Water Tracking: Success and a New Juice Fast

Well, my 30 day water tracking experiment is a success! I did not miss a single day of tracking. I did miss one day of drinking water at all (yikes!) but my only requirement was that I track the water.

See the images below - success!!!

January Water Tracking began on Jan 10

February tracking until tomorrow

Water tracking as a habit

I tracked everything perfectly, and I will continue to do so. But even more important than tracking it, I created a new habit. Every time I finish my water bottle, I get a craving to mark my water consumption. The key to this, I believe, is the progress bar which fills up as I mark it off.

So now, when I finish my bottle, my mind wants to fill up this progress bar. This follows the habit loop outlined in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (which I highly recommend as a read). I never intended to  create a habit - but that is what happened.

My intention was to track something easy, to get a head start on my life tracking. I have previously tried to track just about everything related to health (for the full list, see my previous post: New 30 Day Challenge: Tracking Water Intake). This was the first step in building up my tracking ecosystem.

What's next?

The next thing I plan on tracking is my weight. Daily tracking. However, before I do that, I will be taking off on a Juice fast! I will be doing a 5 day juice fast, which will lead me to clearer skin, better energy, a clearer mind, etc. 

To keep this post manageable, I will post later today what the plan for the juice fast is (I began it this morning, actually) and I will track my progress daily (hey, what's 5 days?)

As a sample, here's what my first juice looks like:

A beautiful Ruby Red

New 30 Day Challenge: Tracking Water Intake

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of taking 30 day challenges. Starting on Tuesday (2 days ago), I began tracking my water intake completely.

For those of you who don't remember why I started doing 30 day challenges (heck, the name of my blog was "Life in 30 Days" for a little while...man I liked that name), watch the  video below from Matt Cutts talk at TED. It's a great talk, and I think we can all take something away from it.


I have been trying to track entirely too much.

• Water
• Food
• Weight (daily)
• Body Measurements
• Coffee
• Vitamin Intake
• Blog Ideas
• Business Ideas
• etc.

It was overload. And it was stupid. I was in a "super motivated" state of mind, and I decided to track all of these things. Guess what happens when you do something like this? You succeed wonderfully! I was tracking everything, and I developed great mechanisms for doing so. I loved it.

...then your motivation slows, your interest wanes, and you miss a day. Then you forget your vitamins one day, then you eat a particularly bad day, or you sleep away from home (and all of your tracking tools) and suddenly...you're off the wagon.

How to Track Water

So let's look at Water. I tracked it religiously for a little while - just see the screen shot below. Then I slipped, and slipped, and slipped. Well now I'm back!

Note: I use an app for Android called Water Your Body - it tracks water, weight (if you want) and nothing else. In fact, if you input your weight, the app will give you a recommended water intake level.

The App Makes it Very Easy to track Water Intake

As you can see, I was awesome - I logged every day (and drank a TON of water!

October was Strong

November...I fell off a cliff

 When November rolled around, I tracked my intake a little bit, but not much at all. The days which do have water tracked were mostly incomplete anyway.

How will I do it?

I will use Water Your Body just like I used to. To make this easier, I'll use mostly my 16 oz. Lifefactory water bottle (picture below). I love this bottle because it is glass, so there is no leeching of chemicals or anything - it's a great bottle. Trust me, I'm not going to go into the details about what makes it so great.

Love this Water Bottle!

The app will default to 16 oz. That means that every time I finish my water bottle, I need only open the app, and tap once. That will mark it, and it will be properly tracked for me.

Is This Supposed to be Hard?

Actually, no, it's not supposed to be hard. In fact, this is supposed to be easy. If I wanted a difficult challenge, I would go ahead and try to track all 9 things I used to track. 

You see, I'm using the 30-day challenge to develop a habit. I have chosen something that is decidedly easy, and the goal is that by the end of 30 days, it will be formed into a habit. Ideally, by the end of this challenge, I will instinctively reach for my phone to track my water every time I finish a drink of water.

In fact, notice that I'm not setting a goal for water intake. I am betting that I will naturally drink more water when I track it. I'm not trying to build the habit of drinking 192 ounces of water every day, I'm setting the goal of tracking it. If I have nothing more than a 4 ounce Dixie cup, then that is what I'll track. This is not about the water, it's about the tracking.

I'm actually hoping this will serve as a bit of a keystone habit to start me on a positive upswing again. I've been falling downward lately (more on that later), and I am trying to bust out of my rut (foreshadowing: You'll get the next in the series of Rut Busters as I'm actually working out of a rut!)

But Why Water?

Because water is so damned important! It's the greatest drink in the world. We almost all don't get enough of it, too. If you increase your water intake, you will feel better. I promise that. It might be difficult at first (due to all of the extra liquid), but as your bladder catches up, but it will get easier. 

You don't have to do a 30-day challenge, but at least try this:

1. When you are hungry, have a glass of water first. Hunger is very often mistaken thirst. If you are still hungry 10 minutes after the water, then go eat something!
2. First thing in the morning drink at least 16 oz. of water (if you can only do 8 oz, that's okay) or up to 2 liters (as David Wolfe suggests). You will be amazed at your energy - you might not even need coffee (though if you're like me, you'll still drink it) Often, we get dehydrated overnight, so the water replenishes what we have lost which is making us feel sluggish. Another tip (this one comes from Tim Ferris) is to have 2 Tablespoons of Almond butter before bed. This stabilizes your blood sugar - another cause of morning fatigue for many of us.

Water has such a huge effect on us, that I want to have this tracked as a personal habit - that way I can easily diagnose it as the cause if I'm feeling particularly sluggish (see those charts? How easy is it to read that data!)

So there you go. A new Challenge. It's easy, achievable, measurable, and it will likely lead to an increased water intake which will help so many other facets of life. This is going to be a good one!

