Eat Your Wheaties

"Eat Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dinner like a Pauper."

I'm blown away by how many people don't eat any breakfast in the morning! Some people grab a double double and a muffin (low-fat kind *sigh*) on the run and eat it enroute to work, or pass through a McDonald's drive-thru for an Egg Mcsuckin with cheese and sausage or ham or whatever miscellaneous body parts they're utilizing these days and a deep fried tater. Sorry to pick on you McD's, the truth is I can't remember ever really eating fast food for breakfast in my life. Even in my darkest hour, despite massive amounts of junk throughout the day, I was always good about eating a decent breakfast. I just liked the way it made me feel. When I did eat breakfast, that is, which was about 50% of the time. I never liked sugary cereals that pretend to be breakfast but I also never really felt hungry when I woke up - usually from eating very late the night before.

I'm not sure what's more shocking for your system first thing in the am - eating high-sugar, fat-loaded, insulin spiking foods or eating nothing at all until your stomach starts howling. All I know is that these days I am so hungry in the morning when I wake up that I would eat the arse out of a dead skunk. I have mini dreams about my bowl of Bran Flakes and 1% milk starting around the time I hit snooze for Round One, and by Round Four I'm crawling out from under the sheets and making a bee line for the fridge. It wasn't always this way - in school I remember being hungry most mornings and famished by lunchtime, not to mention exhausted and grumpy.

Let's pretend your body was a car. Imagine how it would function if you avoided checking the oil and wiper fluid, ignored gauging the tire pressure (even when the tire looked low on air), disregarded the check engine light and never bothered to take it in for a tune-up. Now let's imagine your car was a Mercedes Benz SLR Mclaren, aka the Gael Garcia Bernal of cars (FYI he's my Brad Pitt). What a sweet car! A performance machine, made for speed and power; an extravagant luxury item worthy of only the best in TLC. Without a doubt, you've spent a ton of money on it and you're probably only going to ever own ONE, so why not treat it well? Maybe you're a bit tight on cash after such an expenditure. Premium gasoline is recommended but hey, regular's cheaper and it won't make much of a difference. You can also buy whatever tires are on sale at the time. And it doesn't *have* to go to a particular service shop when your buddy has an Uncle Moe who will take it in his garage for a quick tune-up. Sound ridiculous?

When it comes to catering to the basic maintenance needs of this beautiful chariot - your own body, you're skimping in places you should be SPLURGING. Screw the spa session, the weekly mani-pedis, the brand name make-up, the Ed Hardy tshirts - spend your money on REAL food - healthy, fresh, organic (when you can afford it), nutritious and full of life! What good is hitting up a car wash n wax or a getting a brand new paint job if your engine is busted? That shiny set of wheels is gonna look real nice sitting in your driveway all summer. Maybe you could push it around the block.

What you put in your body after you wake up from a night of hibernation really sets the tone for the day. If you eat a well-balanced, healthy breakfast you can even get away with eating more than you should for dinner, as you will have the whole day to burn a lot of it off. Or you could have a large, greasy-spoon brekky, the kind that leaves you full way past lunch and then starving at 2pm, by which time you are also experiencing that mid-afternoon slump so you are craving sweet or salty snacks, so perhaps a chocolate bar to tide you over til dinner and then you get home, too tired to make anything so you pop in a microwave dinner of pasta and make some cheesy garlic bread, wash it down with tall glass of juice, cause it's much healthier than pop (true, but *sighing again*) followed by leftover cheesecake for dessert and you end up going to bed feeling like you ate a small child and he's trying to escape.

If you want to have great car mileage, what do you do? Bare with me on the car analogies here ok, I was told my blog may be a little too "female focused" so it's my feeble attempt to balance that. So what do you do? You look at all the little things that might help - keeping your windows rolled up, checking your tire pressure regularly, empty your trunk of unnecessary junk and don't drive too fast. Before you know it, you'll have 30% better mileage on a tank of gas. Not hungry in the morning? Don't eat late at night. Stop at least 3 hours before your bedtime and avoid eating heavy meals for dinner. I eat very little carbs at this time, but quite a bit throughout the day - I NEED to, for energy. And so do you. I eat my cereal with eyes barely open, go to the gym, come back and eat a large breakfast of fruit, eggs, sprouted grain toast with peanut butter and tea. I feel so good afterwards, it makes me want to continue eating healthy all day. Because I like feeling good. Seems obvious doesn't it?

It's all about choices. I'm a big fan of this motto, and it's one of my many : SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS. If you find yourself making bad choices, your vessel is not going to function very optimally. It will voice it's displeasure. Again, first in whispers.

Next blog I will discuss the many ways you can set yourself up for success and avoid the sabotage pitfalls that we've all been through and the best way to avoid relapsing.

Remember, I'm here if you need me...