Day 14: AMNESTY DAY.

I hadn't even thought about Amnesty Day until I realized that there was a whole lot of football to watch.

Amnesty Day, to review, is traditionally a "get out of jail free" card for those times where you fuck up. However, it has increasingly become Health Month's Rumspringa (look it up). It's ostensibly a single indulgence of a single vice. 

D and I chose beer, as we missed drinking far and away. We started drinking halfway through the Pats game. Funny thing was, I only made it through 2 beers before I just felt...shitty. Kind of tired and headachy (to be fair, i did sit and watch 6 HOURS of football). I ended up falling aslpe on the couch. Not exactly the wild time it could've been. C'est dommage.

CONSUMED

Breakfast:

I think I skipped Breakfast. I honestly cannot remember, and it was yesterday. Let's just say Smoothie?

Football Snacks:

Popcorn

Olives

Dinner:

Spiced Chicken

Hummus

Baba Ganouj

Foule

Tabouli

Grape Leaves

2 Beers. (Boston Ale - and it worked. Go Pats.)

Day 13

Man, I got behind. Day 13 was Saturday.

Uh...It was OK? The weekends are always kind of tough. I was supposed to truck it out to Williamsburg for a friend's birthday. but ended up sitting home, watching Lost. It's just...easier.

CONSUMED

Breakfast:

Green Tea

Peach Smoothie

Lunch:

Roasted Vegetable and Hummus Sandwich on Whole Wheat

Green Salad

Chicken Apple Sausage

White Peony Tea

Snack:

Olive Hummus

Whole Wheat Pita

Dinner:

Sesame Orange Chicken

Steamed Broccoli

Brown Rice

Dessert:

Licorice

Day 11

Man, people are dropping like flies. The middle of health month (which this is, just about) inevitably raises uncaffeinated missives about the very legitimacy of the concept. I understand. At this point, the novelty has run thin, the body is purged of all of it's stores, and you really, REALLY want a Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffin and a cigar. Fair enough.

And I agree - if this kind of strict change of lifestyle only makes you return to your old ways in spades, it's probably bad for you. But some of us are using this as a big ol CTR-ALT-DEL on our lives, attempting to shake off the habits once and for all, so we can reform and return to a more realistic and sustainable way of living. With bourbon. Of course, with bourbon.

CONSUMED

Breakfast:

Multi Berry Yogurt Smoothie (I love my blender.)

Lunch:

Chickpea Salad

Whole Wheat Pita

Dessert: 

Odwalla Bar

Snack:

Greens+ Protein Bar

Dinner:

Whole Wheat Penne with Italian Wheat Sausage, Basil pureé

Sanfaustino Raspberry Lime Water

Dessert:

Panda Licorice (Molasses, Wheat Flour and Anise)

Day 9

I woke up this morning and couldn't sit up. It hurt to cough, which was unfortunate since my winter cough has settled in for the duration. Guess I wailed a little too hard on my abs. So, no Pilates.

The amount of time cooking takes up is extraordinary, seconded  only by the amount of time it takes to do all the dishes. Plus side is I'm suddenly flush with cash. Downside being that when I have 30 minutes at home between work and a movie, I'm relegated to eating either leftovers or salsa.

We went to see There Will Be Blood last night. Sigh. Flaws aside, it really made me want some whisky. And, at the finale, a milkshake.

CONSUMED

Breakfast:

Banana

Odwalla Bar

Lunch:

Maple-Chipotle Sockeye

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brown Rice

Dinner:

Salsa and baked corn chips

Bit of Whole Wheat Pita

Movie Snacks:

Baked Whole Wheat Pita Chips (way to go, D)

Popcorn (homemade - I felt like a grandma)

Unsweetened Honeysuckle Tea

Dessert:

Coconut Sorbet with blackberries

"Cold Season" Herbal tea.

Day 8: Back to they gym

Well, I wasn't feeling 100% yet, but I figured I couldn't stall working out any further. So, after a big smoothie, I headed to the gym.

First, the weigh in: 181 lbs. That's up about 6 from my average. Not terrible, but considering I haven't been building much muscle, not great. I can definitely SEE it.

I started with the treadmill. At my peak I could do 6 miles without much stress - ha! I hat the 20 minute mark (2.5 miles) and was exhausted. I'm not sure if I'm still that sick, weak, or just plain out of shape, but it sucked. Bad.