Lose Weight by Swinging your Bowls

Another quick one. My computer (personal one) is still dead, so I can't properly do the next Rut Busters justice. ETA on that is 2 weeks (the doctors are trying to reclaim my data) and then hopefully I'll have all my wonderful data and programs back!

Do you snack? 

Do you like to snack? 

Do you think you should snack? 

Do you remember what your last 5 snacks were?

The point is:

Most people snack.

Most people like to snack.

Most people don't think they should snack.

Most people mindlessly snack.

I bet if you logged your food intake for a day, you would be astounded by the amount of calories you consume just by snacking. Ever sat next to a bowl of M&M's, only to find that an hour later, they mysteriously disappeared? I know what happened to them! [For my slower readers: You ate them]

The Flash Diet

So here's how you fix the snacking issue...and really any mindless eating issue. You use a pattern interrupter. Sounds complicated, huh? It just means that instead of going into a mindless snack, you do something before you start eating. This interrupts your pattern of mindless eating, and tricks you into thinking about what you eat. There is even an entire diet named after this: The Flash Diet.

The Flash Diet is based on research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (I could not find a link to the original study. if you have it, please send it my way!). You can find a write up here (I know it's not the most credible source, but the study they are reporting on is credible) The flash diet: Taking photos of meals helps slimmers lose weight

The Bowl Diet

So that is great. It forces you to really think about what you are eating. It can also be a bit inconvenient. Another simpler method is quite obvious when you think about it. All we need is a pattern interrupter, right? Here's one - plate up everything you are going to eat. Whether it's a bowl, a cup, a plate, a saucer, a platter, a gravy boat, a jug, a crock...plate something up! (Plate it up = Put it on or in a container for serving)

Here's the scenario: You want chips. The barbecue chips have been screaming your name all day long. Instead of grabbing the bag and sitting down (which will result in an empty bag. I promise) grab a bowl, and fill it up. This can be a small bowl, to hold one portion, or it can be a HUGE bowl, which holds the entire bag. Just do it. If you want more when you are done, then fill it up again. 

Example 2: You want some peanut butter cups (yummmm. It's almost Christmas - I can't wait for the Christmas Tree peanut butter cu...trees). Grab some and put them on a plate. Want more? Put more on there. 

First of all, you won't fill up a bowl that takes the entire bag of chips, and you won't put 15 peanut butter cups on the plate. Plating up your food makes you think about it. Sit down with a bag of chips, or a candy dish full of peanut butter cups, and you'll polish off most, if not all of them.

Here's what's happening - your mind has to take a break to figure out how to plate these up, and you now think about what you are eating. We all know we shouldn't eat a bag of chips - but it happens. By stopping and thinking about it, our logical part of the brain kicks in, and says "Hey, if I eat the entire bag now, there won't be any to eat tomorrow!" and you consume fewer calories.

If you do nothing else except start plating up your food, I guarantee you will lose weight. 

Try it!

You know what? This would be a wonderful opportunity for a 30 day challenge! Maybe you could start on January 1st.

Me, Myself, and I - Motivation Day 2

Day Two
Day 2 was also a success. I was traveling most of the day due to travel delays (hence the post coming today instead of last night)

The goal was to allow myself to sit there, in solitude, and to allow the universe to reveal itself to me. Specifically, the challenge was to "not just do something". This means I was not supposed to allow myself to give in to pointless distractions - I didn't sit and read the news, I didn't start playing games on my phone, I didn't start watching mindless videos. I sat there, and let my mind go free.

Not only did I spend time on the plane, in solitary, allowing the universe to reveal itself, but I also spent some time in the morning, and also ended up in the bathroom at work at one point, sitting for longer than usual, allowing my mind to work. Further, when I had dinner at the Airport (St Louis Lambert Field), I was truly in my element.

Did I have some crazy revelations, and understand the universe in its fullest? Are you crazy? No one could come up with that in one day. I did come up with a new business idea, though, and I felt quite confident, and comfortable in my skin.

Dinner was a great experience - remember yesterday (well, 2 days ago) when I was living into my future self. Well at dinner, it was never better. I was sitting there, enjoying a Knob Creek with air (that means "neat", "up", "straight") and some Truffled chips, and my mind was clear, and it was working. Every input was processed much faster than usual, causing everything I saw start to make much more sense, and everything to connect in its own weird way. It did feel like I could see so much more, even though I was in my own head.

So now, what do you need to do to reach this point of clarity? You need to obviously meditate every day, and give yourself at least an hour of peaceful serenity with no distractions, and no worries, right? Hell no - if you can spare 5 minutes, you can get a benefit out of this. Many of the worlds most powerful people do take time, say an hour every other day, or every few days, to just sit there and think. When you take this time, you will see your mind start to take care of things that it wants to. Your problems will find solutions, and all you have to do is get out of the way, and stop drugging your brain with distractions!

Your challenge: Just try it, for 15 minutes today. Take 15 minutes, and turn off the TV, put your phone on silent, turn off the radio, get into a comfy chair. If you have family, tell them you need to be left alone for 15 minutes. Just see what happens. I bet you will get addicted to the immense understanding that only 15 minutes will give you.

On a side note: I remembered an old memory game last night, and on my drive home, I was able to memorize 70 words in a row, and recite them. I have never done more than 30 before, so this was a huge feat. The biggest benefit of this, however, was that I began to re-learn how to focus. I can still remember all 70 this morning, by the way. It's a very powerful game (and you can use it to almost instantly memorize a list of ten, which is a great party trick.

Day 3 Challenge:
Build a Track Record

This is a simple one, and a concept many of you are likely familiar with. It's simply establishing that you can do X, because you have done X.

The example in the book is of a gentleman who wanted to be better at finishing things. He was looking for affirmations that would make him better at finishing. The answer was not to use affirmations, but to build a track record of being a finisher. He bought a notebook, and wrote down everything he completed. By the end of the first page, he had a track record of being a finisher. He didn't just say "I'm a finisher, I'm a finisher, I'm a finisher" which your mind knows is a lie. He was able to look at his list, and say "look, I'm a finisher!"

