Raw Objectivism

I ate peppers for a second time today. Once again I had no discernible issues with them. Pending issues tomorrow, I think it is safe to keep them in my diet.

It will be hard to eat for the next two days. I am in Cincinnati for an offsite for work where they are providing all of the meals. I have no idea if they will have anything for me to eat. I forgot to send in a request for a special meal. I believe I indicated that I was vegetarian on the registration, but I’m not certain if I also indicated gluten-free, or if I said vegan. This could be interesting.

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Tags: Body Pump, cincinnati, Clean Program, gluten free, reintroduction, Vegan
Posted in Gluten Free, Post Cleanse, Sober, Vegan | No Comments »

Today is the last day of August and therefore the last day of my scheduled macrobiotic diet. I have discontinued consuming dairy, eggs, caffeine, alcohol and smoking for the entire month. It was a great success in the fact that I have managed to not consume any of those items for a month. However, I didn’t follow the mindfulness part of the diet. I overate and didn’t chew my food as well as I should have.

Overall, though, I would say that the diet was a success. I have felt better not drinking, smoking or consuming caffeine than I did while I consumed these items.

Alcohol Consumption

I have no plans to start smoking or drinking caffeine tomorrow or any time in the future. I am, however, undecided about drinking. I am thinking that I might try drinking this weekend when I am at my grandfather’s 80th birthday party and see how that makes me feel. I can use that as gauge to see if I plan on drinking on a regular (weekly) basis.

However, I am concerned that if I start drinking again I will go back into my old habits of binge-drinking nearly every weekend. I’m not sure that I know how to control my drinking. It is one thing to have one drink with dinner and stop. It’s another for me to be out at the bars and have only one drink. And once I have that second drink I tend to stop caring if I get drunk and just keep drinking. It seems “fun” and let’s me have “fun” in a situation where I’m really not enjoying myself. Drinking to excess, like overeating, is just another way for me to run away from the fact that I’m not being fulfilled by my life.

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Tags: Binge eating, Diet, emotional eating, Macrobiotic, Vegan, Vegetarian
Posted in Macrobiotic, Sober, Vegan | 2 Comments »

With the end of August quickly approaching, it is time for me to decide what I do next. I made the goal to go macrobiotic for the month. I am on track to meet this goal (only three days remain). The question is, do I continue being macro after the month ends or do I try something new?

August: A Synopsis

For the month of August, I gave up alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, processed foods, added sugar, dairy and eggs. Basically I decided to follow a vegan Macrobiotic diet. The reasoning behind this choice was two-fold: I wanted to rid myself of my addictive (tobacco and caffeine) and destructive (alcohol to excess and tobacco) vices, and I wanted to see if I could rid myself of my constipation and cramping by excluding dairy and eggs from my diet.

By far the hardest thing to give up was the caffeine. I had caffeine migraines for a week and a half after I drank my last diet soda. I didn’t have much nicotine withdrawal (or at least not that I could separate from the effects of the caffeine withdrawal) and giving up alcohol was easy (see yesterday’s post for more details).

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Tags: Bloomingfoods, Bloomington Indiana, Clean, Diet, Feast, LFRV, Macrobiotics, Paleo, Sober, Vegan
Posted in Diet, Macrobiotic, Paleo, Sober, Vegan | No Comments »

Watching Jazz in New Orleans

As part of my macrobiotic experiment, I have eliminated alcohol from my diet for at least a month. It has been 28 days since I last consumed alcohol. My last drink was consumed in a live Jazz bar in New Orleans, so no one can claim I did not give alcohol a proper send off.

Giving up alcohol was effortless both physically and mentally. I only drank on the weekends when I was still drinking, and after one weekend of not drinking I felt great. I was able to get up at a reasonable time on Saturday and Sunday morning, I wasn’t hungover, and overall I was more productive during the day than I would have been otherwise. I decided I liked this plan. What I didn’t take into account were the social ramifications of not drinking.

So much of American culture seems to include drinking. After work we have happy hour, on the weekends we go to bars, or have parties at a friends house that include drinking. And it’s worse in a small town. If your only options are the movies, bowling, going to a party or going to the bars, it’s more likely that your activity will involve alcohol. And with a primarily 20-something crowd your likelihood turns into a near certainty.

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Tags: Bloomingfoods, Bloomington Indiana, Circle of Death, Jazz, Kings, Macrobiotis, New Orleans, Ride the Bus, Screw the Dealer, Sober, Vegan
Posted in Diet, Macrobiotic, Sober, Vegan | 1 Comment »