The sun is back after a rain-filled week…Hallelujah!
Eric and I took advantage of the nice weather to get outside for our first hike of the year.
We weren’t the only Canadians with Spring Fever! We could barely find a parking spot…
Ladies and Gents…meet Dwight K. Schrute! Or just Dwight for short. ;)
I picked myself up a Garmin Forerunner 305 at Costco this weekend!!
I have been wanting one for over a year now and my Polar RS200 has been broken for several months so I finally forked over the cash for a Garmin. Costco seems to have the best deal in Canada (aside from one sketchy website which I deemed was perhaps not the most reliable).
Eric couldn’t stop laughing at how HUGE the watch looks on my wrist. I had to explain to him that it’s a runner’s thing and I am PROUD to wear this beast!
If you are an Office fan you will understand where the Dwight name comes from. On the show, Dwight is known for wearing a huge calculator watch, which the Garmin kind of reminds me of. ;)
I can’t get over how many cool features this watch has. You can train or race against a ‘virtual partner’. This will be so motivational for me on solo runs. You can also upload all of your workouts and track/compare with the software. I still have half of a manual to read, but so far it has been quite easy to figure out! I can’t wait to use this on my 15km race this Sunday!
We tested out Dwight on the hike today. I set up the automatic pause feature, so the timer pauses every time I stop for a rest. At the end of the workout (or during) you can look at how much ‘rest time’ you had. It prevents the need to keep pausing and starting the watch each time you stop.
It was about 18C today and just perfect for a hike!
So peaceful.
Winter BE GONE!
We brought some of these on our walk for a snack:
Eric and I love going on hikes together because it gives us uninterrupted time to just talk about anything and everything…
We had one VERY interesting talk that I will be telling you about soon. :mrgreen: Oh, it’s a DOOZEY!!!!
We walked for an hour and covered 2.9 miles of hills, rocks, waterfalls, and rays…
We worked up appetites for lunch…
A protein packed spinach, lentil, hummus, and tomato Ezekiel wrap:
My breakfast this morning did an OK job of holding me over. Not as good as my first batch of vegan overnight oats for some reason (I may have just been extra hungry this morning though!).
An apple which was way too soft and not very good…(I like crunchy apples!)
and a handful of dried organic apricots and a dark chocolate:
I spent the afternoon organizing my bakery stock and taking inventory. It feels so good to get a jump start on the work week. This week is going to be VERY busy and EXCITING as I am training my first employee, meeting with the organic farmer’s market director, finalizing the new GF Glo Bar, and of course doing my regular orders!
In my last post, I told you that Eric is trying to kick something COLD TURKEY from his diet!
If you guessed COKE you were right!
And no, not the illegal kind of coke…this kind… ;)
Eric has been addicted to Coke since he was a young boy. In university, he often drank up to 6 cans a DAY as a way to be able to stay awake. He cut back a bit after university, but he still drank about 2 cans during the work day. I used to encourage him to drink healthier things, but he never showed ANY interest in stopping so I dropped it years ago.
Well, what does he do totally out of the blue last week??
He tells me that he decided to cut Coke (and all pop) COLD TURKEY out of his diet!!!!
He has not had a Coke since the beginning of our vacation in Florida, and not one sip at work. Apparently, his coworker bought him a Coke last week and set it in front of him and Eric didn’t even drink it after much teasing from his coworker. I was so proud when he told me this story I almost shed a tear! lol. I gave him a big, beaming bear hug because I am just so proud of him!
I asked him why he decided to do this all of a sudden and he said, ‘It is the one consistent thing in my diet that is bad for me and I realized that I could replace it with something healthier.’
When the craving strikes, he is trying to beat it by making tea or having 100% pure orange juice.
So far it has been working…BUT, he admitted to me this weekend that he is craving one REALLY BADLY and he is worried that he might crack and have one and then be hooked again.