Many of you know this concept as writing a list of things you've done. I remember filling out a to-do list, and adding some things I had already completed, then crossing them out. That has worked before, so I'm trying it again.

So here I go, I'll follow the same track as the gentleman in the story, and I'll go ahead and finish 2 things today which have been on my to-do list for a while. So here we go!

This 30-day challenge is to use one tip per day from the book "100 Way to Motivate Yourself" by Steve Chandler. The goal is to find great methods for self-motivation which can be used in the future.

Oh My God I'm so Motivated!!! Motivation Day 1

Day One
Day one is nearly complete. As a reminder, my challenge was to imagine my future self, and then live into it.

Obviously, I can't complete all of that in one day. I can imagine my future self, but I can't "live into it" in a single day! So I bit off the do-able piece: Imagine my future self.

Now, the gold standard for imagining the future is the "home of the future" videos from like 50 years ago, so I'll try to follow that style!

The Paul of the Future

The Paul of the future is a sleek model, wearing the finest bespoke Italian suits. He is surrounded by friends as he tours the world, learning new cultures, and expanding his incredible business empire. Since he first began his meteoric rise, he has been adored by many, and envied by more.

Today, he is setting up a new production plant for the newest model of human interfacing neural driven synthetic upright motor vehicle. Since the original model of his genius device was first developed, humanity has changed forever.

But once this plant is set up, the day is not over - Paul will be sleeping on his private Jet as he heads to his private island in the Caribbean, where he will be meeting with a world leader (Mr. Recchia could not disclose the identity of this world leader to us for security reasons). When he isn't courting business relationships, and cultural relationships, Mr. Recchia is enjoying his favorite relationship - his wife and two kids - Paul Jr., and Satorica. *I'm guessing girls will have really weird names by then* He enjoys spending time with his family at their home in the United States of North and South America.

Paul Recchia - the perfect combination of health, intelligence, creativity, relationship builder, and family man.

And scene.

I think that's a pretty damn good life to aspire to live. That's a great Paul to become. So the way I see it, that is a long term goal. The problem is, that could be a long way off - where do I start? Well today, I began eating healthier for a start (to get to that "sleek model" status) and I felt like I was carrying myself differently - standing up straighter, speaking with a stronger voice, taking charge. I began feeling like my future self.

It is said that when Michelangelo came upon the huge piece of Marble that would become David, that he could see David in the marble - he just needed to reveal him. I feel like I have this great new self within me - I just need to reveal him. Right now, at this very moment, I have my future self sitting here - I just have to give him a chance to get out. When I got my salad today, I felt like that other Paul was getting that salad. It's a very cool, yet bizarre feeling.

For some other methods for picturing your future self, here are some resources:
Weight Mirror - If weight loss is your game, you can see what you will look like!
Guidelines for imagining your future self
100 Ways to Motivate Yourself by Steve Chandler




Day 2 Challenge
Don't Just Do Something...Sit There (Tip #18)

The point is to take time to just sit there, and let the Universe reveal itself to you. When you remove distraction, your mind is free to run wild. Instead of finding something busy to do, just sit there, and enjoy the time. You don't need to actively "think", you need to break down the wall and let the world bring the solutions to your doorstep.

This is one that has echoes in many of the most successful people ever. Bill Gates is notorious for taking time to just think (See Lifehacker for a nice article about this)

I've known this for a while - but Steve does identify a great point:

"Sometimes, in my seminars on motivation, a person will ask me, 'Why is it that I get my best ideas when I'm in the shower?'
I usually ask the person, ' When else during your day are you alone with yourself without any distractions?'
If the person is honest, the answer is never."

This is a fantastic point, and I had recently noticed that when I drive, I have absolute clarity. I can think on unprecedented levels in my car. I have personal insight, and when I stop driving, it stops!

So tomorrow, I'll be finding some time to just sit and think, and try to ignore all other distractions. Maybe in the morning, maybe in the evening, maybe in the bathroom during work, who knows. I will do it, though!



This 30-day challenge is to use one tip per day from the book "100 Way to Motivate Yourself" by Steve Chandler. The goal is to find great methods for self-motivation which can be used in the future.

At long last, motivation, and how you can too

Reading note: The new challenge is at the bottom of this novel of a post.

If you haven't noticed: I have not done more than one damn post in the past, I don't know, 32 years! You see, it was a question of motivation, or rather the lack of it. Now I'm not talking about monetary motivation, or career motivation (let's be honest, this blog won't help me with either of those things) I'm talking about good old self-motivation. I used to have plenty, but then it dwindled, and then it disappeared.

I have a tendency to go through motivational cycles. Sometimes, I'll have no desire to really do anything, and the next moment, I'm incredibly into reading, or working out, or cooking, or learning piano, or...you name it. But inevitably, that motivation dies down, and I fade away. I usually go back to it at some point, but there's a dead period in between.

Some of the "motivational cycles" that I've had:

1. Chocolate Making
2. Reading
3. Working out
4. Learning Piano
5. Learning Guitar
6. Making Pasta
7. Making Bread
8. Becoming a pick-up artist (that one worked out real well)
9. Eating Healthy
10. Losing Weight
11. Living Long Enough to Live Forever (See Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever)
12. Roasting Coffee (currently)
13. Brewing Beer
14. Writing Music
15. Computer Coding
16. Starting a Business
17. Being Stylish
18. Being Perfectly Groomed
19. Mixing Drinks (Mixology)
20. Writing a Blog

And there's more, but I just wanted to show you that there are a number of things for which I've become highly motivated. The problem is: I almost always will lose interest, lose motivation, and not finish what I started.

