Anyone who knows me, knows that while I enjoy food I’m no connoisseur of fine cuisine. Well, that’s not quite true… like I said, I enjoy a good meal – especially a good one at a nice restaurant with wonderful company.
I’m also not a fussy eater. Though I do have my preferences like anyone else, I can be convinced to eat just about anything. And once I’ve tucked in, can probably enjoy the meal too.
I don’t believe in “diets”, though I have allowed my own diet to be shaped by the Theory that your blood type determines what your body is capable of properly digesting and breaking down — probably because as a Type-O the theory played to my food preferences anyhow! Meat, fruit and vegetables. Though it did eliminate most of my favourite dairy foods (cheese!) and grains (pasta and bread!). As I said, I only loosely follow it… so I still consume some of those things still. (it’s hard to have a good burger without grains!
I guess the best way to describe my daily approach to food is that I treat it as a fuel for my body. So, while I do enjoy good food, I’m more interested in getting “good for me” food into my boy to fuel everyday living, and my next workout. And in a pinch, any food will do. Through this whole Ironman project I have been a bit more focused on my food intake… monitoring the calories and relative balance of nutrients — especially early when my goal was to shed so much fat. Fitday was my best friend for logging and analyzing my food intake – keeping things initially under 2100 calories a day… now more like 3000.
So… it’s no surprise given my philosophy on food that I eat the same breakfast Monday to Friday – and typically at least once on the weekend. 100grams of wheat free granola, mixed with greek yoghurt (yes the fruity kind that has sugar!) and fresh raspberries, blackberries and strawberries (well, as fresh as berries in the winter in Canada can be!). Every morning it’s the same thing… it’s got a good mix of nutrients, its dense in calories to fuel my morning… and it’s yummy. Most people would “bore” of the same food day in and day out. Not me. It’s consistent and good. Predictable and reliable. As far as food goes, those a nice traits.
Lunch is usually a crap shoot. Admittedly I should brown bag my lunch more often… but I don;t. And that’s unlikely to change. The good news is that there’s a grocery store in the building in which I work — so I can head down there and buy a salad or a sandwich and bring it back to the office to consume. Nothing too bad for me. The worse news is that I often choose NOT to do that and instead grab a slide of pizza (not tooooo bad for me) or a sub (kind worse) or street meat (man, I should not have admitted to that!). So… I need to watch out with lunch to make sure I get something that’s good for me, and that I don;t over consume on the general caloric intake!
Snacks during the day can be pretty simple. I often keep apples in a bowl in my office, so I can just grab one anytime. And I also keep a bag of roasted almonds about too — so a handful here or there to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Not too bad… and again just a routine thing that might bore others… but the consistency and predictability of it all takes the thinking out of the equation.
Dinner — well again expediency typically wins out over creativity here too. At least on an everyday basis. Staples of my diet include sausage with mixed vegetables, broiled salmon with rice or salad, chili (cause it can be frozen and pulled out on a moment’s notice)…. generally during the week it’s leftovers from weekend meals made for me and the boys. Most nights I have about 30 minutes to make and consume my dinner before I have to be at a workout…. so it’s all about getting the calories in. And nothing to do with savouring the experience or even the flavours.
My boys mock me mercilessly when I forget to slow down on the weekends and I am one my meal in no time — especially since I make them wait to start theirs until “everyone is seated at the table”… maybe if I gave them a head start that stand a fighting chance of keeping up!
On “special occasions” I’ll definitely pull out something a little more creative… and it’s a special treat to myself to go out and get a nice striploin, and bring it over to someone’s house (where there is a bbq) to cook it up and eat it with some asparagus and salad…
And as far as those foods I like to “cheat” with…. I’m a “savoury snack” kind of guy generally. Potato chips are my achilles heal… I try not to buy a bag – ever… cause if I do they can be consumed in one sitting — max two. Which is never a good idea! Ice cream (though not savoury) is a close second. and cheescake is my favourite desert. Though I don’t often have it unless I’m out at a restaurant and know its good there.
Of course, now that I’ve spent the last 45 minutes on the train thinking / writing about food, I’m STARVING! Wonder whether I’ll stop at Starbucks for a scone on my way into the office…. hmmmm….
