halloween candy

oh my gosh...had no idea i can taste through my smell. sunday night...remembered i needed to take bag of candy out of refrigerator for tomorrow...gotta give out candy to the kids. opened the bag to put the candies in a bowl and zap that smell of chocolate knocked me out. i was so tempted to eat one reeses but also afraid that i couldn't stop at just one. i think i don't have the control to handle. guess for now i gotta skip it entirely. crazy.

candy

part of the reason this food experiment was enticing was the timing of it...the time before we all start to eat and eat and eat...from candy (halloween) to pies (turkey day) to chocolate chip cookies (my mother-in-law-s specialty at christmas). i wanted to really feel at the top of my game going into the holiday craze. i have a friend who said the day after christmas she woke up and felt like her blood was like gravy from all the food consumed. i don't want that. today the news it was reported that the average american, and we know i am above average, consumes 25 pounds of candy per year. and as i wrtie this in my refrigerator thanks to my husband sits a combo pack of reeses/twix candy to give out at halloween. thankfully i have had absolutely no desire to rip that plastic bag open. have to say that alone feels pretty good.

heading home.

today is day 107. yes, i continue on. been in vermont for the last couple of weeks in the home of two super healthy vegans. so my send off today...breakfast was a glass of homemade green juice. nice. i don't know what happens once i land in sf but for right now i feel pretty darn good. i supported the vermont/ny economy and bought myself some new clothes to fit my new size. i need to get pants but think i will wait until the end of the year. for some reason in my mind i think that will be the best time.
here's to the beginning of holiday time...halloween, thanksgving, christmas, new years and continuing on this path of food exploration.

follow up

been a few days since my day 100 and the journey continues. i have thought about what would be the food that would break the experiment and still no answer. i was in walgreens and thought about a candy bar. i love or maybe loved candy. now i want it to be something that is amazing. so far nothing. i will let you know when it happens and of course what it is!

day 101

what's my big take away from all of this? any goal that might seem big to achieve is easier if taken in small steps. i totally understand the AA philosophy of one day at a time. when i set out on this food experiment, 100 days seemed like a long period of time. just getting to the end of the month to change the calendar page seemed long. but with my daily count down before i knew it i was in the home stretch and now i have crossed over to the plus side with day 101.
keeping it real...one day at a time.

day 100...last day

went to dinner last night with liz and her two kids. they had a pizza with red sauce (no cheese) and pasta with red sauce. then dessert...a brownie cut in four. i think the waitress thought all four of us would split the brownie but instead the kids shared.
have to say the aroma of the food along with the kids humming as they ate their meal got my stomach churning and my nostrils flaring. uh oh.
what will i do after today? i have no idea.
for now i can say i have completed my goal and i am feeling good about it.
thank you for reading! cheers to me and to you.

99

i think it is perfect to end this experiment with liz and anthony....vegans. yesterday their son poet got excited because the superfood juice bottle was made from plants. so for the most part day 99 to means absolutely nothing to them. they live well, eat well. you get the idea.
and so now i am just starting my day....blogging...drinking coffee...and eating an apple and a handful of organic raw cashews.
happy monday.

sunday night

two days to go. amazing. just got back from burlington. visited my niece kate and her girlfriend lluvia as well as my college friend katherine. thankfully kate has a vegetarian diet so she chose an awesome fun lunch place that fit into my food experiment needs. reminds me how easy it is to do this today as opposed to probably 20 years ago. we are way more aware of what we eat now and have so many options.
but i am tired now from my visit so i am shutting this thing down. happy sunday night.

saturday

ok gotta head out quick before the rain comes. but just a couple things to say.
one...three days to go.
two...went into the general store this morning and like every nice vermont general store on a saturday morning...free cake. had to give a polite no thanks despite the fact that it oozed and smelled of deliciousness.
ok off to burlington.

the effect of sugar

i saw the effect of sugar...on kids (ages 2 and 4). my friend made super healthy tasty vegie soup for dinner. yum. but of course getting my friend's kids to finish dinner she had to bribe them with "if you finish your dinner you can have the coconut ice cream". she serves some kind of non dairy healthy version but it had sugar in it. they didn't even finish their mini cones before they were up and out of their seats dancing around the living room. it was pretty cute to see their little dance party. these kids don't eat many foods with sugar so the reaction to it was big. pretty amazing to see.
wonder what will happen to me!
4 to go.

5 days

i can't believe it...5 days to go. i know. i know. i will probably say this every day for the next 5 days. but really, at the beginning 14 weeks and two days seemed like a long time. and now here we are at the end. i ask myself what is my take away from this. and it is, if we want to make change then pick one thing, whatever it is and practice that over a period of time...100 days for instance. sure there maybe moments along the way that we fail to practice the change but hey start again the next day and by the end of the 100 days most likely whatever you attempted will be a part of you. i know that regardless of when i consume - flour, sugar, etc. again that i will always look at it differently and i will always have less than what i previously have. i know that i can live happily and easily and better with out it.
and now with out putting it into my calendar every day i automatically write something everyday...and that was the ultimate goal of this experiment. i think success has been had.

count down is on

i am in vermont for the next two weeks which means...food experiment is really coming to an end. i will keep this brief as i have to go teach soon. less than one week to go. wondering what will be the first thing off the list that i will eat? not a clue.
what would you eat?