In fact, I was recently in such a bad slump that I feared I would never come out of it. I was on a project at work which sucked the life out of me. It had me searching for a new job even (I have since moved on to a new project, and have restored my faith in my company) I felt in a rut, and I was finding myself escaping, whether into music, news, politics, or, mostly, TV shows. I watched all 3 seasons of Arrested Development...twice. I began watching Cheers, I watched every episode of Shark Tank more than once. Finally, Shark Tank pulled me out of the slump. 

Problem: I go through motivational cycles in which I am intensely motivated, but soon lose interest and at the same time, the motivation.

Solution: Figure out what motivates me, and keep doing it!

I had an epiphany during my recent kick of motivation (actually, while sitting at a Chinese restaurant waiting for food - I was going through a Chinese food kick. The benefit being that I learned how to make some kick ass fried rice). The epiphany - if I am not always motivated, then why don't I figure out what is motivating me, and make sure I can recreate those conditions. 

It's simple, right? Well it took me 24 years to figure that one out. The exception is at the gym, where I had a playlist specifically designed to motivate me. It started out fun, but then towards the end, when things got tough, it got incredibly spirited and energetic. 

So, I thought to myself:

Me: Well, what typically motivates you?
Paul: Hmm, I'm not sure - Shark Tank motivated me because I want to be like the sharks - not ruthless necessarily, but stylish, well spoken, and highly capable

Me: What else?
Paul: Hmm, I'm not sure, but I bet someone has written a book about this.

Me: You're right! Let's search Amazon :) 

So I found a book which had great reviews, and promised to help me motivate myself. I bought it for Kindle, and just started reading it yesterday. I must say, it is quite handy so far. It is an easy read, and is organized into 100 tips for self-motivation. A tip from a reviewer was to read this multiple times (spaced out, of course) and soon the actions will become part of your habit.

I am currently on #27: Create the Way you Relate. However, I had a great idea - why not take on some of these challenges. Maybe even one per day. Maybe even for a whole month!

Challenge: Follow one tip from the book: 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever (Link at the end of the post) per day for 30 days

Each post will have a breakdown of the progress in the current day, and a preview of what is to come for the next day. As I go along, hopefully you'll get some helpful tips, and maybe even decide to buy the book for yourself (If you go through my link, I'll get a few pennies, so that's always appreciated)

Day #1: Stay Hungry*

This stems from advice the author received from Arnold Schwarzenegger (before he hit it big). "'It's the same process I used in bodybuilding,' he explained. 'What you do is create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true'" (Chandler Loc137)

So the goal is to picture yourself how you wish to be, and then strive towards that goal.

"A major part of living a life of self-motivation is having something to wake up for in the morning--something that you are 'up to' in life so that you will stay hungry" (Chandler Loc137)

"The vision can be created right now--better now than later" (Chandler Loc143)

So tomorrow, I will set out to create a vivid picture of who I wish to be. And even better, I'll write it down here, so it will be here to stay, as a reminder. 

*Though this will be tomorrow, I will plan out the challenges the night before, so I'm not forced to think something up in the morning. 

If you'd like to check out this book, please see the link below (note that a new edition is due out Nov 22. of this year)

If you'd like to pre-order the new edition: 

100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, Third Edition: Change Your Life Forever

Increasing Your Reading

So, I recently had a challenge that I "quit" because it wasn't an actual challenge. It was a way to say I was doing a challenge while not really changing my behavior at all.

That challenge was to read 30 minutes a day. I already do this most days, so it was a pointless challenge (i.e., it wasn't a challenge at all. A challenge should be challenging)

But, for those of you who may have thought this would be a great concept for you to follow, I can provide some tips.

1. Find a comfortable place to read! A lot of people think a great place to read is in bed. This doesn't work for me. I can't stay comfortable reading in bed for more than about 10 minutes. For me, the best place is a comfortable chair. The best place I've ever read was on a double chaise lounge in my Uncle's back yard in his place in the Mountains of Scottsdale Arizona, with a fire going. It was sublime. 
2. Read things you enjoy reading. So often, we do what we think we should do. "Well, I'm supposed to enjoy the writings of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. I think I'll read some of their books". If you don't like their writing, or you don't like fiction in general, then don't read it. I prefer non-fiction myself - Business biographies, Business development, self-help, Theoretical Physics, etc. That's what I like, so that's what I read. Remember High School? If you didn't like the books, then you probably just didn't read them.
3. Find a routine. This doesn't apply to everyone. Heck, it doesn't even apply to me. I don't do well with routines. I prefer to do things as they come to me, so if I'm in the middle of a book, I may pull out my phone, my tablet, or my kindle, and pick up where I left off. However, if you're looking to increase your reading throughput, create a routine. Say every night, before going to bed, I'm going to read for 30 minutes. Or just, "I'm going to read before bed" - the amount of time will likely vary depending on how tired you are. This provides a couple of benefits. The most important one is that you will focus on yourself, and have something that you enjoy doing. If you are taking care of a family, they will know that this is your time. It's important to have time for yourself, and don't let anyone (family, friends, or work) take that away from you.

My last tip is for anyone who wants to reduce clutter in their life, without sacrificing a book collection. I have probably 100-200 physical books right now...I also just moved. Those two things do not go together. Books are freaking heavy, and moving them is a pain. I nearly killed my back trying to move my big box o' books. As part of the move, I'm looking to reduce the crap I have in my life, so I decided to pick up a Kindle from Amazon. You can use any e-reader, but I prefer the Kindle because of the content dominance, and the apps that work on my other devices.

The coolest thing is something called whispersync, which syncs up where you are in the book with the cloud. So if I read to page 142 on my Kindle, then when I pull out my tablet or my phone, it asks if I want to jump to where I left off. Yes, please! I'm still building my collection there, but it is growing quickly. I especially like all the free books. You get tons of classics free - so if you want some of the classic books (1920's and earlier), you can have them free. I'm also reading up on Einstein for free. Additionally, the books are cheaper on Kindle, so if you digest a lot of books, like I do, then you will make back your money quickly. I've already saved ~$20 on books in the month since I got it.

