Who needs Dr. Pepper?

PLUS

EQUALS

The labels

The following is a list of prepackaged foods which I consume that contain more than one ingredient:

Private Selection Organic 1% Milk

organic milk, organic skim milk, vitamin a palmitate and vitamin d3

Stonyfield Organic Low Fat French Vanilla Yogurt

cultured pasteurized organic low fat milk, naturally milled organic sugar, organic natural vanilla flavor*, pectin, vitamin d3

Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Organic Black Beans - canned

water, organic black beans, sea salt

Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain English Muffins

organic sprouted wheat, filtered water, organic sprouted barley, organic sprouted millet, organic malted barley, organic sprouted lentils, organic sprouted soybeans, organic sprouted spelt, fresh yeast, sea salt

Food for Life Sprouted Corn Tortillas

organic sprouted corn, filtered water, sea salt, lime

Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax Cereal

organic sprouted whole grain wheat, filtered water, organic malted barley, organic golden flax seeds, organic sprouted whole grain barley, organic sprouted whole grain millet, organic sprouted whole lentils, organic sprouted whole soybeans, organic sprouted whole grain spelt, sea salt

Nature's Path Organic Smart Bran Cereal

organic wheat bran, organic oat fiber, organic evaporated cane juice, organic psyllium seed husk,

organic barley malt extract, organic oat bran, organic whole oat flour, sea salt

Miguel's Organic Everything Tortilla Dippers

stone ground organic white corn, organic canola oil and/or organic soybean oil and/or organic sunflower oil and/or organic safflower oil, organic flax seeds, organic sesame seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic garlic powder, organic onion powder, salt, organic dehydrated parsley, organic poppy seeds

Grab 'Em Snacks Jalapeño Heat Gourmet Plantain Chips

plantains, high oleic safflower oil, sea salt, jalapeño

*This is a tricky one. Apparently, when something says 'natural-' or 'artificial flavor,' even if it cites that it is organic, its flavor is coming from chemistry, not nature, and this is usually not a good thing. I just don't like plain yogurt, so this is a concession I'm willing to make. At least I can read what it says, y'all.

And that's everything. All of my other foods (such as my box of raisins which only has one ingredient: raisins) are whole.

Eating like this ROCKS - for real.

Failure

So, I failed at both of my challenges to myself.

This weekend was a very difficult and busy one. On Friday, Levi and I found out that the house we have been hoping to buy was not going to be available to us by no fault of our own. Needless to say, I was more than a little upset. After a good cry, I ate and drank some things that I shouldn't have. This trend continued through the weekend - on Saturday I and a few friends celebrated Jenny's twenty-third with her which included alcoholic beverages and ice cream consumed by all. Sunday was my "godson's" (I give him this name because I don't know what else to call him) second birthday celebration and I was in charge of baking the cake. I didn't make it through this experience squeaky clean, either...

...but here's the thing...

...I'm totally alright with screwing up this time. I have seen such enormous mental and physical health benefits from implementing these challenges that I'm excited about getting back on track tomorrow and about continuing this eating plan indefinitely. There are more changes to be made to my starch challenge, though, if it can still be called a challenge.

I will allow myself baked good - whole or sprouted wheat are alright. Honestly, if I can read every ingredient and know exactly what they are without using a desktop reference, then I pretty much think it's fair game. In order to guarantee that I am staying true to myself, I will actually begin doing what a promised before - typing out the ingredient lists to my prepackaged food. I'll still not consume extra sugar and desserts like pudding and cake and brownies and chocolate and all of this in excess. Instead, I will evaluate whether I really need a sugar fix and whether it can be satiated reasonably wholesomely.

The biggest change, though, is that this is going to be permanent. And I'm totally stoked :D

Wow

Day one was nearly impossible, but I made it through. Headaches, hunger, and complete lack of energy abounded.

It's day two now, I just had a great breakfast, and I'm ready to start over.

Breaking News: I've got a buddy on this project, too; meet Jenny, the cutest little cowgirl west of the Mississippi. She'll be my reference on the actual science of this whole thing. Food is her passion, and she totally knows the ins and outs of it. She volunteered to hop on board with me on this venture.

I also have to tell you about a couple of things I'm changing about my original agreement with myself:

1) I'm permitted to have root veggies, just not white ones. I had some raw carrots last night, and boy howdy were they delicious.

2) I said no prepackaged food, but upon reading Jenny's blog, I realized that yogurt is prepackaged. Terrible mistake. I must have yogurt and Ezekiel 4:9 flaxseed cereal. To prove to you that these yummies pass the health standards of this whole thing, I'll post the ingredients of the prepackaged food I'm eating at a later date.

Okay, day two, here I come - with a fresh mindset. Yess.

Addendum

Sorry for the typographical errors from time to time, y'all. I must have water on the brain.

HAAAHA!

I'm taking the plunge.

Today is the fifteenth day of my water fast, and I must say that it is getting easier every day; so easy, in fact, that I'm going to add to my challenge.

I have spoken to several people about what my next step would be in this quest to better myself - maybe giving up sweets, maybe starches, maybe something else. I was going to wait for Daniel to be my accountability, but I think I'm going to have to do this one on my own to prove to myself that I can indeed do it by myself.

I have the tendency to turn to sweet foods when I'm emotionally charged. Unfortunately, I grew up in a house where we both dealt with problems and celebrated by eating. and eating. and eating. My husband and I are slowly changing this trend by eating a little from each 'food group' at each meal in moderation and using lots of whole ingredients in smart ways.

I work in a place where there is constantly 'fake' food everywhere - processed, packaged, and boxed - kid food. Needless to say, this isn't so good for the ol' gut. So, drumroll please, I'm totally giving up crappy foods for thirty-one days as of midnight tonight. Whew, that took some courage to type.

