What goes in…

I’m not a diet guy. Duh. If you asked me the difference between a simple carb and a complex carb, I'd probably tell you the complex carb is the female version. But I got lucky. The secret behind my good eating habit is really no secret: the hot chick I'm engaged to eats well. If she was plowing through a bag of Taco Bell, I would be fighting her for the last crispitio. But since healthy eating is important to her, it's important to me. Lately though, I've been more aware of the stuff that is about to go down the hatch.

For example, the new garden and the food I hope it produces. Heidi and I got involved in a “community garden” this spring. Started out good, then I wanted to bury the “community” under the garden, and now it’s good again. I haven’t really had a garden since I was a kid. At the time it just seemed like work and you couldn’t grow anything like Snickers in a garden. Now I am pretty pumped. We're only a few weeks in, so I haven't harvested anything yet, but it the thought of growing my own food is pretty sweet.

The highlight of the gardening season so far might have been when we were making the initial plant purchase. Heidi and I were there with our friends Jim and Sam. When we were checking out of the garden center, the lady asked. “Do you know how to harden plants?” I started giggling, because that's where my mind goes. Jim looked at her though and said, “Yeah you talk tough to them like they do in the military. You better grow two more inches or this whole garden will be doing pushups! And I don’t want to hear about a frost. A greenhouse is for the enemy!” The lady just stared at him for a second. Keep in mind that we live in Boulder and this lady was just strumming her little mandolin before she rang us up.

The next thing I took note of is the water we drink. Heidi and I had a interesting email exchange that led to me being more conscious:

Heidi: We should get a water filter.

Me: We don’t need one, we live in the Rockies where pure glacier melt hits our lips.

Heidi: I just dug up the water pipe outside our house. I got your “pure glacier melt” right here. (Attached Picture)

Good god! Is that really where our water comes from? Can you get ebola from water? Needless to say we now have a Britta.

And last my latest kick has been Chia seeds. I first read about Chia seeds in Born to Run. They are described:

“In terms of nutritional content, a tablespoon of chia is like a smoothie made from salmon, spinach, and human growth hormone. As tiny as those seeds are, they’re superpacked with omega-3s, omega-6s, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, fiber and antioxidants"

Heidi and I wanted to try them and included some chia in our pre-run routine before our usual weekend loop. About 10 minutes into the run I pulled out the headphones and had to ask, “Do you feel anything?” It probably sounded like something a person taking drugs for the first time would ask. “I don’t know” she replied, “do you?”

I think I did. And I think I still do. I love them and swear by them.

These were all easy choices. I know as well as anyone how hard it is to put on your shoes when you don’t want to run, or when the couch seems like a better idea than the gym. But you always have to eat. Why not make it easy on yourself and throw down something healthy? Or, if you're weak like me, find someone who won’t let you in the house with Cheetos.