My recommendation is the Kindle Touch (wi-fi or 3G, your choice. I went with wi-fi, but I kind of wish I had gotten the 3G). It's light, and it just kind of disappears in your hands - you forget you are reading on a device. I also recommend you get it with special offers. It essentailly brings up new offers in your area from Amazon Locals. I actaully prefer it, because it gives you special deals, and it knocks $40 off the price of your Kindle. If you hate them, you can get rid of them by paying the $40, but everywhere I read said that they are better than the standard, and I agree.

Anyway, if you want to check out the Kindle, check the link below, and see if it's right for you! It's highly recommended by me, and let me say, I was one of the people who always said he would never ever get rid of his physical books!!!

Reading Challenge is Called Off

So, I have not done my reading every day like I set out to do, but that's okay. Let me explain why.

The motivation behind the new challenge was to make myself more productive. The problem is this: I already read frequently, but I have fallen down on this lately, due to a number of other things popping up in my life (family, friends, a dinner party I just threw...stuff creeps up)

I realized last night that this challenge was not in the true spirit of this blog, or of the concept. It was a cop-out. I felt like I should have a new 30 day challenge, so I came up with an easy one. Since I already read frequently, 30 minutes a day would be easy. The purpose of the 30-day concept is to challenge yourself. So, with that all said:

I am cancelling the 30 day reading challenge

Day #12 & 13: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 12: Unsuccessful (barely!)
Day 13: Success
Success Rate: 84.6%

Another couple of successful days!!! It is becoming more and more difficult for me. I'm facing cravings, and they are getting more powerful. Usually I'm good at sidestepping cravings, but this is becoming intense. Not even for highly processed carbs, but more for the lightly processed carbs that I am used to eating. Whole wheat tortillas, whole grain bread, even simple rice (brown rice is not always available)

The thing to remember, though, is that it takes ~30 days to create new habits, or to break old ones. I assume that goes along with getting over cravings. That simply means I need to stick it out like a big boy, and run toward success. Yeah baby, I'll do it!!!

Over the past couple of days, I ate relatively simple foods. Fried eggs with all natural pesto and homemade hash browns for breakfast (FYI, Yukon Gold's are the best potatoes for hash browns). Yesterday, I had Thai food with a friend for lunch - chicken Masaman, with brown rice. So so so good (I also had Chicken Sa-teh, and Tom Ka with Tofu...god I love Thai food).

Dinner last night...and the night before, was where I shined! But I just realized (as I am writing this) that I actually had an accidental, tiny, slip-up.

2 nights ago (day 12), I made grilled chicken with grilled Carrots. The chicken was awesome, I used the following marinade:

• 1/4 c. Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• Chicken breasts

Mix it all together, and let it marinade for 15 minutes. Grill. Done

The carrots I made were simple.

1. Peel Carrots
2. Toss with a bit of oil (not olive oil - use Canola, Vegetable, safflower, peanut, whatever, but not olive oil)
3. While those are grilling over medium high heat, mix together ~1 Tablespoon of butter (melted) with a Tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar, a dash of mustard (to help it emulsify), and dried thyme (maybe 1/2 teaspoon?)
4. When you first flip the carrots (do it when they have grill marks) brush on the butter - careful, it will flare up. 
5. Keep grilling until properly charred, and tender.

Looks awesome, right? Well, it was freaking awesome! The thing I just now realized is that Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire sauce has a bit of sugar. So I lost that day. It's a shame.

Yesterday night, I also had the carrots again - they were so good, I had to try them again, and I also grilled some Yukon gold potatoes, with the same process. Oil, grill, brush on butter, grill until crisp and cooked through. 

Doesn't that look just amazing? It's really easy, too, and that was a very very filling meal. Vegetarian to boot, and good for the soul.

I keep moving forward, and as I type this, I'm on my way out to Vegas for my second major week of challenges. I'm not looking forward to dealing with these cravings while working in the city of temptation (I know it's the city of sin, but that doesn't work as well as "city of temptation", and I think it's still accurate, so...)

For those of you who have taken on 30 day challenges of your own, please let me know about it! And keep chugging along!!!

Day #11: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

First of all - sorry for taking so long to get another post up!!! I've been crazy busy at work - literally working from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. Part of that is due to the time zone issues - it always feels like it's midnight.

Day 7: Success
Day 8: Success
Day 9: Success
Day 10: Success
Day 11: Success
Success rate: 90.9%

As some may know, I started my work out in Las Vegas this week. It was...tough...to say the least. For the most part, it wasn't too bad - I was able to work around just about anything Vegas threw at me. We get to eat some of our meals at the Employee Dining Rooms (EDR, for short) which has, typically, a salad bar, fruit, breakfast items, and then hot food items.

Eating in the EDR's is easy - for breakfast, I have been getting a little bit of egg, some oatmeal, and a few pieces of fruit. The nice thing is, I can take a banana or two up to my office, and I have a mid morning snack.

Lunch has been in the EDR's, and it has consisted of salad, more fruit, and maybe a little bit of the hot food, if I'm confident that there is no added sugar to any marinades or spice rubs. Water to drink most of the time. Not too shabby.

The one problem I ran into was: the Las Vegas Buffet's.

The first night we were there - we swung by a Sushi buffet for dinner. Holy cow - all you can eat Sashimi, crab, shrimp, seaweed salad, bacon wrapped asparagus, and other stuff. So so so delicious. I really loved the buffet, but I didn't love it so much at 2am. I woke up at about 2am with a burning ball of lead in my stomach. I'm not sure whether it was bad fish, or if I accidentally ate broccoli somewhere. I had a mushroom salad that looked like it had asparagus in it, but now I think it may have had broccoli sliced up in there. I'm allergic (really food intolerant) to broccoli, and I end up in lots of pain if I eat even a little bit.

