thank you

i have the best husband. yesterday he brought out his culinary talents to prepare us a variety of dishes...all of which i can eat. beets, basil/tomato salad, corn on the cob, summer squash and a white bean stew. put them all together and i have had two yummy meals in the last two days. and tonight our friends greg and alison are having us over for dinner. so awesome to have my meals taken care of for me.
thank you.

ok i would call this a high class problem

as a professional organizer i try to keep to a minimal amount of personal belongings. especially clothes. as my friend samantha will often say, "i don't know how you even still have things to donate". and i donate on a regular basis. anyway, because of that the clothes i do have i really love. now for the high class problem. i am beginning to notice that some of my clothes have a little more room to them then they normally do. for the most part i am a solid medium size wearer. yes, on occasion a small has snuck into the wardrobe but for the most part i am medium girl. see what i mean about the high class problem? yes, it is always nice to shed a couple pounds but at the expense of me not fitting into my clothes? hmmmm. i totally realize how stupid this sounds and of course it is still so early into all of this that i am just speculating.
to use an overused expression..."i'm just sayin".

first road block

i just realized that i have no go to treats during this experiment. sure people will say eat and apple, have a piece of fruit but that is my regular food. what's my fun treat? the closest i get is a not fat au lait....1/2 milk 1/2 coffee. today is the first day that i thought oooh, i'd like a treat. but what? this sucks. i had also planned on making some cookies or brownies for john to bring to his poker tournament tomorrow. but there is no way i will be making those fun treats with out eating something. who doesn't love cookie dough batter? they've even made an ice cream with it. i know the feeling will pass but for now, i am a tad annoyed.

i am shifting

it amazes me that i can still continue to talk about the same topic. guess that means i am seeing changes. the one thing for sure that i am noticing is the way i eat seems to be changing. i seem to be eating a smaller volume of food at each meal. what the heck does that mean? it means i used to be able to fill my bowl with yogurt and fruit and just eat it straight through. well now i take a bite and there is a longer space of time until the next bite. normally i would just continue to eat. the other change is that i don't eat as much. not out of choice...it just happens that way.
but to be fair i have been noticing this particular shift since the beginning of the air. perhaps this is what is meant by metabolism shifting during the aging process. my mother in law is perfectly happy eating a muffin and drinking coffee as her meal for the day. she sits at her kitchen table grazing on this small amount of food spending hours with her crossword puzzles. ok, i know i am not old but i do classify as older. 46...that's closer to 50 than it is to 40. eventually even i the yogi girl will start change.
funny...i just looked at bowel of yogurt that i have been eating during the posting of this blog,..yep, i have hardly made a dent in it. i am shifting.

yum

finally i cooked some warm temp food...lentils and steamed broccoli. one thing is for sure the simple taste of foods are really appealing to me. perhaps my palate is shifting. i took yoga class and then came home and prepared this simple dinner. i feel so satisfied from this simple little meal. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

self doubt

ok i guess with any experiment, there is the possibility that the experiment will fail. for me, what would failure look like? i guess one failure would be that i don't make it to 100 days. for some reason, i don't think that will happen. i am only a couple weeks in but for now i think i can make it thru 100 days. ok, so what other failures could there be? the one that comes mostly to mind is that nothing changes. what if i go 100 days and i look and feel exactly the same? will i feel stupid that i did this? i guess i have to ask myself what is the goal of this experiment. and the answer is to get me to write. and as we can see that is happening.
ok phew, i feel better. i just had to talk myself down. i got a little crazy there for a second.

usa food rocks

i have to say that i am so grateful to live in the us. the quality of our food is amazing. by food i mean the food that we grow. i don't think this experiment would be as easy and successful if i lived in other countries. i was in holland for two months and getting fresh fruits and vegies was just not the same as it is in california. first of all, the price was pretty expensive and secondly, the quality just wasn't the same. oh and the variety...not so much. here in california, john and i have a vegie/fruit box delivered to us every two weeks. it just arrives at the door. we get what is currently in season grown by the local farmers. i also go to the supermarket and am always amazed at the vastness of what is there. we are truly blessed.
yes, usa food rocks!

not much new

i have heard that repetition is the key to setting a positive habit. so i am two weeks and two days in and for right now, my diet restrictions do not seem that bed. i do find that i ear more cooler temp foods like yogurts, and salads so if i need that instant warm feeling like you get from food, i just have a coffee. decaf. my work has been keeping me busy so i haven't had too much time to cook food so that's why i am just doing lots of salads and yogurts, cottage cheese, fruits. but thankfully they are all so yummy, that i don't mind. but later in the week when i am a little more free i am planning to cook up things to have ready. maybe a good soup or a stew.
so as i said...not much new.

