You Are What You Eat!

A picture from my Saturday ride with Janell!

I don't totally believe that statement, because food is food, right? Well, if I were what I eat, then I am a burrito bowl, mixed with a beach club and ice cream; oh yeah, and also a bubbly diet coke! I eat my share of fruit and veggies, too... Generally, I don't eat crap all of the time... Or do I?

So, I was walking out of my parents' house yesterday, and my dad handed me a few bucks and told me to get lunch 'on him' while driving home. What did I do? I stopped at the gas station half way through my drive to fill up and then I purchased lunch AT the gas station. Why? Because my cat traveled with me, and I didn't want to leave her in the car too long so I did what made the most sense... Anyway, what does one get from the gas station for lunch? You can take a guess, I'm too embarrassed to even disclose my lunch choice. It tasted bad, but like one of my friends always says, food is just food. I should also mention that this friend of mine insists that she doesn't like food; Blasphemous!!! Who doesn't like food?

Anyway, what does this have to do with anything? Saturday, I went out for a long bike ride with my sister and we found ourselves at a reservoir in Illinois that happens to have a snack stand. We stopped and got a snack. My sister got potato chips and a diet coke, after all, salt is necessary. Once again, I am too embarrassed to mention what I got from the snack stand, but it did include a REGULAR Coke. Interestingly enough, the gentleman who worked at the snack stand came out to talk with us. He was telling us about a two day touring class he took, in which he learned how to eat well while riding. I chuckled when he walked away and told my sister that he probably thought our snack choices were horrible.

So, recently a friend of mine offered to help me figure out nutrition for the remainder of my training for this bike ride. I am actually kind of interested in what she would have come up with, although it might be a hair too late for that to be beneficial. Thing is, I think I struggle on my long rides because I'm not fueling properly. My ride on Saturday was fantastic actually, however I think that had more to do with me not having a clue what our mileage was the entire ride and less to do with what I ate the day before. After all, the day before was the 4th of July and I ate my weight in chipped beef dip and desserts. Also, I also have the 'new mother goal' which is trying to get down to their pre-pregnancy weight. I recently got down to my pre-MS weight and am looking forward to that number going down even more. I will admit though, that I do like ice-cream and potato chips, and so that has stunted my progress.

So, are we really what we eat? Well, I don't know. All I know is that if we are, I kind of like being a burrito, beach club, mixed with ice cream, but my riding legs would probably enjoy me being a little more like a potato, some spinach and water.

PS. I had a great ride with my sister on Saturday, and it made me even more excited for the big ride in August. How awesome is it going to be to spend time with all of the folks below :)