I immediately thought of you guys and I knew that you could help Eric! I said, ‘MY AMAZING BLOG READERS CAN HELP YOU!!!!’ :mrgreen:
He needs the encouragement now more than ever and I was hoping that you guys could leave Eric a comment below and encourage him to stick with cutting Coke out of his life. Then he can read the comments when he is craving some. Actually, this could help ANYONE out there who is trying to cut something out of their diet. Eric REALLY wants to stick with it, but he is afraid that he is not strong enough!! Any encouragement you can offer is greatly appreciated. :) maybe those of you who are also trying to kick pop out of your life can offer each other support!
Today’s question- Do you have a story to share about pop/soda? Do you like it and have you ever tried to cut back? What about diet pop?
My story with pop is a simple one- I always disliked pop since I was a very young child. I have never been a fan of carbonated drinks for some reason! The only pop I ever drank was the orange or pink stuff…and I drank it very rarely because I always preferred juice as opposed to carbonated drinks. I know a lot of women who are addicted to diet pop…they drink about 6-8 cans a day and can’t kick the habit.
I drink at least one two-liter bottle of diet soda every day and I’ve been thinking very hard about quitting. It helps my own determination to quit to read about Eric’s success (which IS 100% a success-just because he feels weak now doesn’t diminish his accomplishment!). Congratulations and keep up the good work!
I rarely drink soda / pop, but when I do it’s usually Coca-Cola and the regular one. I hate the taste of light soda. Once in a while it’s fine have one and because I grew up not drinking coke or other sodas but rather juice / water / sparkling water it’s never been an issue for me. I also ALWAYS buy small cans so there is no danger to get hooked too badly when I actually never have it around :)
Good luck to Eric, I’m sure he’ll make it!! :)
HA! Your title made me LOL. =D
I am so jealous of your Garmin! I want one!! What a beautiful walk, we spent a lot of time outside this weekend too- it was gorgeous!
I have never been “addicted” to pop, but there was a time when I would drink diet at LEAST once a day to stop myself from mindlessly nibbling. I cut down some but I was still having 1 every couple of days, and decided to stop cold turkey- aside from the occasional Zevia (made with Stevia)- a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good! There are SO many chemicals in the fake stuff, and SO much sugar in the real stuff- and too much of anything is NOT a good thing!
Good luck, Eric!!
xo
K
Ever since I began my healthy lifestyle 2 years ago, I switched to diet coke and I would drink it probably twice a week. And then about a month ago I cut it out completely! I really don’t want all those chemicals in my body.
Where did you go hiking? It looks like a beautiful trail! Have you ever hiked at Webster’s Falls? It’s one of my favourites. :)
You can do it! You have the will power!
My Mom gave up soda for Lent this year and took up drinking water. She used to drink 2-4 cans of diet Dr.Pepper cherry vanilla w/e it was everyday and almost no water. After Lent she now drinks about 2-3 24oz bottles of water and has NO DESIRE for soda whatsoever!! She feels better and her hair looks much better~ Just stick with it and you’ll feel wonderful!
Luckily I never got hooked on soda so I haven’t had to quit it!
Enjoy the Garmin. I love mine!
I named my car Dwight too! It’s quite the appropriate name. :P
Wow, what a beautiful hike!
Giving up a favorite food or drink is definitely tough, but I always try to think of it as being MY choice, and not that it is completely off limits. I’ll say to myself things like “Sure, you can have that if you want, but do you really want to?”
I just find that if I view a particular food/drink as being completely off limits I crave it even more!
Good Luck!!!
Eric! Don’t drink the coke! The virtually all non-organic corn (including HFCS) is GMO. It will literally kill you! (I am not sure about Canada, but this is 100 % the case for the US. The European Gov. will not even allow their citizens to consume such dangerous GMOs!)
If he really gets a craving for something bubbly, I know Whole Foods carries an all natural soda called Zevia. It’s sweetened with stevia and has no artificial ingredients. It comes in all sorts of flavors like Lemon-lime, black cherry, orange, root beer, and cola. I’ve had a couple of them, and I think they’re pretty good.
I just gave up diet coke. I have loved soda since I was little but had cut it back to one or less a week but like Eric I realized that it was the one unhealthy thing I needed to kick. I’ve been sipping on mocktails of soda water and juice and Kombuchas when I’m craving the bubbles. Good Luck Eric!
