Running and Reading...

... but not at the same time!!

First of all, yesterday was a work day from hell. I had conference calls at 8:30, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 8:00pm... and that one lasted the longest!!

But... the great news is... after my massage with Travis, I do feel a thousand times better! I was finally able to sleep with my left leg straight and it didn't hurt at all!

I got up at 4:45 this morning with plans to meet friends at 5:30 for a run. But it was pouring down rain. When the lightning showed up, I decided that I'd have to delay my run. So, Jordan and I met at 6:30 to start our 9 mile run. It was great fun running in the rain and through puddles (no more lightning) and my leg felt awesome!! I could have run the whole marathon today!!

Now for the reading part. I love to read anything about training, injury management, nutrition, and diet. I've got the Zone stuff, the South Beach Stuff, the Paleo stuff. A while back I bought The Beck Diet Solution - which approaches diet from the mental aspect. It provides tips and tricks to talk yourself out of eating bad. So I know what I'm supposed to do to eat right, and I've done it well in the past. I just can't seem to be completely in control right now. I generally eat well, but when I'm working... I tend to snack... on anything and everything.

But I got this new book that I find to be pretty fascinating. It's called The End of Overeating. Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler, MD. I think that the thing I like about this book is the scientic approach. It reinforces the idea that bad food choices are not a character flaw or even a lack of will power (which is what I thought). It is a practiced and reinforced habit that becomes an addition, very similar to a drug addiction. So this book goes beyond The Beck Diet Solution by telling you why you have eating issues and then suggests tips similar to what you would find in The Beck Diet Solution. I think this book is more helpful because now that I understand the underlying causes, it will be easier to apply the appropriate techniques to manage it.

The End of Overeating discusses the old study of Pavlov's dog - that the dog salivates at the sound of the bell, and many other studies to explain that people have been conditioned in a similar way, usually due to emotional attachments or memories attached to the food. And a big concern is that the food manufacturers and restaurants know this and they know how to prepare and market foods in a way that make you want the food... and more of it.

Most diet books focus on people who are really overweight. I never thought that anyone would understand that even though I am not "overweight" I still have these issues. If I ever showed up at Weight Watchers, I'm afraid they would laugh in my face because I "only" need to lose 10 pounds. But this book gives examples of fit people who face the same issues as overweight people! What a relief!

So now that I am starting to understand the principles of conditioning, I find it easier to say NO to the Jay's Potato Chips and the Fannie Mae chocoloates that Tim brought home from Chicago!! Those are foods to which he has emotional attachments (memories from childhood). The key is finding the triggers (emotional, stress, etc.), recognizing the triggers and treating this much as you would a drug addiction. But rather than just saying NO, it helps you to develop a plan to avoid triggers, and when you can't, to replace the bad food reward with some other reward (food or otherwise).