What does this mean? Well, here are a couple of lists:

NO

Prepackaged foods

Baked goods, including all breads

White rice

Potatoes and root vegetables

Fried foods

Flour

Pasta

Sugar

Desserts

Foods labeled "low-carb;" this seems like a cop-out

Chips

etc.

YES

Beans

Nuts

Non-root veggies, especially crisp and green ones

Barley

Quinoa

Amaranth

High-fiber cereals

Brown Rice

Oatmeal

Fruits

Legumes

Meat

etc.

I think the root of all of this is to eat as humans were designed to eat. When we were first hanging out on our planet, there were no Oreos, Doritos, or cakes. I really believe that we were meant to eat lots of stuff straight from the earth, just as it comes with little manipulation. I'm not quite ready to do a raw diet (in fact, I don't think I ever will be), but I can get close. Of course, this goes on top of my water fast.

Sigh.

SEXY

For real, this is the best water that's ever graced my tongue with its presence. Worth every penny. Plus, I feel cool when I drink it. VOSS. Check it out.

Levi and I, since our friendship started, have loved to try new things; expensive chocolate and water seem to be the most regularly occuring obscurities (oxymoron?) in our grocery palate. Years ago, we had Voss for the first time and it totally changed the way we think about water. It is so smooth and slipperier than other waters. It comes in a glass bottle, so it brings its flavor straight from its source. Totally worth the four bucks a bottle, plus you can turn this beautiful container into another container or art or something like that. This. Is. Sexy.

OHMYGSHH

I sliced fresh jalapenos and touched my face afterward. Terrible.

Ice saved the day.

Eight days in

and I've lost two and a half pounds just by switching to water. This is starting to seem miraculous to me. Benefits I have noticed thus far:

1) Increased energy - I'm no scientist, but maybe this is because I'm ingesting less sugar and not 'crashing' anymore, plus the energy is real and not the manufactured rush given by coffee.
2) Increased productivity - a direct result of the benefit listed above
3) Better sleep - Coupled with the sleep self-hypnosis I've been doing (Hold your tongues! This may sound absolutely insane, but it works.), I've been getting solid rest and have been waking up refreshed thanks to water.
4) Less sugar cravings
5) Elevated mood - this one is the weirdest to me. Don't think water will affect your mood? Wrong-o, buddy. It has a surprising effect (or lack thereof) on how I think and feel. I am more patient and calm than i have been in years. Bizarre.
6) Better and clearer decision-making
7) More focused self-awareness

...and many more. I could go on and on. You might have noticed that most of these changes or benefits are psychological, which is something i didn't expect from the offset. This is turning out to change my life much more that i thought it would.

Thanks for listening, take care of yourself and each other.

Anniversary

I know that everyone is just as excited as I am that today marks two momentous occasions for me: three months of marriage to my wonderful husband and a week on my water fast!

sha-ZAM.

Cheat?

Alright y'all, I might have known someone who went out last night for her cousin's birthday. She may have explained to her cousin's boyfriend that she was drinking only water for a month. He could have bought her a Jell-O shot and explained to her that she would be eating the alcohol. Loophole? I think so! Er - rather, she might have thought so.

And she took blatant advantage of this opportunity to bend the rules. The end.

You know what? There's always a ton of jibberjabber about how good water is for you, all of the restorative properties it contains, how well it can sustain life - but I'm not sure how much I ever really believed it. I'm a born skeptic and in most areas a need-to-see-it-to-believe-it gal.

I beleive in water now.

I've lost a whopping ONE pound since the beginning of this experiment four days ago, which is remarkable considering that I have changed nothing else about how I am living my life. I've also found that I'm thirstier all the time (if you can believe that), but I crave water, with the exception of early morning and late night when all I want is a steaming mug of coffee.

While you wait (with baited breath, I'm sure) for my next and hopefully more interesting post, here are a few factoids to devour:

-Roughly 70 percent of a healthy adult's body is composed of water.
-A healthy person is capable of drinking three gallons of water a day - equivalent to 48 cups.
-Drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication, which is caused by abrain imbalance.
-You're supposed to drink eight cups of water a day, but this doesn't have to come just from liquid; water in food counts, too.
-Soda, coffee, and tea contain mostly water, but caffeine is a diuretic which prevents that water from moving properly through the body.

Sad

Three days in and I'm already forgetting my objectives.

I rolled up into Golden Chick - the hiphoppinist chicken joint in central Plano - and immediately knew what I wanted:

1) chicken

2) a roll

3) sweet tea

Levi wanted something similar, so I summoned the drive-through person and said the following:

"Two number ones, sweet tea on both."

To which my darling darling replied (with a pat on my knee):

"Water for you."

Withdrawal

I really and truly believe that I am suffering caffeine withdrawal. I have the headache from - well, from somewhere worse than hell. Awful.

In other news, did you hear about the dudes that got stuck in the middle of the gulf, 180 miles offshore, just sitting on their capsized boat for EIGHT DAYS? What in the animal kingdom do you do with all of your time? And what do you drink? I know that salt water dehydrates you, so i'm not really sure how they lived so long sans water. One of the guys got third degree sunburns. I've never even heard of that.

On the other hand, there are people that have gotten chemical poisoning from ingesting too much sea water. I think most of them are surfers and stuff, but apparently it takes like a year to recover. Yipes.

Two days and going strong (I guess). Nothing goes with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich like - - - water :( Yesterday I got a text message from Daniel at, say, 11 in the morning, telling me that he just accidentally drank nine beers. I was foolish enough to actually believe him. What a trickster magee.