Lately…I’ve been feeling crappy. Physically crappy that is. I’m not sure if it has been some increased stress from work (things are a bit complex there…but not really bad per say), this annoying Spring (I do love warm weather…but the heavy rains before created nasty allergies), some personal stuff (stupid women…75% over that crap) or whatever…or a combo…etc.

And I’ve been reading this book (I mentioned that before). And today I watched “Super Size Me”. Considering my career choice it’s probably something I should have watched/read a long time ago.

So this is my 30 day experiment.

-No food of questionable origins. This is rather tough to nail down specifically…what is “questionable origins” anyway? With my food educational background I am defining it as “any food that I am completely clueless about what the ingredients are”. For 30 days I want to know exactly what it is I am putting into my body. This means absolutely nothing that I cannot (and have not) see the ingredients list for. This will make eating out a bit dificult. Going to a burrito place and asking (what, exactly, are all the ingredients in your quacamole? your sauce? where does your cheese come from and may I see the food label?). This is going to force me to A) cook at home much more and B) eat at places where the ingredients are easy to figure out. Thank god I work at a restaurant! But this means goodby McDonalds…that’s for sure…and Rockstar…sigh!
-No ingredients that I cannot define myself. Sure…I can pick up a can of Sierra Mist and read the label…but hell if I know what calcium disodium EDTA is. Of course I could look it up fairly easily but I want this experiment to be based soley off current knowledge. Again this will cause some dificulty I’m sure as there are lots of things which I don’t know…but I think I can handle it. This INCLUDES high fructose corn syrup…which will be EXTREMELY dificult to avoid. Trust me on this…I’ve been looking at labels.
-No smoking. Ah…now this is the kicker. Smoking is something I am definitively addicted to. With this current awful allergy season it is absolutely killing me…congested + smoke = hard time breathing, very stuffed up, feeling very crappy. I “feel” I am “ready” to quit smoking but I don’t know if I can do it right now. So I am going to give it 30 days…test out the waters so to speak. I’m not promising to “quit”…I’m just promising to “take a break”. Ow…

-Have at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Again…a bit more dificult to define. But since this is my experiment I can make all the rules. So I am defining 30 minutes of exercise as “30 consecutive minutes of elevated heart rate due to physical activity”. This could mean taking a walk for half an hour, 30 minutes of yard work (not watering the lawn mind you…but seriously moving about getting that heart rate up), or (of course) 30 minutes of “working out” (traditional stuff…sit-ups, push-ups, weights, yada).

I could be all ultra scientific about this…take pictures, measure and quantitate, use scales and graphs and all that jazz…but I’m going to keep it very simple. I’m going to go use the old scale sitting in the garage and…well…look at myself in the mirror. Gimmie a minute…

I weigh in at 176 lbs on our (probably innacurate) scale. Physically I look skinny up top, hairy as fuck, and my stomach is getting fat. Physically I feel mildly tired, my mouth and noes are itchy (stupid allergies).

When I wake up tomorrow I’ll start this new plan. I’m rather curious how it’ll turn out. Wish me luck!

I’ll try to update my observations daily…but I make no promises.