Three Days In

Dinner = a salad as big as my head

I am 1/14 of the way done with my 6 week Eat to Live challenge. A friend embarked on a similar endeavor recently and told me that the third day was, by far, the most difficult. I pray to God that she's right because I am not feeling that great right now.

There's nothing going on that concerns me but I'm definitely experiencing some of the unpleasant symptoms Dr. Fuhrmann warns off in his books: growly stomach, slight headache, occasional lightheadedness, desperate cravings, grumpiness, etc.

Fuhrmann attributes these symptoms to detoxification from all the sugar, caffeine, and fat consumed in the standard American diet. In his books, this is also called "toxic hunger" because they are signals for many people to eat something sweet or salty to experience the dopamine rush these foods, apparently, cause.

I only say "apparently" because I'm trying to experience the next six weeks as a skeptic and I haven't dug into all the studies Fuhrmann cites. So, while I don't want to take everything he says at face value, I am fully committed to following the plan for the entire six weeks unless a medical reason to stop arises.

I'll admit that my commitment almost crumbled when my co-workers decided to get take-out at our favorite place today. If I hadn't already been so vocal about this challenge with them, I might have decided to "cheat," which, for me, would have amounted to needing to start over.

There is room in Fuhrmann's plan for indulgences but, if I have the food I need available, I'm not going to deviate from the recommended foods within this six week period, no matter how sorely I am tempted. There is something inside me that wants this experiment to be as untainted as possible. Should get interesting when I'm traveling for work next month.

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Later: I had a delicious salad tonight and discovered the beauty of Bragg's Liquid Aminos as a substitute for sodium-laden soy sauce. I need to learn to stop eating when I'm full, though, instead of trying to continue eating because I haven't eaten the volume of food recommended. Overeating salad is so much more uncomfortable than overeating chocolate or pizza.