What to eat.

I've spent the major bulk of my evening doing research on what to eat: What to eat the week of a race, what to eat the day before, what to eat the morning of, during, and after the race. It's so complicated!  What has stuck in my mind the most is this statement:

It takes 36 hours for food to be processed and useable in a race.

It's not so much what you eat the day before - you could screw up your energy unintentionally even 36 hours before the race!

Our 10k is in 4 days. I am super excited, but also super nervous.  Our run yesterday was difficult for me, and I couldn't get the negativity out of my head long enough to shake the discouragement.  But I woke up today feeling inspired, my head clear, and ready to prepare for this race.  This week: lots of water, carbs, protein and vegetables.  Limiting my dairy, spicy, and heavy foods.

One of the most useful websites I have found this evening is the No Meat Athlete, and they have an adorable logo: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

 

If I were a carrot, I would run that happy too.

However, I came across a page on this website listing all the daily items you consume without realizing they are vegetarian or vegan.  I will preface this by saying that I have read all of this before. I check my labels. And often. I know what foods to avoid and questions to ask in restaurants.  But I can't help but get mad that those ingredients are there in the first place. 

Fine, if it is true that we are genetically built to be carnivores (which, I beg to differ), then our canine teeth are what we use to eat meat with. But what part of our bodies are meant to consume stomach lining, bugs, bones, and intestines? Are those necessary? Do we really have to worry about them being in everything we consume on a daily basis? Sure the FDA regulates that they list all of the ingredients, but can the common person really interpret and define all of the technical jargon on each label? How on earth would you really know something was an animal or not?

One thing I used to be pretty good about, but have somehow let slip by, is rennet.

 

There is rennet that comes from animals, and then vegetable rennet that is plant based, and microbial rennet that is based off of microorganisms through a process of fermentation.  Cheese is the number one place you will find rennet.  Let's be honest: For some restaurant, the "vegetarian" option may only be a side salad and a quesadilla.  Most are better now, but most places are more likely to have a vegetarian option, not a vegan one.  And while historically, my stomach has vetoed cheese on a quarterly basis, anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for it and it is my one craving I cannot shake.  So it makes me very sad to re-read this information and realize that it is horrible that I can cut out anything with gelatin in it (i.e. most yogurts and sour creams, marshmellow, gel pills, etc), yet I cannot get rid of animal rennet? I find that unacceptable and am vowing at this very moment to make a conscious effort to change this portion of my diet. 

Trader Joe's, where I do most of my shopping, has a handy guide breaking down the uses of rennet in their dairy section: http://www.traderjoes.com/guides/rennet-test.asp

 

So there we have it.  Each year as a vegetarian or pescetarian I make a switch to my diet and transition it a little bit more. I guess it's time for the next round!