A Step in the Right Direction

Last week (mostly because I didn't have any exams, papers or meetings, which is a very, very rare occurrence) I made dinner three times! One night it was goulash, another night it was tuna casserole and Thursday night was the best of all - light caesar salad with chicken tortellini casserole. Yummy!

What's tough about cooking dinner (at least what I found to be true for me) is that it either takes too much time or I don't have all the necessary ingredients. I was going through recipes on the food network, and half of them, while they looked appetizing, didn't sound very feasible for a college student on limited time and budget.

But this week I found myself looking at other friends' eating habits. Isn't it amazing how different people have different perceptions on food? One of my co-workers refuses to eat Cream of Chicken soup, and I love to pair it with rice and peas, or even noodles for hot dish. I mean, I eat that stuff on a weekly basis. But my co-worker swears that it's absolutely terrible for you. He never eats anything with too much fat, sodium or sugar. But how do you know when it's too much? Another one of my friends believes in the "everything is good in moderation" theory. Another friend just eats whatever and works out extra hard if he feels he ate like crap.

It's tough to find out what the best approach is for your own self. Mine varies, which probably isn't a good thing. One week I'll try to focus on eating natural and organic foods. The next I eat whatever as long as it's in moderation. One week I'll swear off pop, and the next I'll put pop back in but I'll take out anything with high fructose corn syrup.

I need to be more consistent with my diet.... and with exercising. I read in a magazine a few months back that even going 48 hours without working out can have harmful effects on your body. It's harder to get back to working out and you body starts to lose its muscle (at least according to this magazine). Being as I haven't worked out in two weeks, I could be facing a tough workout the next time I hit the gym - which will hopefully be this week.

How do you know what's best for you? Is it a combination? Are there any hard and fast rules that people should at least be aware of in terms of eating or exercise? And if there are, why don't we know about them??