Diet Upgrade

I took a few days off after a very busy stretch of work to concentrate on the next year in regards to my health. My original plan centered on finishing the Grant County Triathlon on Saturday, visiting my doctor on Monday for my annual checkup, and then finishing up dental work today. Since the race fell through because of COVID, my kick-off isn’t as celebratory as I originally hoped. However, I am going to move forward on the planning needed on this next step of my fitness journey. Especially given that I plan on riding my first Century next year, I need to figure out how to get my middle aged body to the next level.

Thankfully my cardio push is paying dividends in terms of optimal blood pressure and my doctor won’t prescribe any medication because of it. The only recommendation she had after reviewing my lab results was to back off on carbs to control triglycerides so that is going to be my focus. I need to balance this directive with my low inflammatory needs to aid in joint health so I won’t be doing any kind of keto or Atkins type diet. Instead I’ll be focusing primarily on vegetables with whole grains, fruits, and lean cuts of meat rounding out the balance. To accomplish this, I took a trip to my favorite grocery store in the world: Jungle Jim’s.

I decided to spend a portion of my day off at the Jungle focusing on what foods I could eat to help me accomplish my goals. Because the store is so massive and that I can spend an entire day there wandering around, I decided to visit the Health Food and Nutrition section, the Produce section, and bulk foods for some healthy grains and snacks.

As you can see in the pics below, I did find some amazing options to help me along my way. Here is a rundown of ideas I came up with and what I’ll do with them.

Health Food and Nutrition

My primary goal here was to find a source of Chondroiton and Omega 3 to supplement my diet. I talked to my doctor about both and she felt they could help, and even remarked that my improved cholesterol might be related to the latter especially since I’ve been taking fish oil pills the last several months. The incredibly helpful and eager to please staffers in this section found both for me in their huge selection. Thanks guys!

Produce

Jungle Jim’s possesses the best produce section in Greater Cincinnati. There is no better selection anywhere. I wanted to look for some new veggies that I’ve not tried yet, and found a few tried and true offerings I’ve not cooked in awhile. First I grabbed some mushrooms and choy to prepare some vegetarian pho. I also found eggplant to slice and grill. I also bought plenty of other greens, lettuce, and fresh tomatoes and peaches. I hope to juice what I can’t eat and prep cook the others for convenience.

Bulk Foods

Bulk foods at the Jungle doesn’t mean a ten gallon tub of mayo, instead it’s packed out bulk items that they break into smaller packages. I purchased a good selection of dried fruit and nuts/trail mixes for the pool. I also grabbed some various brown rice and bean blends to substitute for the rice and pasta I am trying to replace. I’ll need to figure out how to prepare these in our instant pot to speed up the cook time.

There you go, I hope to have an update on how this goes as I continue exploring a healthier plant based diet!