Food & Nutrition

(Honey Buzz Bars, Lentil loaf, Salmon & veg quiche/fritata, Zucchini Quinoa bites, Coconut Dream bar, Coconut balls)

What I eat has slowly been transformed. Last year when I started really getting in to training I wanted to start cooking and change what I eat. I ordered everything on Iherb but I guess I just wasn't ready to make the changes that I wanted to make. When it comes to change you need to want something enough to make it happen. Well I think as time went by this year I was getting to that point and finally got there. I think a big kick in that direction was when I decided to change my training/racing nutrition to one that has no sugar, I then thought again about how much refined sugar there was in my diet.

Before coming to Korea I had been off refined sugar for approx 2 months. It had been going well except the move here and the big food changes and a language that I didn't know made it very difficult to continue. Now I've learnt how and where to shop much better. I rarely eat Korean food so I've learnt how I would go about taking out the refined sugar. It means making a lot of my own foods and ordering a lot of ingredients from Iherb.

A new love is coconut oil. Oh how yum it is. I use it now in a few of the things I make. I have really learnt that fat is not the enemy however it is definitely about the right fats. Pigging out on deep fried foods is still not good for the body. Good thing I've never had a love of this type of food. 

As I write I have my first batch of granola in my toaster oven. Oh I can't wait to try this for breakfast in the morning. I'll have it with yogurt. This may just be the breakfast I've been looking for. I had tried to go back to a protein drink which is what I used to have but it just isn't floating my boat of a morning. 

A big change that I've had to make for endurance training is to eat more of the foods that I would of steered away from before. Previously I would eat limited rice and pasta. I still eat limited pasta as it is best eaten 1.5 days before I big training day. As for rice, since being in Korea I've really gone off white rice so I struggle to eat it when out but I will make up brown rice now at home. Still pretty new to this and only doing it within the last month. Some things are hard to change and have to keep telling myself that it is a good thing and even necessary thing to eat. The trick I've found is finding recipes that I like that has it, for example my lentil loaf recipe and I will make some brown rice salad which I love also.

I love eating veggies and I love, love, love salad but I am hopeless as preparing it. The only trick I've found is to keep a big bag of frozen veggies (thanks to Costco) in my freezer and have a big serve once a day with one of my main meals. It usually ends up being for lunch because I find after getting home from work and then training it seems too late to eat a big meal so I snack on a few bits and pieces (some of those things above, yogurt, cheese)

Check out my coco-nutty granola

Looks good!!