When developing a new habit (remember it takes about 30 days for a new behavior to become a habit) most of us fall off the wagon of that new habit at least once – and are tempted to not get back on.  Yeah, its easier to slip back into those old habits than continually think about the new one until it becomes second nature, but those old habits will keep you from reaching the goals you’ve set.  If you want to reach those goals, you have to get back on that wagon.

When I’m working with clients, or even myself, on a new habit and a slip-up happens I don’t focus on that.  I deeply believe that slip-ups are bad only when we don’t learn from them.  So, when a client has a slip-up, we look at what happened.  Did something trigger it?  Stress?  Frustration? Depression?  Lack of food in the house?  Figure out what triggered it and figure out what you’d do differently next time.  Then, if you need to, forgive yourself and move on.  If you learn from the slip-ups, you’ll be much, much stronger when you’re in the same situation next time.  You can say “Last time I blew it and I don’t want to do that again.  I decided the next time I’m in this situation I would . . .” and do what you said you would.

The second part of getting back on the wagon after a slip-up is getting back on that wagon.  Just because you feel like you blew it over lunch, for example, by eating that huge slice of cheesecake, doesn’t mean you cannot eat well the rest of the day.  The thinking of “I already messed up, I might as well keep going” only lends itself to you not reaching your goals and being in a mental funk.  That kind of thinking only leads you to feel worse about yourself and makes it harder to start over tomorrow.  How about thinking “I know that cheesecake wasn’t the best choice.  But, I’ve learned from that slip-up and know I’ll do better next time.  I really want to reach my goals so next time I eat I’ll make a better decision.”  That is so much more positive!  And, you’re back on the wagon taking you towards your goals.

By changing the way you think about food, you can reach your goals.  Remember, food does not have control over you – you have control over the food.

Last year, two of my good friends (Jen and Theresa) and I decided to do a triathlon as a relay team – for fun!  Jen and I regularly did triathlons, but Theresa did not (yet!).  We signed up, raced, and had a blast!  We decided to do it again this year and raced the same race (IronBabe Sprint Triathlon) again as a relay.  The nice thing about a triathlon relay is that you can push yourself to your limits without having to worry about not being able to complete the next part of the race.  I did the bike leg and could barely walk when I finished.  I think the rest of my team felt the same way when they finished their portions.  After last year’s race, Theresa did her first full sprint triathlon in May and had a great time.

Last year we all tried something new and different – doing a tri as a relay – and had a blast.  We did it as a group of friends to have fun.  We don’t care how we place – we’re there to have a good time.  Doing the relay mixed up all of our training and gave us something different to focus on.

What’s the point of this newsletter?  I want to challenge you to try something new this next week.  To me, bringing in friends can make it less scary and more fun.  If your training is stale, try something different – a new workout, a new class, a new running route.  Get some friends together and sign up for a walk/run or tri and train together.  The point is to try something new.

And, how about trying a new fruit or vegetable this week?  Go to the produce section and look for a new fruit or veggie.  Give it a shot and see what you think.  If you don’t like it, at least you tried.  If you like it all the better.  The point is you tried.

As Jimmy Carter said:
Failure is a reality; we all fail at times and it’s painful when we do. But it’s better to fail while striving for something wonderful, challenging, adventurous and uncertain than to say, “I don’t want to try, because I may not succeed completely.”

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about planning your food for the next day.  If you are taking food to work or school (or even with you to have after a workout), you need to be confident that it will stay at the appropriate temperature.  In food safety, they talk about the “Food Temperature Danger Zone” which is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  You don’t want your food in that “danger zone” more than two hours total (remember the prep time and time sitting on the counter counts).  If food is left in the “danger zone” longer than two hours, there is increased chance for bacteria and other organism growth which can lead to food poisoning.  When thinking about transporting your food, there are two things to consider: the containers the food goes in, and the container for the containers.

Food Containers
Lots of options are available from the standard Tupperware/Ziploc/Glad lines of bags and containers to things a bit more fancy.  I’ve heard rave reviews about lunch bento boxes.  They have multiple little boxes that fit together for easy transport.  Here is another one called laptop lunches.  I saw the Fit N Fresh containers at the American Dietetic Association conference last year and was very impressed.  They have containers for preparation (marked with serving amounts) as well as really cool storage boxes with ice cores to keep the food cold.  In example is the “breakfast chiller” that has a container for your cereal, milk, a re-usable ice ring that goes around the milk, another container for fruit or something else and a spork.  All these things fit neatly together.  The Fit N Fresh line is available at Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond and other retailers.  The important thing is to find containers that work for you and your food.

Food Container Transport
Once you’ve got your food in their containers, you need to transport those containers.  If you need a cooler or lunch box to carry food, now is the time to start looking.  Since it is back to school time, most of the big box retailers have lunch boxes stocked.  As with the food containres, there are a lot of options out there.  When thinking about transportation, consider how much food you’ll be taking on a daily basis, the sizes and shapes of the containers, and how long the food will need to be kept cool.  I typically carry a lot of food when I’m at school for a full day (yeah, I know this is a surprise).  This is the cooler I got last year at Target.  I wanted something large because I’d been having to carry two smaller ones and something that would keep everything cold if it sat in the hot car for a couple of hours.  I’ve been really happy with the Arctic Zone cooler (my only complaint is that the strap isn’t adjustable and there isn’t a handle in case you don’t want to use the strap).  I still have my smaller, lighter ones to use on days when I don’t have that much or will be straight to school.  So, you may want to look at getting a couple.  And, don’t forget the re-usable ice packs to keep the food cold.  If you don’t want to use those or have odd shaped containers, put some ice cubes in plastic bags and fit them in the cooler (you can empty and re-use the bags, too).  Sometimes I use both.

