You like apples?

(Imagine me slamming a paper up against a bar window)
I got her number.  How do you like those apples??

Well, I didn't *actually* get anyone's number (boys ask for MY number, thankyouverymuch), but much like Matt Damon's Will Hunting, I DID get something from Harvard.  The Nutrition Source.

Jenny mentioned the tedious nature of counting all the calories and fats and all that other stuff when it comes to tracking food.  While I whole-heartedly agree that it can be tedious, I also have to say that it's really working for me.  In our classes at work, Lynda espoused the importance of writing down our intake and output in some kind of a food log.  Whether it's online, or an Excel spreadsheet system that you created, writing down your intake is a great idea.

BUT, there are times when it just feels like too big of a chore to want to deal with.  The good news is that there are a variety of resources that help push you in the right direction, as far as putting the right things into your body.  I like Harvard's Nutrition Source.  Their Food Guide Pyramid is different.  It's not your Grandma's Pyramid.  For example, I love that the lowest level (the one that takes up the biggest space on the pyramid) is made up of "Daily Exercise and Weight Control."  It shows that this is the most important part of being healthy.  Yeah, that's not exactly rocket surgery, but it's the part that we so often forget.

I think it's no secret that we Americans think there should be an easy way to do everything - from making a million bucks just by being on a TV show to the elusive "fix everything" pill.  The thing that we tend to forget (and I'm totally guilty of it, so don't feel like I'm lecturing everyone else!) is that you have to actual work hard at things sometimes.  It maybe should be easy, but it often isn't.  I mean, if you want to get into "shoulds," I'll start.  I should have been born skinny.  Genetically, the likelihood of me being a chub really wasn't all that high.  Skinny brother and sister, skinny parents, skinny cousins...the list goes on.  But yet, here I am.  Knowing that there have GOT to be some skinny genes in here somewhere, it should be super easy for me to lose the weight.  False.  It's been a strugglefest for as long as I can remember.

The point is that sometimes you have to work at things to get them done.  Rome wasn't built in a day, right?  Losing weight is kind of like that for me.  And tools like meal planning, tracking, and knowing what my body needs are my proverbial chisel and hammer.

Oh, since we were talking about the hassles of tracking to start with, check out this little ditty from the Pyramid web page (when you click on the links on the top of the page, it brings you down the page to the individual sections.  Or, you can scroll.  But, my mouse scroll thingy is loud, so I click.).  It's all about quality, not quantity.  As in, they don't list the amounts of food that you need, just what you need.  Convenient little starting point or reminder.

Happy reading!