dangerblog

Fake Foods Have Come A Long Way, Baby

I think I have mentioned before that I used to do the Body for Life thing. I did it as recently as the beginning of this year as a matter of fact with pretty good results. I am always kind of amazed at the major gains you can make in strength and endurance in such a short period on BFL.

I fell off the wagon around March when I started having health problems (a story for another time). And then recently, I've been on a pretty restricted diet that is supposed to help me, and it's more like 50-60% carb, 15-20% protein and 20-30% fat.

So I have been doing this now for a couple of months, but just lately I have been on kind of a weird vegan + fish diet, which meets the requirements of the diet but also makes me feel like I am eating pretty healthy. I grew up in a vegetarian household, so I am familiar with fake meat and know how to make a lot of good vegetarian and vegan meals. But I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the healthy substitute foods they are coming out with nowadays.

So far this week in the "fake" category I've had:
- Morningstar Veggie Patties - I actually have been eating these for years and like them even better than real sausage.
- Silk Soy Milk (Vanilla Flavor + Antioxidants) - I haven't tried soy milk in probably 10 years, and wow! It sure has improved since then! It mixes great with my Cracklin' Oat Bran.
- Morningstar Farms Better Than Burgers - I've tried all kinds of fake hamburgers over the years and these are actually passable. On the grill they might even be great.
- Earth Balance Butter - Low in saturated fat and no trans fatty acids. It actually tastes a little richer than regular butter somehow.
- Nasoya Soy Mayonnaise - Smells like mayonnaise, little runnier than mayonnaise, but passes for mayonnaise ok as long as it is not in too high a concentration. It's ok with my tuna sandwiches.

The thing that I am amazed about is just how healthy these foods are compared to their "real" counterparts. Like the veggie sausage - it's low in fat and high in soy protein and fiber. And the awesome fake butter that is loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids. I mean, I remember when they started making all the foods fat free and if they weren't loaded with sugar, they turned into cardboard and had no nutritional value at all. Now everything they come out with seems like it is not only a substitute for something bad, but instead is like a multi-vitamin.

Anyway, after my day of good eatin', I wanted to share with you my results. The lesson I have learned from this is not to be afraid of the new fake products they are coming out with. Everything I've tried is worlds better than what I ate as a kid and good for me too!

I Ran Again Today!

I didn't feel like it today and I have to admit, I was rooting for a thunderstorm, but when it came down to it, I went down to the track today and ran my two miles. Apparently, all of the other people who normally run at the track knew that the humidity was close to 100% and opted not to come out tonight. I walked up to the bench and took off my overshirt, and got my watch ready and then got ready to turn on my MP3 player, and DAMMIT! Out of batteries. Obviously, today was not my day, but I sucked it up and decided to run without my killer MP3 mix. I made it through my two miles, which is all I ask for, but it was not easy. I need my music.

Back to Exercising

When I came home from work today, I went on a search for my MP3 player and sat down to fill it up with some great running songs. I have a very old Compaq MP3 player that uses Smart Media cards, so it doesn't hold a whole lot of songs. Which is fine, because I only use it when I run, and I can't run for very long either.

I like to listen to music when I am programming at work, when I'm cleaning my house, when I'm gardening or cooking...pretty much anytime. It sets my mood and my tempo. And there is no time that is more true than when I am running.

Over the past several months, I pulled in all of my CDs to MP3 format on my computer, so I had my whole library to choose from. The list of songs I chose is off to the right. You'll notice that a lot of the songs I picked are pretty old. Maybe it's just that I don't listen to the pop channels on the radio anymore, and I don't watch MTV anymore (not that they show videos anyway), but I really have a hard time finding inspiring songs with a driving, steady beat. "Bombs Over Baghdad" by Outkast is one song that has a great beat that matches my running speed. And "Breathe" by Prodigy (along with nearly every other song on "Fat of the Land") is the best song to pick up the pace and to make it through the rough spots; it has been on nearly every running mix I've ever made.

So I guess the big news is that I found my MP3 player, but that I actually went running. A couple of weeks ago, I tried running a couple of miles at the track, and I did better than I expected, but I still didn't make it more than a quarter of a mile at a time without having to stop and walk for a little while.

Tonight was a huge surprise for me. Maybe it was watching all the races in the Olympics this weekend, maybe my killer running mix really did the trick, but I ran two whole miles without stopping tonight, at a pretty good pace. Yay!

Dangerguy and I are running a 5K this weekend. We signed up for it over a month ago, but this is the first week that we will really train. I am hoping that this 5K is a really fun race that will inspire us to sign up for a 10K, then a 15K maybe and then hopefully a half marathon this winter. So stayed tuned...Dangergirl is getting in shape!