Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011! You know what that means--I kick-start my nutrition goals (bye bye alcohol, I'll miss you), and really get this training up and running. The good news is, I've been talking to Kevin about this a lot lately and he said I've given myself plenty of time to get prepared for this competition. So that means I have a little additional time to research what exactly my nutritional guidelines will be. In preparation for the major dietary changes, I've found myself cutting sodium wayyy back. Currently, I'm cooking about a week's worth of food--hello chicken & green vegetables!

Speaking of food, I went grocery shopping this morning, and it took me about twice as long to buy 15 items as it would have taken me to peruse the ENTIRE store on a normal grocery trip. There's this "theory" out there that in order to eat healthiest, you should buy most of your groceries from the perimeter of the store; so for the most part, that is what I did. However, I did find myself comparing nutritional information on mixed nuts for about 5-10 minutes (why is it so hard to find nuts with low sodium?!), and an additional 5-10 minutes comparing peanut butters (two jars for the new pup, one for me). I meant to spend about 15-20 minutes grocery shopping, but it turned into more of a half hour to 45 minute trip. I assume it will get easier. I was almost tempted to go to Whole Foods because they have so much healthy stuff, but I don't quite buy into the whole "organic = better" craze. I'll stick with my Kroger eggs and produce.

So now, 2 hours later, I have both gone grocery shopping, and cooked most of the food I bought. Quite productive for a Sunday morning--and it isn't even 11 yet! One thing that I'm not quite certain of is my coffee addiction. Is this bad for me during training? Does it matter this early on? Do I REALLY have to cut it out? I'd assume that adding anything INTO coffee daily is bad--I currently just add a little bit of half and half or Silk brand creamer--but what about the coffee itself? I know it's a natural diuretic (great, now I'm researching this), but I've also heard that it's almost the polar opposite of water. According to this site, coffee AND water are both listed as natural diuretics, and help aid in the removal of excess water. Isn't that what I need before the competition? Well maybe not the day of, or any time around then... Let's just say, during early mornings of work or classes, I'm not (very) functional without this liquid addiction.

All I have left to do before I kick-start the nutritional regimen is: a) Find one! and b) buy a TON of tupperware and a food scale. Yay for portions! Now, I can safely say that as of 12am January 1, 2011, I have cut most of my bad habits and am taking this whole thing VERY seriously. I still am debating the whole drinking thing (I feel guilty for debating it THIS early on); that is, do I want to completely cut it out, or do I want to just drink, in moderation, once a week or once every few weeks so as not to completely deprive myself. Thoughts?

For those of you that have commented to me about what I'm doing, thanks for all the encouragement even if you do secretly think I'm crazy. A special thanks to Melissa for the wonderful New Years card that I got in the mail--love ya! Next up today--cardio and training before an evening of work at Ruby Tuesday. Which reminds me, I'll most likely have an upcoming post about how HARD it is to work at a restaurant while doing all this!

Hope you all are enjoying the new year! Any exciting/interesting resolutions?