fake meat...no good

well while i have been on this experiment, i have been getting recipes from friends. one person suggested a soy base product that was supposed to taste like chicken. key words here...supposed to. it tasted like anything but chicken and on top of that, it was disgusting! so not only do i now not eat bread, rice, pasta, meat but now i can add the fake meat too. thank god i am eating so many vegies so the fake stuff can leave my system fast.

it's a new week

ok here we go again. new week. new ups. new downs. clean slate. thankfully i have a busy organizing week so that should make this experiment a little easier. i hope. so to all of you setting goals (we always start on monday) good luck. and as they say in AA...one day at a time.

day 14

John and I went out for dinner with our friends Cynthia and Tony to a great Japanese restaurant called K's kitchen. First observation I had was rice on rolls....can't have them. Will have to go back again. Anyway, made do with some great vegie dishes. During the meal Cynthia asked if I felt different after 2 weeks on my experiment. In one word - no!
But now early the next morning I will say the jeans feel looser. On the other hand, it could be that this is day 3 of wear!
For now I think I'm the same but hey I still have 12 weeks and 2 days to go.

so silly

just a quick saturday note. in the last week my wonderful husband and my lovely friend samantha both treated me to two of my fav treats...either from forgetting about the experiment or just not knowing. anyway, i had to take a pass on their kind gestures and in both situations felt badly about it. i know stupid right? but in that instant of not accepting i immediately took on the feeling of how can i disappoint these two people? the mind is a funny thing. oh well i am almost two weeks in and i am sure there will be more of these not so important exchanges.
happy saturday. now time for some breakfast with out toast!

it's all in the calories

last night my husband john and i had a fun conversation about body shapes, fitness, calories, how to stay fit and the amount of calories in favorite food items. nyc now has a program that all food items on menus must declare the calorie conent. it is amazing to go to starbucks and see the caloric content of some of the drinks. kind of scary. anyway, john was hungry for dinner and thought he'd just go pick something up. quick, easy and yummy. but we then did a scan of the refrigerator and i remembered i had made him some turkey burgers as a back up during the week. before long he had put together a nice meal of salad, turkey burger and vegies. not only did he not have to get in the car and drive somewhere to get food but it was right there and apparently from his reaction quite tasty. at the end of the meal he said he was so happy. he thought that if he had gone out to get food it probably would have bought more than food what he wanted/needed and just not as good. there's a lot to be said for the home cooked meal...even if it is just a turkiey burger.

new things creates new things...maybe

i am not sure if i explained this but the reason for the food experiment was to get me writing. i heard if you put in effect what you want to do once a day that eventually you will form that behavior as a habit. the problem for me is that i didn't know what to write about. yeah, i could talk about the new business but what about it...the success, the failure, my daily routine. what? so having the food topic gives me a set direction. and then once i started to do that voila the writing thing would kick in. people ask me what my blog address is and i just tell them it's stupid you don't want to read it. time...i need time.
anyway, i am noticing that doing this new thing with the food experiment i have also started to do new things in other aspects of my life. first of course is that i am writing in this blog. good or bad, words are getting typed here. second, i am trying different ways to put my business out there to the general public. so far my business was people i know, then referrals from friends, facebook referrals, and then referrals from clients. the referrals from clients were my first exposure to people i have no connection to. well what would it take to get me to the next level of the general public? advertising. how? i put a simple ad up on craigslist and voila i am getting calls. i sort of feel like a seinfeld episode. thankfully, i am taking it as it comes. i am excited but not out of contrul excited. i usually just call my husband to share the news with him. who knew what could happen when you remove processed foods from your diet?!
ok now off to something old...taking afternoon yoga. until tomorrow.

always counting

I am noticing that I'm constantly calculating numbers...how many days I've been on this (today is day 10) how many days to go, what is the date I end, on and on. I have to assume this is the mindset during any kind of diet. Boy it certainly makes time go by slowly. I have had the silliest thoughts. Sam's birthday is over half way in. I end in October a couple weeks before Halloween. Then I start thinking wow that's far away. But before long I'm thinking i should be feeling pretty healthy before the holiday madness. Really I'm thinking about the holidays in July? Wacky. OK now back to today and day 10!

blue jeans not too snug

So I can only speak to the ladies on this. You know when the jeans are just out of the dryer and that shall we say snug feeling you get attempting put them on along with the deep inhale breath? I didn't have that today. Usually it is on the 2nd day of wear that my jeans feel perfect. Today put them on and they fit and within an hour I have that 2nd day wear feeling. Does this have to do with the experiment? Wow.
I also have realized that I need to do some cooking. Girl can't live on soup and salad. I want this to be enjoyable. Feel free to share recipes.

easy to make big goals in the morning.

