The Science Experiment

I'm almost at three weeks of eating more consciously: looking at labels; eating more whole foods; increasing my fruit and veggie intake; eating organic whenever I can; and at almost two weeks of cutting out sugar. I've been feeling really great in this time; I haven't missed anything, haven't had major cravings for anything specific, and have felt like my energy level is really stable during the day. I've even lost a pound or two. All in all, this has been a great experience.

So, what do I do yesterday and today? Mess with the formula. It's an experiment of sorts, you see. Going to restaurants, parties, and other gatherings is inevitable and I'm going to have to figure out how to eat, right? This weekend so far has presented a couple of these opportunities, so it seemed like a good test. A good test of both my willpower and also of how my body will react when I reintroduce some of the old things.

The result so far:
Willpower = 4/10
Body = 7/10

Yesterday after work, I had drinks with a couple of friends. I chose vodka tonics because I knew no sugar would be added and there's no artificial colors and flavors in there. So, good willpower. 8/10. It is still alcohol, after all. While everyone else shared appetizers, I chose a quesadilla. Mostly whole foods, though the tortillas were very likely white flour. I felt good throughout and was pleased with what I could find. Willpower = 9. I didn't cave and eat the garlic fries.

Here's the interesting part: A couple hours later, I was still a little hungry, so I went to PCC for some sushi. (I ended up getting white rice. Not great, but the rainbow roll looked so good! Willpower = 7) Since I had friends coming other, I got a four-pack of cupcakes (Willpower =3). They're sweetened with florida crystals and have all organic ingredients, so not a horrible choice. They're still cupcakes, though. The interesting part was that a) I opted to only have half, which has never happened in all of my nearly 32 years, and b) it wasn't that good. I mean, it tasted fine and definitely better than most of the store-bought cakes out there, but it's like my taste buds have turned off. I enjoyed the first bite or so, but it really didn't do anything for me. I never thought the day would come when I said that about cupcakes!

Overall, I felt like yesterday went fine. I dipped my toes back into the Standard American Diet and survived, though I did have a headache when I went to sleep.

Today, I went off the deep end into the crappy eating pool. My birthday is Monday and Jeremy wanted to take me somewhere special for lunch. He let me know ahead of time that it was NOT going to be compatible with my diet, so I knew going in. You only turn 32 once, right? Once we arrived, I realized just how not compatible it was going to be: Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It's a new restaurant to the NW, but I've had it when eating with family in the South. You can tell from the name what it was, right? Now, they get credit for having 100% beef, made into patties fresh each day. They also hand-cut their fries each day and fry them in peanut oil, so again, not as bad as it could be. (I recognize that that's like saying Vlad the Impaler was really nice to his mom sometimes, but I've got to make myself feel better about it, okay?) I consumed about what you'd expect and had my first Diet Coke in weeks. Willpower = 0.

Just like the cupcakes, I enjoyed the first few bites but then it wasn't so good. If they could make a three-bite burger and a super-mini fry, I would have been fine. Of course, if companies did that, we wouldn't be in the epidemic we're in today.

But, oh, it gets worse. We had a kids' birthday party this afternoon. Talk about artificial colors and flavors and sugar and... ick. I don't know if there's a technical term for it, but I suffer from Party Guilt. If the hostess has lain out nice spread of food and no one's eating, I feel compelled to eat something. If she went to all the trouble to buy a cake, I'll have a piece. (If she made it, two.) I just don't like people feeling bad at their own party, so I eat, much to my own detriment. Willpower = 0.

Now I can't say the same thing about the cake as I did about the cupcakes and the burger. Store-bought, colored frosting is just gross. I even just got a little bit of the red on my fork and it ruined the whole bite. Of course, Lauren ate the whole thing. And of course, she's now bouncing off the walls of the living room.

I still have dinner and a drink with a friend yet to go, but I'm going to tone it way down. A) I'm not very hungry, B) I have a 12-mile run in the morning, and C) I don't know if my digestive tract can take much more. I feel okay physically, but definitely not as well as I have been. I'll probably have a sugar-fueled crash in about two hours. I'll let you know how it goes.

Call it my own Super Size Me experiment in miniature. I don't know how he did it for 30 days; I'm back on the wagon tomorrow.