After that, a rather feeble 10 minutes on the rowing machine, followed by some ab exercises. The one problem I have with the gym is that it takes me 30 minutes to warm up and at least an hour to go through my whole routine, so it's effectively just too long. 

I need to get up earlier.

CONSUMED

Breakfast:

Multi Berry Smoothie

Lunch:

Roast Chicken

Beets (STILL)

Brown Rice with Goddess Dressing

Dessert:

Peanut Butter Cookie (thanks mihow!)

Snack: 

Baked Corn Chips and Pico de Gallo

Hummus and Brown Rise Crisps

Dinner:

Brown Rice Salad (Rice, Greens, Dried Fig, Dried Cranberry

The Rules.

OK, so here are the original rules:

Part A. The banned list.

No Alcohol
No Smoking
No Caffeine
No Drugs - doctor-prescribed stuff is ok, as is Advil or whatever for those 'week 2 headaches,' but nothing else.
No "Big Bread" - this basically means no bread/bagels/muffins/etc. But, a pita is ok, and so is a tortilla.
No Red Meat or Pork - giving up bacon really sucks.
No Pasta
No Cheese
No Sugar
No Chips / Crackers
No Cream / Cream Sauces
No Artificial Sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, etc.)
No Fried Foods
No Butter / Margarine
No Fast Food
No added salt - you can cook with salt, but no dumping table salt on you food after it hits the plate.

Part B. The allowances.
Light salad dressing is allowed on salad - hey, if i'm going to eat a freaking salad...
Small portions of Rice are allowed - for things like sushi, or a wrap can be "light on the rice"
Only enough Oil to cook with is allowed. About 1/2 tbsp per serving (less if possible)

Part C. Amnesty Day.
We are human, and sometimes we mess up. With health month, this is built in. You get one 'Amnesty Day' for the month. This means that for one day, you can have One of the things on the banned list. So, if there's a party you want to go to during HM, you can use your amnesty day then and have a drink. Or if you have a crazy sweet tooth, you can have a piece of cake at the end of week 2, as a halfway point reward.

Now, my Preferred Rules:

Part A. The banned list.

No Alcohol
No Smoking
No Coffee
No Drugs - doctor-prescribed stuff is ok, as is Advil or whatever for those 'week 2 headaches,' but nothing else.
No Red Meat or Pork - giving up bacon really sucks.
No Pasta
No Dairy
No Sugar
No Chips / Crackers
No Artificial Sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, etc.)
No Fried Foods
No Fast Food
No added salt - you can cook with salt, but no dumping table salt on you food after it hits the plate.
No Eggs (I just threw this in because I hate eggs, and I figure i should go for the easy points where I can)

Part B. The allowances.

Brown Rice
Whole Wheat pasta or breads
Green Tea or Kombucha are OK (low Caffeine)
Maple Syrup

Part C. Amnesty Day.

We are human, and sometimes we mess up. With health month, this is built in. You get one 'Amnesty Day' for the month. This means that for one day, you can have One of the things on the banned list. So, if there's a party you want to go to during HM, you can use your amnesty day then and have a drink. Or if you have a crazy sweet tooth, you can have a piece of cake at the end of week 2, as a halfway point reward.

Part D. Exercise

I'm still working out my schedule, but it will be something like this:

Monday: Strength Training
Tuesday: Pilates
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Yoga
Friday: Strength Training
Saturday: Yoga/Pilates

Health Month '08! This time..it's PHYSICAL.

Oh, lord. Health Month.

Well, here we go again. Last year, if any of you remember, I went into Health Month with both guns blazing. As one of the usually healthier participants, I figured it would be a regular fat-free vegan cake walk.

Oh, how wrong I was.

I hadn't realized how much certain habits had become routed in my general sanity. A cigarette at the bar, a beer after work - each of these things on their owwn is not a terrible thing to skip, but combined it added up to an entire upheaval of my day-to-day.

That, coupled with post-holiday blues and a slew of personal drama led me to be pretty fucking miserable. But I did it. I did it.

Now, Health Month '08 begins on Monday, and although last year sobered my expectations, I'm no less committed. In fact, this year I'm upping the ante: I'm going to add a slew of exercise to the routine. I'm going to monitor and publish my progress on Traineo. And I'm going to keep this blog up for the entertainment of all y'all.

But celibacy? Out.