Up and out early this morning to drop car off for service and then walk to eye doctor appointment. For the walk I picked up a coffee and then set out for a nice morning stroll. I felt great and along the way I thought wow, one week done and I feel ok about my experiment...no bread, rice, pasta and white sugar foods. This was quickly followed by two thoughts. The first...it is so easy to set goals Monday morning and a totally different story as the day and week progress. I guess that is why everyone sets these goals on Monday. The second thought was...what to do at the end of the 100 days. Should I do the opposite? Eat only those things? Now that would be silly. Let's just get through the first 100 and see what happens. But for right now I think one week in, I am off to a good start. Happy Monday everyone.

wow, it is everywhere

so the last two days john and i have been in napa with our friends karen and jill. karen was running the napa half marathon and we were her cheer squad. this meant, hotel dining, poolside dining, meals at restaurants. and wow did i discover of course that all of the foods i am not eating are every where. of course as a vegetarian i already can rule out a good portion of any menu. but now add the 100 day experiment of not eating bread, rice, pasta and white sugar foods. well you have pretty much knocked out the remaining portion of both menus. all of us laughed at dinner last night when the server brought the break basket over at the start of the meal as he of course put basically on my plate. and then this morning when i asked for scrambled eggs with no toast on the side. well i wasn't served toast but my friend's english muffin was on my plate. we also went to a great market in napa called the oxbow market. one word awesome but for until my 10o days are up. not a place for me. i could pretty much rule out 75 percent of all the business there as falling in to one of my off limit food items. i am slowly beginning to understand the struggles that many must have that attempt any type of restrictive diet. i am learning quickly that if i am to be successful at this i have to have an ample supply on hand of all the foods i do eat. this is going to be interesting. i could very well stop but for now i am plugging on. heck, i don't even thing i have made it through a full week yet. we shall see.

idle time = wandering mind

yesterday was shall we say interesting? i spent a good amount of time doing computer stuff...emails, phone calls, etc. so that meant i was home. dangerous. well my mind was wrapped around food all day long. i ended up eating more than i normally do. thankfully the only thing i have in the house comes from nature. so it meant an additional salad and another piece of fruit. interestingly enough my friend who does a weight watchers program told me the day prior that in the point systems fruits and vegies have no points. that kind of made me feel good.
but the long and short of it, idle time at home = idle mind thinking about food. so i think a key for people on weight loss and nutrition programs is to keep busy.

the experiment

so last night i was sharing with my husband john and friend karen the thoughts that haven been running thru my head the past few days. things like "wow no sweets means i can't have any of samantha's birthday cake'...the birthday that is in septemeber! that's two months away. then my husband said that this is the reason why he would never do restrictive diets becuase the mind goes immediately to panic mode and wants what ever it is that has been restricted. so my next question on this experiment is "does that thought go away"? right now i can say it has but i know this is way to0 early in to believe it. literally too early in...it is only 9:30 am.
happy friday.

it is a new day

so i took noon yoga class today and before entering thought...this is going to be a tough class as i haven't taken class in a few days. well, i was wrong. it was a good class and for the most part my postures felt and looked pretty good. does this have to do with the change in diet? or am i just convincing myself it is? whatever the reason, i had a good class and i feel great. now enjoying my mixed vegie salad. i make a good salad if i do say so myself.

guess it takes more than one time

well i thought i learned yesterday that going into the supermarket when hungry is not a good idea. so there i was to get avocados and nuts and of course nuts are in the baked goods aisle. suddenly my mouth was salivating and i was wanting to bake a cake. get out. headed to produce and got the heck out. much better now that i am home having a nice salad and amazingly the cup of hot coffee is also giving me a satisfying feeling. phew. that was close. ok note to self...AGAIN...no shopping while hungry. over and out.

day 2

It is amazing to think just barely two days into this and my mind is going to all the things that I won't have. Stuff that I normally don't think about. I do know that I was hungry at the time. But now I am home and had an awesome lunch and all of those thoughts are gone. Ok, note to self make sure to have a stocked kitchen with my fav foods. Hungry belly plus hungry mind equals the desire for what I am trying no to have for 100 days. Feel better now.

topic

I am realizing that my biggest challenge to this blog is my topic. Well for the next 100 days I have a topic and if other things get added in...even better. For the next three months I am going to attempt to eliminate bread, rice, pasta, and white sugar from my diet. I am not sure if this is going to be a big deal or not as I really am not aware of my daily consumption. But right out of the gate when preparing my lunch I noticed that means no tortilla salad combo today. Hmm. That is interesting. I think it is good to be mindful of what we eat. As a vegetarian I am often asked "what do you eat". I think this 100 day challenge will help me answer that question. For now I am off to a good start.