Eating not so processed

Ok so I not only want to be a fast runner/triathlete, I really want to be sustainably healthy. I know I'm not always going to be able to run 5min/miles although I know a guy in his 60's that can. I'm not always going to have the time to "train," as I like to call it, but I can do things to help keep me healthy without spending a lot of time training.

I heard a motto from someone who is extremely into the healthy eating organic vegetarian crazy. Which by the way I am not. However, it did make me re-think, ok scratch that, actually think about what I'm eating. The motto was, "I avoid eating anything with a barcode." I had mostly been eating small pre-made meals, like SmartOnes or other lean options. They have a lot of salt and you really can't control any part of how it is made except how hot it gets in the microwave. Now again I'm not an extremist but it got me to think about my food choices and how fresh they are. My first attempts were to eat more fruits instead of hard candy. I had some varied success, mostly eating more fruit, which was good, but not necessarily cutting out the candy.

I don't really like salads, so I resorted to cooking and grilling vegetables or steaming frozen vegetables. This worked well up until the baby was born. Then I ate everything people brought over and didn't exercise. I gained 9lbs. Now I've started eating more salads because I'd like to lose some weight and I want to keep my salt and carb intake down. Plus I want to make sure I get all my nutrients in without vitamins. This coupled with the fact that my wife and I have less money, we've had to really plan better for our meals. Last month, not so good. This month, we've done great so far. One of the benefits of planning is we could buy fresh things to eat at home and take to work. Everyday I eat a salad, and take some kind of vegetable. Today I ate a tuna fish sandwich and a chicken sandwich to help get some protein.

It still has a lot of processed stuff, like the tuna, the chicken and the bread, but remember I'm not an extremist but I have added the vegetables and salads so that I'm not eating ALL processed foods.