one week to go

I'm at sfo waiting for my flight to Boston. Please keep in mind that I'm typing this on my phone.
Food experiment is so helpful for traveling. I know that food choices at the airport and on the plane will be limited so I'm prepared. I've got food for the day...nuts, apple, banana, cheese. I also ate breakfast before I left...typically I would have just gotten some greasy expensive egg sandwich at the airport. For less cost, less effort, and less bloated feeling I have my food consumption taken care of. There is something to be said for planning ahead. OK I'm going to eat a banana now.
Have a great day

strange

either my clothes have grown or i have shrunk. i feel like that kid in big when he goes from tom hanks adult size back into the child size person. strange feeling.

i enjoy this

i know i have done entire posts on what i eat and don't eat. and now i shall take this one step deeper.
i have to say i discovered two things i am really enjoying eating. first off i am loving me some fried eggs. yes, fried. since there is so much on the do not eat list i added some fat foods. it is a fast, quick, tasty satisfying meal.
second...buttered popcorn with salt at the movies. my friend katite turned me on to it. typically if i ate anything it would be a shared candy. but boy oh boy hot buttered popcorn with salt is pretty awesome. the one thing that i need to learn is go size small. the medium...just a bit too much.

saturday

it is saturday here in beautiful sf. i have been up since 7, had my coffee, apple and raw cashes (love that combo). read a few chapters of an awesome book called the art of fielding. and now 9 am my husband is getting ready to surface so we shall venture out into the day. but before we do the one thing i need to acknowledge here today is that today is day 90. with ten days to go i can officially say in yoga terms, i am in the home stretch.
namaste.

i got a present. i got a present...woo hoo.

went exploring in the coat department at macys. before long ladies were telling me to buy the beautiful coat i had on. i went back and forth on it. i even attempted to leave the store. i just didn't make it to the exit time. somehow i found myself back on the up escalator to the 5th floor for one more look. then a phone call later with my husband (who offered it as a belated birthday gift), i was purchasing my pretty coat. and thanks to the food experiment, it locks great.
i got a present. i got a present. (to be hummed and sun like a girl).

satisfying the sweet

the one thing i have used to satisfy my sweet tooth...sugar free trident gum - watermelon, strawberry, orange...basically it has an artificial super sweet taste. i have chewed piece after piece. wrappers are everywhere. the car. my pockets. next to my bed. reminds me of being a little kid. my mom said she always used to find little wrappers in my room. as a kid, i loved to chew gum. i even fell asleep with it my mouth only to find it stuck in my hair the next day. another thing i would do was to put a chewed piece on my nightstand to save for when i woke up. yes, i have been a gum addict. back in those days it was full on sugar gum. as i got older i switched to the sugar free kind. my dentist has shared that gum chewing is not only bad for the teeth but also for the jaw. in the past couple years i have cut back and in fact stopped buying it. now with the food experiment that has all changed. recently my husband did the grocery shopping and i had him add trident to the list. yes, gum is acting like a food. and the addiction is back in full force. i am chewing non stop - blowing bubbles, walking around like a chomping cow. attractive right? however today i decidede that it is time for me to start cutting back. why now? my jaw hurts. sure, it helped me to get through the 100 days but now it is time to go...again.

a little bit of a downer

with just less than two weeks to go, i have to say i am a little bummed that i am coming to the end. at first this seemed like such a big deal but now, well, not so much. i hate the endings of goals. it is a feeling of ok, now what. sure i still have two weeks to go and i could screw up. i even have had a few temptations recently. but realistically that is highly unlikely. which then leads me to thinking this experiment is basically over. i know gloom and dooom, right? maybe it is the rain outside or the shortening of the days but i am definitely feeling low spirited.

such nice words

two weeks to go, and i am starting to hear nice compliments from people. i have been told in the last 24 hours from different people...
"wow, you look so great. what are you doing."
"your skin looks so healthy. no wrinkles."
"you look like you have lost a lot of weight."
"your face looks so different."
"i want to do what you are doing."
i think all of those kind words are going to power through to the end.

the benefits

looks like i am starting to reap some benefits from this food experiment. it may seem not a big deal to you but to me, a girl, it was nice. after spending yesterday taking my friends to the hospital and all that followed with that, my friend as a thank you gave me a beautiful indian shirt. my first thought looks small - will it fit! i knew my friend would want me to put it on right away so i held my breath and hoped for the best. yes, i made a disclaimer "remember i already have a shirt on". but wouldn't you know - it fit perfectly. beautiful, comfortable. and most important my friend was thrilled. her response - "wow, you look so beautiful, like a real indian girl". i was so happy that after such a stressful day for my friend worrying about her husband that this gift brought a smile to her face.
thank you food experiment for making my hips and butt a little smaller.

222

today is october 2nd and i have two weeks and two days to go. yep, today is my 222 day. i am on the right path. nice.

amazing

i can't believe it. i just turned to page on the calendar and am now in the home stretch of my food experiment. when i started this journey october seemed so far away and now it is here. i am going to reach my 100 day goal. woo hoo. yes. oh and yesterday i tried on a short at american apparel...size xs. i guess my body shape has changed as well. happy saturday people and welcome to fall.