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Friday, March 23, 2012

So... what exactly have I been eating?

"I have an idea!" My wife proclaims as I drag myself home from yet another day of enjoyable work.

"I'm in." I say.

"You don't even know what it is yet!" She replies.

"Is it awesome?"

"YES!"

"Then I'm in."

That was the conversation that lead to the (in a big booming voice) The One HUNDRED Days Of REAL Food... challenge.  

I haven't really researched this much myself and maybe that is something I should be doing right now BUT that can wait.  This eating plan isn't really a diet in itself more than some simple rules to eating.  It is certainly NOT low calorie.  I would call it FULL calorie eating.   She has been following the blog of Lisa Leake @ http://www.100daysofrealfood.com which chronicles Ms. Leake's journey and philosophy on modern food processing and nutrition or to be more specific the lack there of.  Lisa also encourages others to try what she did and see if it changes your perspective.  That brings you pretty much up to speed with what I know.

There are some new (old) ideas floating around in the health and fitness world about this, another is called Paleo Eating aka only eating foods available in the Paleolithic time period aka cave men.  The problem with that system is fairly obvious: finding pterodactyl eggs and brontosaurus steaks is hard thus you starve, equals no fun at all.  Seriously it doesn't take a dietary professional to figure out that all the chemicals and processing in the food we are eating just can't be healthy.  We all understand that yet we do it anyway.  So this is basically a "here we go" kinda blog.  I'll let you know how it's going and how i am feeling.

The first few things that I've noticed is how much crap I must have been eating.  The hardest for me thus far is Diet Coke and peppermint candy.  If you asked me 6 days ago how much of that stuff I consumed I would have checked the "little to none times a week" box.  Wrong!  I bet it was at least a pop a day and 4-5 candies.  Not a lot but enough that I crave it.   Stupid cravings...

Anyway, I'm in the middle of day 5 and I am starting to feel better.  Not that I felt bad, just feel better.  The saying is you are what you eat, but a more accurate version is "You are what you ate."  Everything I am was built with what I stuffed down my pie hole.  Maybe, just maybe,  the new cells and blood made from the good stuff will ultimately build a better me.  95 days to go!

Feeling nostalgic and listening to Saving Jane :)

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Buzzard King's Top 5 ways to keep your cool!

Life is funny.  Not in a "night at the comedy club, I could do this all the time" kinda way though, more of a "Hey is that creepy guy following us?  Is he wearing pants???" kind of way.  I've had a rough start to the year.  I had to deal with a few things and adjust to some others.  It's ok though, I'm not complaining, just sharing.  It's not all bad news, it's not all good news either.  It's life and you know what?  It is a whole lot better than the alternative.  Can I get an Amen?  Amen!  Thank you.

I quit smoking last year and I took two things away from that experience: A) quitting smoking sucks and B) a few ways to deal with stress.  Stress is a killer.  With a few clicks of the mouse on the inter webs you can find a LOT of research linking stress to pretty much everything that kills us.  It makes sense then to maybe figure out a couple ways to dial it down a notch or two in your life.  I'm happy to share a couple of my tricks.  I hope it helps!

1)  Talk It Out:  talk to someone who know exactly what you are going through at that exact moment.  Ummmm.... huh?  Talk to yourself.  Sometimes just saying it out loud will help you work through it.  Think of it like showing your work for math homework.  You don't need to go into a full blown debate with yourself BUT if it helps then go right ahead.

2)  It's Elementary:  Think how your six year old self would deal with this problem that is in front of you.  Is it really a problem?  Is it just the straw that is potentially breaking your back?  Your younger self would probably just draw a picture or go run around then come back to the problem.  So give yourself a quick break and even mentally picture yourself skipping rocks.  It will calm you down.  Try it right now.................  Told ya!

3)Sweat it Out:  Regular exercise is good for ..... well.... everything.  people who exercise regularly have a lower average of stress in their lives because they get to work out their problem on the treadmill or their aggressions on the punching bag or whatever it is you want to do.  If you do it regularly it becomes a safety valve for the things that are bugging you and then you get rid of them!  Plus you feel better from working out and you look better then you buy smaller pants then BOOM.  Good mood.

4)  Perspective:  Everyone has problems.  Your boss who just ruined your day has problems.  The barista you just told off has problems.  I have problems and you have problems.  We all gotta deal with them AND share the planet with each other.

5)  Why Am I Here?  What is the source of your stress?  Is it your job?  Is it making you miserable?  Do you need that particular job then?  Look for something else.  We have a tendency to make ourselves feel "trapped" by our circumstances.  "I have to go to work to pay my bills and my job sucks!"  Even just the knowledge that you could leave is enough.

Hope this helps you as much as it helps me!  Stay cool!

Listening to Death Cab For Cutie.  Goodnight everybody.