Salad for Breakfast

My normal diet of healthy, whole and natural foods has taken a bit of a nose dive this past week. I haven't been eating the way I would like to be eating and I have also not been exercising as much as I usually do. I mean hell you have a plate of cookies and brownies and fudge just sitting there, trying to fulfill its Christmas destiny and be eaten so what are you supposed to do?? Anyway this causes major stress for me. I skipped 2 shorter runs last week because I just didn't have the time due to work, last minute christmas shopping and social activities, however I did get to fit in my 9 miler over the weekend, which definitely helped.

I rely on exercise as some people use yoga and meditation, to get myself for lack of better term, feeling centered. Gawd that phrase sounds so sapy and lame but it does describe the feeling well. I have a bad and stressful day and going for a run or lifting weights calms my mind. So when I skip workouts I start feeling out of sorts and gru-mpy. That coupled with my diet being whack, does not make Kasey a very happy girl. It has only been a week so physically I haven't really caused much damage but I better do something soon or crabby Kasey will be making a grand appearance.

I should be able to get back to my normal workouts this week, plus this is the biggest running week we will have had since we started training, 36 miles with a 14 mile long run, yowzer! And as running goes, your diet seems to naturally fix itself when you stick to your scheduled runs. You don't want to eat anything that will upset your stomach or make you sluggish and at least for me, I also seem to crave more fruits and veggies when I am running. Fruit has never been a problem for me but I could definitely increase my veggie intake. After giving it some thought I came upon a book that suggested having salad for breakfast.

Salad for breakfast sounds strange but food is food and why should we stick to what we are told are breakast or lunch foods? I have breakfast for dinner so why not reverse it? Better yet why not just eat what I want to eat, when I want to it and not be stuck in a food box? Sounds good to me, throw the rules out the window. And let's be honest, I always throw out salad bags that have gone bad so maybe this way I will be less wasteful too!

Starting your day with a serving of veggies is a great way to get fiber and antioxidents, plus your body is dehydrated from sleeping 8 hours a night and needs water when you wake up and veggies are a great way to get hydrated (along with glasses of actual water) since they are full of water. Having salad or veggies would create longer lasting energy and little or no effect on blood sugar, to avoid the dreaded blood sugar crash and cut down on cravings. I also love eggs, which are a great source of protein so adding that to a salad would be even better.

So today I started my new adventure in breakfast and had a mixed green salad with asparagus, raw walnuts and reduced fat string cheese. Not my ideal salad but I had to grab what I had at home. It wasn't weird at all to have salad for breakfast. It was actually quite tasty. Naturally, everyone at work commented but what else is new. I probably won't have salad every morning but I am going to try to make it a staple.

I am slowly, but surely, cutting out all the processed food in my diet and I am feeling pretty darn good. But those brownies were also pretty darn good! Ahh balance:)