Later, we decided to get a 24-hour pass to buffet's - it gets us access to any buffet owned by a Caesars Entertainment company - it was $44. We ate at the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood for dinner...it was okay, nothing to write home about, and some of the food was down right nasty. For breakfast, we ate at the Paris buffet, and it was AWESOME. I had an omelet, sausage, smoked salmon, potatoes, fruit, and mmm, mmm, was it good!

Lunch time came around, and it was time to check out the Caesars buffet. The food was tasty - I had more smoked salmon, some cheese, roast pork, and fruit and vegetables. Easy enough. But then, I was faced with my biggest challenge so far. We were seated right next to the dessert buffet area. It was a major challenge for me, and I'm not HUGE on desserts, but this was a challenge.

You can see how that would be a challenge for me, or for anyone.

Other than that, it hasn't been too bad. Mostly the EDR's - and I told you how I handled that already. The rest, I had a great dinner at the Strip House - a steak house. Started with beef jerky - homemade, then a crisp organic chicken for entree, with crisp goose fat potatoes. So delicious.

Yesterday was straightforward, many potatoes and eggs. Not a whole heck of a lot to say there.

I will say, that there is some worry from a family member that my current challenge will be an issue during Thanksgiving, since it will require a different menu, as carbohydrates are such a major part of the menu. Once we discussed it, however, we realized that it won't be so bad. I can still eat:

• Turkey
• Brussels Sprouts
• Asparagus
• Salad

The things I can't eat: Crescent Rolls, gravy, cranberry chutney, jello salad, are all things that I don't typically eat (well, except for the cranberry chutney - it's so much tastier than cranberry sauce, and much better for you probably).

When all is said and done, it's not too bad for me, and the menu doesn't really need to change. I'll need to work on figuring out a dessert I can make that I can eat - something fruit based of course - but I'll figure that out without a problem.

The last thing I'm considering, is putting together a tray of "raw" bars, to have for food while in Vegas. They are healthy, and completely raw (something your body really likes). You can see recipes here and here.

I'll let you know if I try them!

Day #5 & 6: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 5: Success
Day 6: Success
Success Rate: 83.33%

I know, I know, I missed day 5. So sue me. I was busy with...not doing a whole lot, just relaxing.

Anyway, I had a great weekend - on Saturday, I went with eggs and hashbrowns (homemade - I cut up the potatoes from scratch) and sauteed with onion and olive oil. Lunch was...well, I missed Lunch to be honest. For dinner, I made a fantastic fruit smoothie, with banana, frozen berries, some milk, and some cacao nibs (raw chocolate beans) mmm, mmm, was it delicious. A Late dinner was at a place called Frankies - a sports bar. I got some chili, as I hung out with a buddy while we watched the games. He also realized something great for me - I can drink wine! No beer, no liquor, but wine is okay, because it is made from grapes, not from grains. I'm calling it okay, mainly because red wine (I'm only going to drink red) has much of the "goodness" of grape juice in it.

Today, I was hanging out with some friends (they slept at my place last night) and they slept much later than I. I woke up, as usual, at 6am...although I did go back to sleep until 8:30am. I still was up before them, and I made some more homemade hash browns. I know, more potatoes, big whoop. There is calcium in the skins (you do eat the skins, right?)

For lunch, we hit up a place called Mooyah, which is a burger place. I ended up grabbing a burger, but it was an "ICEBurger" which means they used iceberg lettuce instead of a bun. Couple that with lots of veggies, mustard, etc. and it was a pretty great burger! The fries were also pretty great...we split a large.

Dinner time was special - it was like practice for thanksgiving dinner. Roast turkey, sweet potato (whole, not mashed with marshmallows)  zucchini (fresh organic of course) and rolls (which I skipped)

I also had to skip the gravy, unfortunately. It is made with flour (or sometimes with cornstarch) and it can't be eaten by me.

All in all, it was a good day, with good friends, and a great bottle of pinot noir to finish it.

I'm now off to Vegas to kick off a new project. It should prove to be difficult, but I can certainly do it. I'm not finding that I'm desiring the processed carbs, but it is just a challenge to avoid them! Food manufacturers like to put then in everything because they are cheap, and they even make you MORE hungry, like a crack dealer who gives you "just a little" crack for free (but more on that later...the carbohydrate thing, not the crack thing)

Day #4: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 4: Success
Success Rate: 75%

Okay, okay, I know that today isn't over yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm done eating for today, so I'm calling this one a success.

I started the day with a planned juice fast. There was just one problem, well, two problems really.

Problem the first: The fruits and vegetables I had were pretty dry, so I was not getting much juice out of them at all. This makes for a pretty poor juice fast, when you juice three hands full of spinach, an apple, and 5 carrots, and I barely got a glass of juice out of it.

Problem the second: I didn't feel like going to the store to buy fresher vegetables.

So, I ended up eating a few solid food items towards the end of the day, but I followed the challenge anyway.

So here's the food:

Breakfast
Juice. 5 carrots. 3 handfuls of spinach. 1 apple.

Lunch
Juice. 6 carrots. 3 handfuls of spinach.

Mid afternoon snack
I made some eggs for this. Just a couple of eggs, mixed in with some pesto, and some parmigiana cheese (yeah, I don't like the standard boring eggs that some people like to eat). They were good, and a quick little snack.

Dinner:
I made up some brown rice, which is good enough by itself, but then...

I mixed up some carrots (lots of carrots today!) and some onions, sauteed them in olive oil, with sesame oil, Mongolian fire oil, and soy sauce. It became super delicious, and would have been great by itself.

I then tossed in the brown rice, and a little more soy sauce. Yum. Yum. Yum.

So now I'm stuffed, and don't quite feel like moving. But seriously, tomorrow morning, I need to grab some vegetables for juicing, because that really is great for you.

Overall, a successful day, though that's pretty easy when you are at home, and half of the day is spent juice fasting.

