Junk Food – Saturday’s Run Results

One week in to my new healthy lifestyle and I already missed a day.  Originally, my plan was to open my training with ten straight days.  Well, I missed day # 4.  A huge condo complex about a mile-and-a-half from my home caught fire and it turned inferno-like.  It was basically the leading news story of the day on every Boston news outlet.  Due to the fire, highway traffic (which is always pretty brutal in Eastern Massachusetts) was at a standstill and threw my nightly schedule completely out of whack.  However, I got back on track both yesterday and today.  I lowered my two-mile time on the track to 17:13, a small sign of progress.

I really need to change my eating habits, which are horrendous.  I just love junk food.  Always have…even years ago when I was running marathons.  I am petrified of getting a cholesterol test, even though I really need one as I start this new program.  Here are the top ten junk foods that I need to start phasing out over the course of the next month:

1)  Diet Coke  -  We have a free soda machine at my work and I probably drink four to five cans per day.  Even though it is zero calories, it’s a terrible habit that I need to break.

2)  Pop Tarts -  Accompanying my morning Diet Coke at work is usually a small pack of Pop Tarts.  Cinammon Brown Sugar is my favorite, but I’m not afraid of inhaling the Blueberry or Strawberry packages as well.  Breakfast at home is always tough for me.  Getting three young kids ready in the morning is a daily event and leaves very little time for eating or running.  It’s an area I need to work on.

3)  Hostess Lemon Pies  -  No trip to a gas station/convenience store ever seems complete if I’m not walking out of there with one of these in my hands.  I might as well just eat an entire bowl of sugar.  It would be healthier for me.

4)  Hostess Honey Buns  -  The gas station/convenience store is out of Lemon Pies?  No worries.  The Honey Bun is almost always there to save my day.  They taste great when you eat them, but they sure do stick in your stomach for a while (Chines Food effect).  One drawback is its stickiness.  You can’t leave those empty wrappers lying around for more than a couple of seconds or you have a new set of problems, cleaning-wise.

5)  Ice Cream  -  If a gallon ever makes it into our house on grocery shopping day, it usually won’t stay around for long.  Friendly’s Cookies-n-Cream is the household favorite for this month.  Edie’s Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream is another favorite.  Also on the list:  Half-Baked (Ben & Jerry’s), Peanut Butter Cup (Richardson’s) and Ice Cream Cone Crunch (Hood).

6)  Pepperidge Farms Chocolate Chip Cookies  -  Those little bags that sit in my work’s vending machine always stare back at me from behind the glass….usually at 2:00 p.m. every afternoon.

7)  Popcorn, Indiana Kettlecorn  -  Have you ever had a bag of this stuff?  Phenomonal.  I had a full-fledge addiction of this last summer.  I was making 9:45 p.m. runs to Walgreens on weeknights before it closes in order to grab a bag.  It’s supposedly healthy because there is no saturated fat.  However, I ALWAYS eat an entire bag at a time.  I can’t eat this stuff in moderation.  I’ve cut back significantly, but not altogether.

8)  Bertucci’s rolls  -  On Friday evenings, we tend to buy take-out pizza from Bertucci’s and they usually provide an extra bag of rolls.  I swear that I can eat about seven of these things before touching the pizza.  No lie.  I can’t help but to look forward to them.

9)  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches  -  I have three kids.  Grilled cheese is a popular lunch or easy dinner choice.  They’re simple to make and always taste good for me.  There’s a restaurant chain where I live called Kelly’s (referred to in the movie “Good Will Hunting”).  I can eat about three of their Grilled Cheese sandwiches at a pop.

10)  Anything Reese’s  -  Peanut Butter and Chocolate.  Enough said.

Honorable mention:  Anything from Tim Horton’s.  I’ve been travelling quite a bit to various Canadian cities on business this year and have been formally introduced to the Tim Horton’s donut shop chain.  I’m getting hooked.

So there you have it.  Cutting out these ten foods will be just as hard, if not harder, than sticking to a regular running routine.  I can be open and honest about my faults here.  They need to be corrected ASAP.