Day 101, The Secret to Beating Temptation

Phew, long weekend, I was totally beat tonight.

And tonight in the store I was sorely tempted to buy a bottle of wine, come home, drink that bottle and watch a movie while eating something not particularly helpful.

I've learned over the course of this project that the times when I am most drawn to unhealthy stuff is when I am physically and or mentally exhausted. It's interesting that we use that word, "exhausted." Literally we're saying we are out of resources, the tank is empty and we can do no more. But in these out of gas times we don't reach for the foods and drinks that would actually replenish us. Instead we go for the alcohol, the TV dinner, the mindless movie. And feel even worse the next morning, starting the cycle over again.

Tonight I didn't get the bottle of wine, and the second I resisted the temptation I felt better. There's something very valuable in not giving yourself the easy recourse of a drug (and what is wine and a movie if not two differently ingested drugs?) and just relying on your own body to find it's way, with the help of a healthy dinner, back to center.

So, the secret to beating temptation is to not be tired. Get plenty of rest and the siren's call from the beverage and snack aisle will be reduced to a mere hum. It's always there though, just waiting for your defenses to drop and exploit your weakness.

Day 41, A Must Read

As you know if you've been following this project, I've had a lot of revelations regarding food during the past month and a half. I now enjoy fruit as much as I used to enjoy sweets, I'm learning how to bring out the flavors in vegetables, and I have finally gotten it through my head that I can control the size of my portions and be very satisfied with my meals.

Which had all kind of primed my mind to be ready to notice this book in the bookstore last week. I would have bought it right there but I didn't have enough money (English books are pricey in Japan, this one was 35 dollars. I'd heard of The Omnivores Dilemma of course, but, not being an omnivore, I was never that interested in reading it.


I got home and was surfing around trying to find more information about the work, and I stumbled upon the NY Times piece that I guess served as the jumping off point for the book. It's one of the most refreshing and well thought out pieces on food I've ever read. And everything I've done on this project convinces me that this is how we need to think about what we eat.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

Please read it if you have a few spare minutes!

Day 29, The PCP Tries To Fight Colds

I usually get one of those 3 day colds when the seasons change from warm to cool or cool to warm. They're very mild, usually just a runny nose and sneezing. A few days ago I felt the familiar tickling in the back of my throat, and had kind of resigned myself to the annual head-cold ritual. But this time, after a few hours, the throat feeling went away.

Today I started getting a runny nose, but it too seems to be subsiding. I might be just making stuff up but I feel like the PCP is beating back the cold, and the cold is trying different routes but getting stopped at every turn.

How much of this is my imagination? Certainly, with all the healthy food and exercise I've been getting my white blood cell count must be up. Plus, have you ever had the experience of being under stress, and not getting sick at all, but once the stressor is gone, (the report completed or whatever) you suddenly get a serious cold? I've read that the body, under stress, perceives that getting sick would hamper its survival chances, so it kicks into overdrive and doesn't allow illness to invade. But once the stressful period is over, the immune system is so exhausted it kind of shuts down and you get really sick.

The PCP keeps me under light but consistent physical stress. I wonder if that helps keep the cold at bay or makes it worse.

It would be great not to get that season-change cold for once though.