blogged the other day, too much activity is a bad thing for your body. It needs to rest frequently. The same thing applies to one's diet. I eat healthy for the most part. But I'm not perfect in this regard nor do I want to be. That's why, about once a week, I enjoy a "cheat night" where I eat anything I like, be it healthy or fatty. Tonight was such a night. As you can see, I stuffed myself with GREASY trout and GREASY fries and GREASY hushpuppies.
It was so delicious! I wouldn't want to do this every night, of course, but sometimes you just have to indulge yourself a little. The seafood restaurant where I went tonight is in Henderson, NC, just off of I-85. It's called 220 Seafood. I don't know what the "220" stands for. Maybe that's the number of calories you put into your mouth with every little bite. Man, it's like I turn into a Hoover vacuum cleaner whenever I visit this place. Not to worry, though. Tomorrow I'll be back to my old healthy eating routine.
Do you ever have cheat nights? I hope you do. I've discovered from all the reading I've done on this subject that the healthiest people with the healthiest eating habits enjoy eating "fun" foods that aren't necessarily the most nutritious from time to time. Thus about every 7 days or so I tell my body it can eat whatever it wants, wherever it wants, and in whatever amount it so desires. I find that I can live without some of my favorite junk foods most of the time if I know I can eat them some of the time. I find that my body works best when I don't feel guilty when I occasionally indulge some of my favorite foods. This means that, in some ways, having a cheat day is really healthy.
So the next time you're driving through the Carolinas on I-85, do plan on stopping at 220 and treating yourself to some of the tastiest, fattest, and unhealthiest food in all of the South.
Just be sure it's on your cheat night.
P.S. I just noticed that the distance between my farm and the restaurant is exactly 32 miles.
This is the distance of a 50K ultra, and thus far I've run this distance 3 times. Which is a reminder that runners are completely out of their minds. Why would anybody run 32 miles? That's what cars are for, you knucklehead.