Food challenge 2013: salads and burpees.

Yes. Prison. That is how I feel. Beautiful day out, and I am inside, sitting, studying. My daughter told me, as I washed dishes, that all I do is study and clean. I laughed, and reminded her that she forgot ''cook.''

So what does any of this have to do with salads? And why do I keep talking about burpees???? 

Because:

People often say... and I often hear... everything in moderation... but really, what is moderation? is sitting all day long, everyday, reading and taking quizzes, moderation? I don't really think so. Is driving from my home to school, sitting in a 4-hour class, then driving back and sitting to study, then driving to a meeting and driving back to sit and study again... moderation? the only moderation I see in there are the types of chairs I am sitting on. School chair, car seat, cheap plastic chair, back to car seat, back to floor or sofa or chair by kitchen table. Do you call that moderation? I call that growing a big butt. Unless I earnestly do something about it. 

That is where the salads ad burpees come in. I am sorry, I don't care what they say about moderation, when you are in accelerated nursing school there is no such thing as moderation. There is a lot of sitting. An incredible amount of sitting. That is not conducive to maintaining optimal weight, and much less a decent physical and/or aerobic shape. For such type of insanity, I mean intensity of non daily-movement, I must adapt my eating and exercise habits, or I will gain weight and become out of aerobic shape. There is no way around it. 

So what to do? Eat light. If I am sitting all day, and in a hot climate to boot, I don't need to be eating foods that my grandparents ate before they went into the farm fields to chop sugar cane, ride horses and tend to cows and coffee plantations. Rice, beans, meat and vegetables were enough to maintain their level of energy. If I ate that way every day, I would gain weight. If I am sitting, sitting, and sitting some more, the trick is to eat light. Salads. Think about it. Our bodies don't make vitamins... we need to eat them. So do that. Put a bunch of vegetables together, olive oil, sea salt, vinegar... not enough to keep you going? Me either. So I add avocados, sweet potatoes, beets, roasted eggplants, potatoes, eggs, cranberries, nuts... and always, always base my salads on a grain. Bulgur, quinoa, rice... because grains are complex carbohydrates... remember that? whole grains burn slow.... perfect brain food. Perfect food, period. And clean. Keeps me awake and alert. 

And ready for burpees. Yes. That is another way to keep in shape. And fitting into my clothes as I sit, sit and sit. You can go through a bunch of burpees in just a few minutes... and what a gift that is. Yes it's a pain to do them, yes you have to put your hands on the dirty ground, yes your skirt rides up, yes it's embarrassing, yes your siblings will tell you you are out of your mind, yes you wonder what is wrong with you. But you know what? Aren't you more insane for just sitting, sitting  and sitting all day, when you think about it? and not moving your body the way it was meant to be... and move? 

And at the end of the day, count the number of push ups and jumps you will have done. And look at your arms and shoulders. It does make a difference. Little by little.