Moving On...

October arrived this morning with a glorious clear skies and 55 degrees. It also marked the official end of my first 30-day challenge which was to eliminate refined, added sugar from my diet. See here for what I actually ate during the month of September.

Here are some observations about things that have changed – the things I attribute to my diet:

First, my memory and focus have improved significantly. For instance, a few minutes ago I went upstairs to put my hair in a ponytail. Once I got up there, I decided to wash my face and start a load of laundry as well. As I started back downstairs, I stopped to make sure I had actually done what I came up to do.

Ponytail. Check

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Why is this remarkable? Thirty days ago, I would gone upstairs to put my hair in a ponytail and likely made a decision to wash my face and start a load of laundry. But…if I had stopped at the top of the stairs to make sure I had done what I set out to do…if  I had remembered that I had come up there for a specific reason in the first place…if I hadn’t been distracted by so many additional things that my brief trip up wouldn’t have kept me there for an hour…I would have been back down the stairs and into the third or fourth uncompleted distraction of my morning (all the while continually pushing my hair out of my face) before I remembered that I had once gone upstairs to put my hair in a ponytail. And in all honesty, the second trip up could have yielded an almost identical result. Ponytail. Check. is a vast improvement.

Second, I do not crave sugar anymore in that I never feel an overwhelming sense of desire to eat it. In fact, on the rare occasion that I have accidentally eaten something with added sugar (like mustard, for crying out loud) it tastes nasty. Like I ate a spoonful of fake table syrup from, well…any number of restaurants I won’t mention because I don’t want to be sued. Now…that doesn’t mean that I don’t see something sweet and think “Wow, I’ll bet that tastes good.”  If it’s one of the 800 recipes I see on Facebook each day, I might even open it up in Safari and bookmark it. But that’s different than me seeing something sweet and my legs shaking until I get up and drive to Walgreen’s to buy chocolate.

Third, and somewhat related, I have more impulse control about everything. I take the time to think before I eat, before I text, before I answer a question, before I lose my temper. I’m able to contemplate action rather than simply acting. And the contemplation doesn’t look like indecision…I’m usually able to identify alternatives, size them up and then act (if necessary) in a pretty efficient manner. The idea that there might be times in which I should not react to things was unimaginable 30 days ago.

Fourth, I eat less food…not because I haven’t been to the grocery store or because I'm intentionally depriving myself, but because I don’t feel hungry all the time. And when I do feel hungry, it’s a far more subtle sensation – more like someone gently placing their hand on my back rather than like a dog picking up my lifeless body in his mouth and thrashing me back and forth. That’s probably why I am able to think before I eat.

Finally, I’ve noticed the following physical changes: My skin is awesome. I haven’t added or subtracted anything to my usual skincare routine other than drinking more water and not eating sugar. My skin isn’t dry. I’m not constantly breaking out. I’ve lost 5 pounds – all of it in the last 12 days. My face isn’t puffy. My stomach, while not flat, isn’t bloated. I generally have more energy and on the days I exercise…especially when it’s very strenuous…I am insanely productive and then I fall asleep fast and stay asleep all night.

A caveat about the sleep…I DO NOT GET ENOUGH SLEEP. If adults are really supposed to get 7-9 hours a night, I am woefully deprived. I just don’t know how to make my days start later and/or end earlier. There have been a couple of instances when I have had to take naps. They range in duration from 5 minutes to 2 hours. But they help. And they used to just leave me feeling groggy and needy for more sleep. Last spring, after an entire year of getting up at 4:00am to get my daughter to 5:00am swim practice, I thought about sleep all the time. All. Day. Long. When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was, “When can I take a nap?” I haven’t experienced that yet. Admittedly, I could end up there again. This is only our second week of morning practice so we’re still in the honeymoon phase.

Worst honeymoon ever, BTW, because no honeymoon should ever involve waking up at 4:00am.

So I’m calling it a success. And I am continuing for the foreseeable future. I have plans to celebrate my half marathon on December 5 with a lovely meal of my choosing and if I decide on that day that I want something sweet, I’m going to eat it. After I complete my marathon on February 28, I will do likewise (TIMES TWO, of course, because it will be TWICE AS MUCH) and if that means devouring a few plates of Beignets, I will not lose one second of sleep over it. Because…New Orleans.

So what’s next?

My plan from the beginning has been to try and organize these challenges so that I alternate between subtracting things and adding things. Last month I subtracted, so this month I’ll add.

Thirty Days of Yoga.

I’ll spend at least 30 minutes each day practicing and if you think I don’t have ulterior motives here you are SO VERY WRONG. I have begun the hard training for my upcoming races which means I have run three days in a row and will continue that streak for the next two before taking a 2-day rest.

I am sore. It’s a pleasant soreness (if such a thing exists) and not debilitating, but I am extremely aware of my inflexibility. I’m also extremely aware of my jelly-like core. I need to be able to stand upright in order to run. Or walk. Or stand upright. Fortunately, yoga is the BEST activity for attending to both of these needs. Oh…and the best thing? All yoga ends with me lying still on the floor like corpse. Which means I might be able to take a quick nap. Everyday.

So that’s where I’m going now. To my room…with my laptop…to do yoga. This will end one of two ways…I will either feel relaxed, refreshed, and restored after some stretching, strengthening, and a brief nap (*note to self: set an alarm), OR I’ll end up in the ER after my hamstrings sever like a dried-out rubber band.

Either way, I will get some sleep.