Day #3: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 3: Unsuccessful
Success Rate: 66.7%
Cause of failure: Mistake

First of all, I determined that the liquor would count as a processed carbohydrate. The reason is this: If you look at the description of the challenge, you'll find that I said: "just those that have had their goodness sucked out" - this is the sole reason that I determined that the liquor is not allowed. It will be so very tough, now that I have excluded liquor, but hey, it's only 30 days (and that is the point of this blog, after all).


Anyway, back to the cause of failure. At lunch, I got the same brown rice and lentils, with edammame salad, apple salad, and pesto pasta. I was so focused on the sauces surrounding these items, that I forgot that I had ordered pasta! I actually threw out the apple salad - once I tasted it, I tasted sugar in the sauce, and in the trash it went.


It was about 3 hours later that it struck me "you dummy, you ate pasta, and on day 3". Oh well, so I ate about 1/4 cup of pasta as part of the salad, and I proved I'm not human. I guess it just proves that this won't be as easy as I thought, and that I'll need to be on my toes for the whole 30 days.


On to the meals:

Breakfast

I am coming down with something (did I mention that already in a previous post? I think I did). I happen to know that one of the best things you can do to speed through an illness is to go on a juice fast. I went to the cafe, and bought some Naked brand "Berry Veggie" juice. I've had it many times before, and it is a great juice. It's one of their only varieties with vegetables in it.


Solid Breakfast

Lunch

Well, as I mentioned already, I got the salads, and a "C-Machine" juice. Again, it works, nothing special.

Dinner

I got this one at the airport. I had tried to get moved up to take the earlier flight through Minneapolis, but they couldn't do it. Oh well, I went to the Boulevard Brewery restaurant, and I got the Chili and the Southwest Salad. Chili was quite tasty - beans and meat. The salad was great - it was a spicy dressing (I hope beyond hope there was not sugar in there. I tasted it extensively, and there was no sweetness to speak of). The salad also had fajita chicken, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, and other stuff. I sidestepped the crackers, and I was on my way.


That was at about 4pm, and it was the last thing I ate for the day. I planned on grabbing an apple in First Class from Atlanta to Dallas, but I fell asleep before takeoff, then woke up after landing. I did have to sidestep the Byrd cookies in the SkyClub in Atlanta. I havent' had these before, so I wanted to give them a shot, but I have commitments to follow damnit!

Day #3 - Dilemma

I am sitting on my plane right now, preparing for take off. I'm met with a dilemma...does liquor count as a processed carb?

It is made from distilling a mash made from boiling some grain. However, there are no carbohydrates left in the liquor-hence my dilemma.

I'm really in the mood for a Woodford Reserve or two, so we shall see what I decide. It is such a great perk of first class that it is hard to ignore. Hmm, it's a tough one.

More to come later, including an update on my first unsuccessful day (it has nothing to do with the liquor, I made a mistake at lunch!)

Day #2: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 2: Success (I think)
Success Rate: 99.99999%

Day 2 was a bit tougher for me, just because I had a lack of energy toward the end of the day. I was up early, and fell back asleep (I haven't done that in weeks, ever since I started Steve Pavlina's trick for waking up to your alarm  right away) and then when I woke up at 7:20, I had to prepare a bit for an 8:00 meeting, rush in to the bathroom, take a shower, get ready, and I came out of the bathroom at...7:59 - Perfect!

Finish that meeting, and get called in for another one, then get an e-mail that says "call me", so that was another 2 minutes, then, amazingly, I got called just seconds after I hung up from that call. I was not able to leave my hotel room to get to the office until 11am. Here's the kicker: I had a meeting at 12:00 noon - 1:00, 1:00-2:00, 2:00-3:00, and then an informal meeting after that. So I was tired. Tired hates will power.

Anyway, on my walk over to the office, I had to pass by this place, which is the most heavenly smelling place on earth! (See them make fudge!)

This place is so good, it was featured on the Food Network, and is a favorite stop of mine (and my co-workers) on the way back from Lunch. The worst part - you can't NOT walk by this place. Well, the smell was a treat, at least.

Brunch:

I got to the office, and I was quite hungry (I hadn't eaten yet), so I went to the cafe, and got:

• Brown rice and lentil salad - a complete protein, and good fiber. Just what I needed after Fogo de Chao
• Curried sweet potatoes - I grilled the guy who makes this food, and he swore there wasn't a single added sugar in sight
• Edamamme salad - This is SO good. It's edamamme with cranberries, feta, and tossed in a bit of vinegar. To die for.

So I was pretty full from that, and I survived the next 4 hours of meetings.

Dinner:

Okay, so I left the office, and it was time for dinner. It's my last night in Kansas City, so I thought "Barbecue" of course. I called up "Jack Stack" and asked them if I could get their beef ribs without sauce - they checked, and yes, you can. Turns out they are dry smoked, then sauced. Easy enough.

I went down there (thank god for the "Link" which connects the hotel to Union station, and Union station to the stairs right behind Jack Stack.) I jogged over to the restaurant to avoid the rain (hence the "thank god for the 'Link'" comment) and walked on in. Table for one, right in the middle of the restaurant (strange), and it was time to order. 

Now I know from experience, that their Burnt End stew is fantastic, so I got a cup of that. Then, I went big (literally) and got the "Crown Prime Beef Ribs" which came with 2 sides. I got the seasonal vegetables, and the baked potato (with trimmings on the side, just in case they tried to surprise me with "brown sugar butter" or some such nonsense.

Food came, and it looked amazing. I took a bite, then snapped this photo:

They are bigger than the picture makes them look. Each one is about the size of a $10,000 stack of $100 bills - and that's just the meat!

