fitness friday: worth it, or not?

an email came to me the other day
that really made me think

i gave up on energy bars a LONG time ago
i just don't like them
fake chocolate, fake taste
there are a few i can stomach
and once in awhile i'll try one in a pinch

but this article came and i thought of my friends who nearly live on them
and decided to share it with you :)

here's my fitness/nutrition tip of the day for you
and it sounds simple, and common sensical
(did i just make up a word? the little red line is under it, which may indeed mean that i did...)

anyway, here it is
ready?

if i don't like it
i don't eat it.

meaning, i'm not going to waste my calories for the day
on something i don't enjoy

if a salad has a vinaigrette on it that i hate?
not gonna eat more than the initial bite
if a "healthy" meal tastes like cardboard?
i'll go to the fridge and pull out some fresh veggies that i know i love
if a cookie or chip is stale?
don't bother

i think for the longest time i ate what was in front of me under the misguided assumption that i needed to do the healthy thing whether i liked it or not

the problem was that in many cases i didn't like it

and so within a few hours of a meal, i was reaching for something that would satisfy
therefore sometimes doubling my calories

clearly that didn't work.

now that i know tricks and tips to "lean up" just about any meal
i don't even bother with the health food aisle

full-fat ranch dressing please, on a salad loaded with veggies and no cheese
reduced fat sour cream or cream cheese in recipes only (not that i'll eat sour cream on it's own...blech)
sugar in my sweet tea and coffee
water most of the rest of the day

it's SO simple
but i'm much happier doing it.

fitness friday: to process or not to process

yesterday i was in two different houses with two different philosophies on eating and nutrition

yet the meals i served the children in both families both ended up to have about the same nutritional value

hot dogs in one home
macaroni and cheese from a box in the other
fresh fruit abounding in both

processed next to unprocessed
so i started thinking
which is dangerous, admittedly

what are my foodie confessions?
yes, i prefer unprocessed, whole foods
but honestly, i don't always do the best job of providing them to myself

for example, i know that pop-tarts have no nutritional value, whatsoever
but because they satisfy a sweet craving and have less fat/calorie content than many things that i could substitute
i allow them once in awhile

and while annie's mac and cheese is organic and all
it's still processed
and the blue box is even worse

i justify it because i don't eat these things every day
just "in a pinch"
when i'm in a hurry
or when nothing else sounds good and i just need food in my body

so...what can i do
what can you do
to ensure that healthful, REAL food is what you put in your body?

i think, for me, i'm going to be more purposeful in keeping healthful, whole foods on hand
actually preparing them when i bring them home, so that the temptation of fast and easy is removed
and it's actually JUST as fast and easy to have something real :)
and not falling victim to couponing--while it's AMAZING, i also think i buy more processed crap because i can get it cheap
(so now i have to somehow unify the part of me that wants healthful food with the part of me that wants to save money. THAT could be a blog project all it's own!)

what do you do?