How To: Move On from Ramen

One of the best parts of this time of year is the food that comes with November and December. Pumpkin Spiced lattes, hot chocolate, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas cookies. Yum. My family has coined the phrase "Turkey Pants" for a pair of pants that are a size too large and have a bit of "give" to them. These are the pants you don on Thanksgiving day and generally throughout the Christmas season to allow for all of that extra deliciousness.

A spare tire or a muffin top is not on your Christmas wish list this year? Me either.

DISCLAIMER: I am by no means an expert on any topic I choose to write about from here on out, but maybe the things that I've gone through or are going through currently relate to you and can help you in some way. At the very least, you can laugh at/with me, remembering that one time that maybe you too felt like a complete moron, as I go through the many Mishaps of an Almost Adult.

I'm saying this right now - I LOVE FOOD. I love cooking it, I love the smell of it, and I love to eat it. Its a necessity for me.  (Duh.) There are few things I love more than going to dinner with friends or family and talking over a nice glass of whatever and a good meal. Heck, I'm even okay with a paper cup filled with Diet Coke and a Chipotle burrito bowl. Whether or not food loves me back is a completely different story.

Before our Almost Adult days, our first experience with making nutritional choices all by our lonesome was with a pre-paid cafeteria meal plan and all-you-can-eat buffet. Talk about setting us up for failure. 

After graduation, sure, the free buffet is taken away, but then presents the temptation of fast food. Almost Adult life is hectic - I don't have the time or energy to cook a meal every night. Plus, it’s FAST, and more importantly, CHEAP. That's the point, isn't it?

For those of us who have less-than-ideal salaries and jobs that require you to sit in a cube for eight hours a day, the now-sedentary lifestyle change doesn’t help our physique much either. On top of that, going out to lunch every day with your coworkers allows for an escape from the daily grind for an hour.

Now that we're older, wiser, and almost adults, are we just supposed to know how to eat healthier? As Jerry Seinfeld so eloquently put it, "Food is so complicated as an adult. You see people in the supermarket just sweating it out. Nobody knows, "What do I eat? The proteins? The carbs? The fat content? We're just walking up to each other: 'You look good. What do you eat? Maybe I'll eat that.'"

Lots of magazines are chock full of ideas about fat-busting moves and calorie-dropping recipes, but it never really makes you look like the airbrushed chick in those ridiculous poses. Society loads our plates with fad diets, Cook Ourselves Thin cookbooks, and “skinny” drinks and shakes, but at the end of the day how do you decide to eat this, not that?

1. The first and easiest thing you can do to be a little healthier is drink more water. It’s dumb, but it works. Doctors recommend at least 8 glasses of water a day, which is 64 ounces. Depending on where you get your health advice from, some may say as much as half of your body weight (so if you weigh 160, that’s 80 ounces.) Cut up some lemons or limes to break up that much water a day if you need to.
2. Check your food labels. Yes, you can look at the carbs you’re eating or the fat content, but make sure you always check the sodium levels, too. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, you should be having about 2,400 mg of sodium a day. Although sodium isn’t a deal breaker and comes in a lot of processed foods (especially fast food), it does cause bloating and water retention – ew.
3. Pack your lunch ahead of time. Not only will you save money from not eating out as often, but you’re more likely to be determined to eat better portion sizes when you plan ahead than you are when you get to wherever you’re going to eat and you’re already starving.
4. Eat breakfast. You’re less likely to eat more throughout the day if you don’t start your day hungry.
5. Don’t deprive yourself of any particular food category – just concentrate on eating more fruits, veggies and proteins than you do carbs, dairy or sweets. No one wants to end up sitting on the counter with a crazed look in your eye as you end up downing the entire sleeve of Oreo's instead of just two or three.
6. Cut back your alcohol intake during the week. If you come home from work, eat some dinner, drink a glass of wine or beer, and then sit on the couch for the rest of the night, you’re doing double damage to your body. Not only are you drinking calories, but you’re slowing your metabolism at the same time.
7. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Don’t replace your crappy dieting routine with a new super-strict one. Instead, concentrate on thinking about what you’re eating and enjoying the food you choose. After all, you’re an almost adult. Time to start eating like one.