Today when I was grocery shopping, I saw low fat prune yogurt and my immediate reaction was "Hmmm that would make a tasty treat!"... the second the thought entered my head... I knew my brain had finally changed the way I think about food! Seriously... who thinks prunes are a treat other than people who work in colon clinics?

Don't get me wrong... I still think plenty of "bad foods" are delicious too... I still splurge once in awhile... but generally my regular meals include high protein, high fiber and low carbs (exciting I know)... and now when I grocery shop... that's what is in my cart. Saves time too because a number of aisles just get skipped.

There have been a few people who have had a serious impact on how I think about food, but in the end it had to be something that I bought into.

About a year ago, a doctor suggested that when I grocery shop I should pay close attention to the types of food other people are putting in their cart and then look at how healthy or unhealthy they are. He made a point of mentioning how you don't see elderly people in the grocery store unless they are healthy (he clarified by old he meant over 75 years old). And if you notice what they are putting in their carts, it's not over-processed, high sugar canned fruit. Ever since I had this conversation with him, I've paid close attention to the produce section, and I did notice healthy elderly loading up with lots of deep green veggies. During our conversation, he made another excellent point, that most people who don't eat healthy don't live long either. Those few who against the odds don't die young, can't physically do their own grocery shopping when they get older because of health complications and the quality of their life really sucks (obviously I'm paraphrasing here). He told me, that I had to make a decision if I want the opportunity to live to 80 years old and enjoy life or if I'd rather start having my health fail in my 50s and suffer from illness until I die. Tough to hear... but it was true.

Another person I know that is a nutritionist and eats absolutely no sweets (and hasn't in about 20 years) explained her trick to me. She said we focus on the textures and richness of sweets when we eat them, she described it almost in an orgasmic fashion, that people will comment on desserts when they eat them like "ohhhhhhhh this is so smooth" or "this is sooooooooo rich" (imagine that in a sexy voice). She said instead if you think of every bite more in terms of what it is doing to your body, then you will stop craving sweets. While eating the rich desserts, think about physiological changes that putting this food into your body actually creates (like changing your blood sugar, how the cake creates fat cells etc). I haven't quite mastered this technique, I still love texture of dessert! But I have noticed how my body changes after I have dessert (problem is I still enjoy the sugar high afterwards - I just only restrict myself to how many times a week I'll indulge now... usually only once). She also made a good point of how we reward our children for eating their supper by offering dessert. She explained that as children we are programmed by our parents to think sugar is the treat instead of the healthy supper.

Of course Devin has helped me to figure out what types of food to eat too. I don't know how he doesn't get tired of me asking him about post-bootcamp snacks... like last week I wanted to know if eating peanut butter on my chicken is ok at 9pm at night! I'm pretty certain since I burn about 800 calories in bootcamp... as long as I'm not eating Kraft Dinner after bootcamp I'm probably fine!

When I was going through the checkout today something happened that made me proud of myself... the clerk actually commented on my order, he said "I think this is probably the healthiest cart I've seen today!" Now I'm not sure if he was hitting on me (be cause we all know that ladies with high fiber diets are SEXY) or if he just processes so many orders in a day filled with pre-packaged cakes, chips and fruit juice that my order shocked to him... I smiled and took it as a compliment (I'm pretty sure it was a pick-up line though)! hahaha

Some people have teased me that I don't eat enough anymore but I have to disagree, I actually do eat. I wouldn't be able to run intervals for 5km everyday, if I wasn't feeding my body (even with my supplements and magical potions). After my runs, my body is begging for protein... so that's what I give it... cottage cheese (if I want to spice it up... sometimes I put cinnamon on top). I do eat about 4-5 small meals a day and drink tons of water... but the biggest thing for me is not turning to food when I'm stressed. That is something that will probably take years to curb but I am getting better at it (sort of). I try to think of food as fuel... and not as something that satisfies short-comings or voids in my life.