Junk Miles

Junk Miles. A quaint little term that uber serious runners/cyclists give to time spent on the road with no specific training purpose or benefit. I suppose 'Junk Kilometres' doesn't really have the same ring, does it? I digress.

It is funny how when we start out exercising, new to whichever sport or activity we have chosen, just getting out there is enough. Bothering to haul your ass out of bed when it is still dark and just get something done for an hour is worth a pat on the back. But, as many a weekend warrior can attest, as you start to progress in your chosen activity, human nature wants more. We want to be faster, stronger and able to go for hours. And at this point, as we start to employ training regimes and rules, speedwork and lactate threshold work and core stability exercises and lots of shoulder exercises because who doesn't want nice shoulders right?, it can be really easy to lose sight of why we started this journey in the first place. To feel good.

Sometimes it takes 5 glorious 'junk miles' on a sandy trail, Garmin still at home, sun shining, sea glistening, enough breath to say hello to passers by and the chilled tunes of Jack Johnson to realise that they can't be junk miles when they feel so damn good.

Do you know what else makes me feel good? Delicious food. (you liked that segway didn't you?!) It seems to me, from the questions and comments I get from people on a daily basis, that whilst people understand the concept of eating well, they don't quite know how to fit it in to their lives. So I thought I would give you an example, in the form of a photo food diary, of how I manage to incorporate healthy food into my busy life.

The photo food diary I am posting today features almost exclusively home cooked or prepared food. This method is great because it means you can have great control over what you eat and generally save money. The recipes for the foods in this have been posted in previous blogs (apart from the salad one which is to come). The other photo food diary I will post in my next blog will be almost exclusively foods that have been purchased at small supermarkets or local cafes etc. This will give you an idea of how to put together a days worth of healthy food when you haven't been organised or are travelling etc. Ok here goes.

A Choco-nana-nut smoothie & Slice of gluten free toast with Avocado

Fresh mixed berries with goat yoghurt and a soy latte

Kumera, chickpea and kale tart with a tomato, onion, fetta and balsamic salad and a few big chunks of raw capsicum.

Raw brownie with a glass of Swisse green powder-stuff in water

Vietnamese chicken salad with fibre explosion noodles (not their actual name, but all will be explained in my next post)

So, apart from the poor photo quality and lack of styling on my part (they were taken on my iphone at work and various other places) you can see that eating well does not mean bland, boring foods. I can tell you without a lie that every single one of these meals were delicious and satisfying!

Stay tuned for the salad recipe and my next photo food diary...