Me and food.

I started exercising when I was about 15. I walked to school regularly, swam occasionally, and started going to the gym in my first year of university. I continued working out for sporadic bursts until I was 22.

But then, when I was 22, I started running. And since then, I've barely taken a week off regular exercise. There have been a few less regular periods, but every day, being active, enjoying the outdoors, training and working out become a more essential part of my life. I don't imagine that it'll be smooth sailing from here, as I travel, raise a family, and continue to work through the challenges of life, but the habits are there now, and every time it's easier to get back into it.

So, now's the time to do the same thing with food. It's time to move beyond the immediate and think about the future of me and my family.

I'm feeling more positive about improving my health than I have before. I think this is because the current (and, I hope, continuing) "trends" in food are so optimistic, so permissive, and so holistic. We've moved past the low fat/low carb, fake food, fake sugar, nutrient-optional crap that's dominated the last however-long, and every day there seems to be more about fresh food, socially and environmentally-aware eating, affordable food and, above all, REAL food.

I was reflecting on food yesterday, and sent my husband a list of some ways our eating has changed over the past few months. Now, we were reasonably healthy before, and we both moved past the excesses of uni-life years ago, but there was still a lot left to change. Now we are eating:

Far more whole wheat options (pasta, pitas, etc)
Less bread generally
Much more organic food
(nearly) NZ produce only- except bananas!
Free range eggs
Much less processed food (muesli bars etc)
Natural yoghurt
Dried fruit
Less meat
Less tuna
More chickpeas, white beans
Less PB, more plain nuts
Fewer empty but low fat white carbs (pretzels and so on)

So this blog will be dedicated to a new, all-round healthier, me!