Adventures in Clean Eating

Happy New Year!  I’m just back from Atlanta, after a good trip and a rather disappointing football game.  I’m back in the office today, and have already completed my workout for the day!  I ran four slow miles on  the treadmill this morning.  I didn’t have much energy since I’m fresh off the trip, but I’m glad I was able to wake up and get it out of the way.  It always feels good to start the day with a workout.

Today I’m continuing the 25 Health Lessons series with five lessons on a topic near and dear to my heart: Balance.  My schedule is very, very hectic.  I work 40 hours a week (minimum), and after my work day is done I head straight to class at night.  Every night.  My weekends are filled with homework, which always sucks, but it was particularly difficult last year when I was out of town every other weekend or so to plan my wedding.  I’ve always been busy (truthfully, I kind of like it), but the past two years since I started law school have been a challenge.  Here are a couple tricks I’ve learned to fit a healthy lifestyle into my schedule.

16.  Get into a routine. Despite the fact that I was even busier last school year, with a much worse commute than I have now, I worked out a lot more regularly than I did this past semester.  This past semester I figured that since I had one night off a week from class, plus other random pockets of time during the day to get a workout in, I could go on an alternative work schedule.  So, I worked 7:30-5, with every other Friday off, instead of my normal 8:30-5.  I couldn’t force myself to wake up early enough to work out in the mornings, but figured I had enough time to get in regular workouts still.  I did have enough time, but I rarely took advantage of it.  Since I couldn’t work out around the same time every day, I never got into a routine, and subsequently skipped my work outs way too frequently.  I learned my lesson, went back to my regular schedule, and so far have been keeping up with my workouts.

17.  Something is better than nothing. Once upon a time, I worked out at least an hour and a half a day, sometimes more.  I had a pretty relaxed work environment at the time, plus after work I didn’t really have much to do besides watch TV, so I would typically go to the gym at lunch, and often after work as well.  When I started a new job and law school, my time became much more limited.  When I could make it to the gym, I couldn’t work out for nearly as long, so I developed a very “why bother” attitude about it.  That was dumb.  Just because you can’t do as long or as intense a workout as you’re accustomed to doesn’t mean you should skip it all together.  Try to get in just 30 minutes on the elliptical, or a short weights session.  Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred is ideal for a day like this since it’s a solid work out that’s only 25 minutes long.  If nothing else, walk the long way home, or get off the train a few stops early.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Small bursts of activity do accumulate.

18.  Learn to love circuit training and interval training. Circuit training is awesome because it doesn’t take much time, but gets your strength training and cardio in at the same time.  It also kicks your butt!  Interval training has a much better after-burn effect than steady-state cardio, but is done in much less time.  On any cardio machine, alternate a minute of moderate effort with thirty seconds of intense effort.  In fifteen minutes time, you’ll be dripping in sweat and have accomplished a great workout.

19.  Find portable healthy foods you like and bring them everywhere. The best way to avoid the temptation of vending machines is to never let yourself feel hungry or unsatisfied.  I always bring more food than I think I’ll need when I leave my house in the morning.  That way I don’t have to choose between being hungry and buying something that’s probably not healthy (and surely expensive) to eat.  Good snacks include: granola bars, fruit with a thick skin (not pears… I learned that the hard way when one  turned to mush in my purse), nuts, sandwiches with deli meat or peanut butter, sliced vegetables in plastic bags, sweet potatoes (prick one all over with a fork and nuke in the office microwave for four minutes), string cheese, dried fruit, individually packaged yogurts, etc.  Make sure your snacks are things you enjoy.  I used to buy individual portions of hummus from Costco.  I ate them with crackers or veggies a lot because they were so convenient.  But I soon realized that I’m not really crazy about hummus.  I like it ok as an appetizer… but mainly because I love warm flatbread.  Whenever I ate it with veggies I tended to feel really unsatisfied afterwards and I’d splurge.  Or I just wouldn’t eat it… and still splurge.  Find foods you like and bring them with you everywhere.

20.  Learn to prioritize. Face it, when you get busy, you’re going to have to cut back on time spent in all areas of your life.  But, when you have to choose between two competing activities, you need to decide which one really deserves your attention.  There’s not always going to be one priority that’s the most important.  You have to take stock in each situation.  If you’re a little behind in your reading and have a couple hours before class but also need to work out, ask yourself how important it is to do your reading in that class.  I’ve had classes where you can never predict when the teacher will call on you, and then she intensely grills you on each aspect of the case.  In those classes, I need to do the reading very thoroughly for each class.  In other classes, I would know when I would be called on, or would just need to have a basic knowledge of the case based on questions the professor asks.  If it’s the former kind of class, reading would typically have to win out.  If it’s the latter, I would decide based on how badly I need to work out.  Have I not worked out at all this week?  Do I have time for a good workout tomorrow?  Can I switch up my workout schedule to make today my rest day?  If I really do need to work out, there’s my answer.  Try to divide your time up as evenly as possible.  It’s the only way to stay sane.  As far as friends and family go, you can’t just ditch the people you love all together, but true friends will understand when you have to stay in and study and can’t make it out one night