Side note: after I snapped this photo, the ladies at the table next to mine asked if I was a food critic (which gave me another idea for a 30 day challenge, but that will have to wait). I played around with them, "shhh, we don't like the restaurants to know we're here", "you can read about it in about 3 days". That was fun :)

The ribs were delicious! But the star of the show? The seasonal vegetables. Green beans grilled with red pepper, served in an onion ring, drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar (I skipped the onion ring). They were delectable - I almost considered taking an order home. 

So, I am stuffed, and I almost hate myself more than after Fogo last night, but damnit, the challenge is continuing. 

P.S. The reason I said "I think" on the success portion, is that I'm not sure if there was starch in the Burnt End stew - it was quite thick, and I fear a roux may have come in to play, though the color of the sauce (ok, it's broth, but really, it's like sauce) suggests long simmering, with perhaps some demi-glace (yes, I'm a food guy)

P.P.S. I just realized in re-reading this post prior to publishing, that I only ate twice today - no snack, no breakfast, no late night snacks (I assume - I'm writing this at 7:30pm) That's probably good considering the foods which I ate this evening are probably competing with the foods I ate last night to clog my arteries.

Day #1: No Refined or Processed Carbohydrates

Day 1: Success
Success Rate: 100%


Day 1 is over!

It wasn't exactly easy - not so much because of the urges, but really because of the lack of foods you can eat. I'm finding that if I had said "no refined or processed sugars, then I would have been just fine...but no, I said CARBOHYDRATES, which covers a much much larger group of foods.

So what was my day like?

Breakfast

Well it started, of course, with plenty of phone calls and meetings for work. I took 2 hours worth of these from my room, and then on the way to work (I am working at the Crown Center in Kansas City right now - I walk through the mall to get to work) I stopped at Einstein Bros. for a fruit cup.

It turns out that I am so well known at Einstein, that when I walked in, the lady said "Nova Lox on a plain thin", which is delicious - you should try it some time - but I simply grabbed a fruit cup, and told her "not today". Easy enough, so I got some fruit, and enjoyed it (even though it wasn't very fresh)

Lunch

Then...meetings, meetings, and more meetings, and we came to Lunch. Since this is my last week in Kansas City, I went out to lunch with a co-worker who lives out here. He took me to Margaritas (menu), for "Taco Tuesday". i.e. buy one get one free on tacos. It was tough! I felt like I would be a jerk if I didn't order the tacos, since that is what he was raving about. However, I learned a long time ago, that people are understanding (especially when you are my size) if you order a salad. Seriously, no one can feel hurt if you are watching what you eat, right?

So I ordered the "Ensalata Fajitas", and a cup of Abondigas soup - which is like a meatball soup. Of course the Abondigas came with rice and tortillas, and the table had tortilla chips, but I stayed away from both of those things (come on, it's Day 1, of course my will power is strong). Lunch was great, had some great conversation with a friend, and I made it through 2 meals already!

Mid-Afternoon Snack

You all know the feeling. You're tired from the combination of work, lack of sleep the night before, and lunch. You don't know what to do. "Coffee" you say? Well no, I gave up caffeine almost 2 months ago (you should too, it's bad for you). So my other responses had been "maybe some hot chocolate". Well that's out now. So I meandered down to our cafe, and found a raw nut and dehydrated fruit mix. A quick check of the ingredients indicated no added sugars or carbs, so I bought some (actually, I bought a lot, I slipped and unloaded like 1/2 a pound into my bag - I've got tons left over today).

Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans, Cranberries, Raisins, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Kernels, mostly raw.

Coolio, I'm set!!!

Dinner - The breakfast of people who don't wake up on time

Dinner...what to do for dinner. I was at the office until 6:30 (we get kicked out - lame), and then I debated dinner. I can't cook for myself in my hotel room, so I have to go out. I could go to Jack Stack Barbecue, or just downstairs to the cafe in the hotel - both probably have valid options. But then I realized that Jack Stack puts sauce on no matter what - you can't get the BBQ without sauce, and that certainly means sugar. The place downstairs is similar, and the prices are outrageous.

Then I remembered a great place in the "Plaza" of Kansas City - Fogo de Chao. Of course I've been here multiple times, but it's great for meat lovers, and would work for my diet. It's high quality food that is mostly whole. They have an incredible salad bar (with less "salad" than anything else) and then they have guys walking around with skewers of meat. You have a little card that is red on one side and green on the other. When you want meat, you flip it to green, and they stop by and offer you what they have. When you're finished, or need a breather, you flip it to red.

It's something like this

So after stuffing my face like a pig, and enjoying the many salad bar items. I was set! It was a bit of a challenge, because they give you these little "cheese rolls", polenta, mashed potatoes, and fried bananas. I can eat the fried bananas (as long as they aren't coated in sugar) but the rest is off limits, and the sides are delicious!!! 
Either way, I survived, and I felt good for having sidestepped some hurdles. 
So now, here I am, off to day 2, and I have the success of day one to push me along.

The One that starts it all

I am starting this blog for a few reasons.

1. I like to write for fun sometimes
2. I wanted to try out this sweet new "30 day challenges" concept
3. I love to live life to its fullest!

So I am taking the advice of Matt Cutts, who gave a great TED Talk in March of 2011. His concept is simple: Try anything for 30 days. Easy enough? Maybe not, but we shall certainly see. If you'd like to hear Matt's talk, I have embedded it in this post, or you can go watch it here.

I see this as a great method for enacting small changes in your world - changes that will really stick.

Here's How I'll do it

• I will have at least one 30 day challenge going on at any point in time
• At the beginning of each challenge, I'll identify:
• The challenge
• Foreseeable difficulties
• Substitutions (if I'm giving up something for 30 days)
• Desired impact
• Expected level of difficulty
• Then, at the end of each challenge, I'll identify
• Actual difficulty of the challenge
• Difficulties faced
• Lessons learned
• Whether I believe I will continue the behavior after the the 30 days is complete
• And of course, there will be updates in between, telling of my progress in the challenge

So, without further adieu, I believe I will get going on my 30 day challenges!