LOVE the Garmin name! I have one too. Unfortunately it died on me yesterday during my 5 mile run. Boo!
Me and you have the same soda history! I never like carbonated drinks as a child, and the only one I ever drank was orange soda. I would hold it in my mouth until it went flat and then swallow it.
You can do it Eric! Just keep thinking about that fact that you can put a metal nail into a cup of soda and eventually it will disintegrate. You don’t want that in your body!
Like others have said, I realized that it was the fizz I craved as much as anything…so I gave up soda cold turkey, and started drinking club soda and tonic water. After about a year, I had a diet coke as a treat and realized — it really WAS a treat. Now, I have a soda every couple of weeks/months and I enjoy every sip, but never feel like I *need* it.
I’ve been running with a borrowed Garmin Forerunner 305 for about the last week. Wow! That thing is amazing! But I think when I purchase one I’ll go for the simpler 110. (The 305 confuses me!) What made you choose the 305?
As for your hubbs going off the coke, make sure he has plenty of advil around for the withdrawl headaches! They really suck! I used to drink diet cherry coke (beginning with breakfast!) every day. I decided to quit coke out of the blue last summer, and, except for an occasional beer or wine, stopped drinking alcohol this fall. When I feel like drinking something special I go for sparkling water with ice and lime.
As a good little Southern girl, Coca-Cola has been a part of my diet for years. I never drank more than a can or two each day and sometimes not everyday, but I decided to cut it out because it’s just empty calories. I do crave it when I eat certain foods and will even give in every now and then, but drinking it makes my stomach feel so heavy. I’d rather enjoy the calories of a rich piece of chocolate anyways than in a can full of HFCS!
I didn’t realize there was an auto pause on the Garmin. Gotta look into that! I love mine:D
YOU CAN DO IT, ERIC! My boss, who had like, 7 Mtn Dews a day quit, so I know you can!
Eric, you are a better person than I! I am currently trying to quite Diet Coke and while I’ve cut back, I still have 2 to 3 a week. It’s still an improvement though! I just realized that if Eric can do this, so can I. I’m officially trying to quite cold turkey from this point forward. I hate the thought of all of those chemicals in my body. Icky.
My boyfriend gave up all soda a few years ago and replaced it with homemade iced tea and water. He still wants it every once in a while, so what he’ll do is only get soda if we go out for dinner. We only go out for dinner 1-2x a month, so that’s the only time he’ll drink soda, and that’s only if he really wants it. That way, he can still satisfy a craving, but it’s not in the house tempting him. And, since I have never liked soda, I’m not bringing it into the house, either.
My boyfriend gave up all soda a few years ago and replaced it with homemade iced tea and water. He still wants it every once in a while, so what he’ll do is only get soda if we go out for dinner. We only go out for dinner 1-2x a month, so that’s the only time he’ll drink soda, and that’s only if he really wants it. That way, he can still satisfy a craving, but it’s not in the house tempting him. And, since I have never liked soda, I’m not bringing it into the house, either. You can do it, Eric!
I can really appreciate how important this is for Eric. He definitely has a lot of support behind him. I drank a lot of Diet Coke until about 4 years ago. It was right around this time 4 years ago when I found out that I was pregnant with my son. I immediately stopped drinking Diet Coke and I aside from a very occasional Diet Coke when I go out to a restaurant I almost never drink them.
I stumbled upon the healthy living blog world about a year ago. Since then my diet has changed immensely. I have even started running and dabbling in yoga. I am happy to say that I am addicted to green monsters (or blue ones of late thanks to a huge bag of frozen blueberries from Costco). I am learning so much about nutrition, baking, cooking, exercise and just how to really get the most from the food I eat.
I have had the privilege of trying a few flavors of Glo Bars and I can’t wait until the day that they are sold in stores here in my area, because I am certain that you will enjoy widespread success. They are amazing!
Anyway, good luck Eric. And thanks for sharing your story Angela. You are quite an inspiration.