A final note. . . .
The easiest way I find to be sure my food makes it out the door with me is to pack the night before – either physically or mentally.  If you pack the food then forget to take it, put your keys with the food in the fridge.

When people decide to take on a new physical challenge – a 5K run, their first swim meet, a sprint triathlon - they typically jump into the physical training.  I know I did.  Experienced athletes also typically focus on physical training.  What is often neglected is nutrition training.  Yes, your nutrition needs training too.  Nutrition is the one thing that can end your race day before it even starts.  Example: your doing an out of town race and decide to try a new sushi restaurant the night before your race.  All goes well until the next morning when you discover you can’t leave the bathroom.  Or, you can leave the bathroom but end up with stomach cramps, vomiting, etc.  No race day for you after all that physical training you’ve done.

We also tend to focus on what we’re going to eat the day of the race: breakfast, pre-race, during, post-race.  However, I’ve worked with many athletes who have race day gastro-intestinal issues (GI issues) that don’t relate to what they ate the day of the race.  The issues can relate to food eaten one to two days prior to your race.  When planning your race nutrition, you need to practice, at a minimum, your night before eating.

If you notice you’re having GI issues during your training, look at not only what you’re eating the day of your training, but the two days before.  You may find you need to go to white, low-fiber bread because the closer to a big training day your body can’t handle the additional fiber.  Or, you may find that something about oranges sets your stomach off (yes, I’ve had a client not be able to eat oranges prior to a race/training).  Notice when you add or remove foods what happens to your training/racing.

If you are doing a race out of town, one of the last things you need is the stress of finding somewhere to eat the night before the race.  What I do is find a reputable chain restaurant for my pre-race dinner.  Know the menu, know what you’ll order, any modifications you’ll make and order it.  Or, stay somewhere you can cook so you know what you’ll be getting.

As far as race day, practice what you’ll do during the race in your training sessions.  The rule of thumb: if it works OK in training, it won’t work on race day;  if it works great during training, it should work OK on race day.  Know what you’ll eat and how your body responds.  If you’re traveling, pack your race food with you.  If you can’t pack it, know what stores carry it and have a backup plan.  I had a racer tell me that is wife raced with the frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (they work well in special needs bags of long course triathlons – they thaw by the time you reach your bag).  They couldn’t pack them for the trip, but planned to pick them up when they arrived at the race site.  They ended up spending much of the afternoon searching for them in all the stores and finally found them.  Talk about added pre-race stress.

Having your pre-race and race nutrition nailed down will give you one less thing to worry about on race day so you can focus on having a great physical race.

1. Plan daily eating.  It doesn’t have to be a full-blown week-long meal plan.  At night, think about tomorrow and plan what and when you’ll eat.  Writing it down can be a huge help so you don’t forget.  If you pack food, this can help you be ready with a plan in the morning of what needs to be packed.  Or you can start packing the night before depending on your schedule.  When I plan my eating for one or a couple of days, my eating-related stress goes to 0 (as long as I get everything packed).
2. Keep nutrition information handy.  Most chain restaurants have nutrition information available on their websites.  I’ve printed the nutrition information for the chain and fast-food restaurants I tend to go to when pressed for time and keep them in a folder in my car.  That way, while I’m waiting in line at the drive thru I can look at the nutrition information and make an informed decision. “Do I really want to put that in my body?”  “Is that helping me reach my goal?”
3. Plan trips to new restaurants.  Most restaurants have websites with a version of the menu posted.  Using this information, you can see what they offer, how they cook it, etc.  This allows me to plan what I’ll have (and what modifications to ask for) before I’m there.  If I’m working towards a goal with my weight management I’m more likely to eat to plan if I’ve thought about what I’ll order before I’m there.  Even if I’m not working on a goal, I like to have an idea what the restaurant offers ahead of time.
4. Outsource.  If you don’t have time the time and/or skills to cook and find you are eating out all the time, look at outsourcing your meal options.  This may seem expensive at first, but think about how much you spend eating out then compare it to per-meal cost of the service.  In Houston there are several great food preparation services.  Honestly, I haven’t tried these personally, but have had friends recommend them.  Check out My Fit Foods and Diet Gourmet.  If you are in Sugar Land you can also try Chef For You.  To find some in your area try searching the following words: healthy meal delivery and your city.
5. Cook in bulk.  Pick a day to cook meals for the next few days or cook a few things, break them into individual portions and put them in the freezer.  You can even gather a friend or two and do it together so you both have food.  If you don’t want to plan it yourself, there are business that do the planning for you.  All you have to do is the assembly of the ingredients (most will even take care of that if you want for a small fee).  You can get a group of friends to assemble meals together and have a party (some places will let you bring wine to drink if you’re having a party and some offer munchies to a group).  Check out Village Table, Super Suppers, Dream Dinners, and Dinner by Design.  Or, check out this site.  Just put in your zip code and pick the distance you are willing to travel and it pulls up a list of food preparation businesses in your area.  Most of these services also offer nutrition information on their websites to help you select your foods.  Just a quick note: keep an eye on the ingredients to ensure you aren’t getting too many calories/fat.  Preparing your own allows you to alter the recipes a bit if you want to (for example, use less salt or butter).

I hope these ideas help take your eating-related stress down a few notches.