80-10-10, Day 1

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life."

I love that saying!! I say it to myself often, especially when I am getting down on myself for not doing something I wanted to that day - in whatever area of my life it is, whether it be spiritual things, or housework, computer work, diet or exercise. Today, right here - right NOW, this very moment....is the very first hour/minute/second of the rest of my life. Forget about how it has gone in the past, forget about promises to myself and things I have wished I could do. We're forever saying in our culture that, "On Monday I'll start" or "tomorrow" or "...on the 1st of the month" or whatever it is. Forget all of that! Start NOW!

So with that mind, today, this morning, was the start of my journey into the world of 80-10-10 and eating 100% raw, only not with the high amount of fats I've previously been eating on raw. I am almost finished with Dr. Doug Graham's book called "80-10-10" and it is absolutely phenomenal. Even if a person doesn't agree with his theory on low fat raw, the statistics and sheer information on things such as candida, diabetes, etc - is just fascinating. I find myself visualizing what is happening inside my body when I eat junk, and it has helped me alot to determine to myself to not do that again.

Now, to be honest - I've actually been trying to be 100% raw 811 (80-10-10) for almost a month now, and I can't do it. I haven't been able to stick with it! It's been SO frustrating to me and actually very eye-opening to see how much of a lack of discipline I have. In Dr. Doug's book, he writes about emotional eating and how it takes an enormous amount of energy from our body to handle emotions AND handle the digestion of the junk we're eating. Our body can't handle both, so it shuts down the emotional part of it, and that is why when we eat junk and comfort food, it blocks those things we don't want to face. When I eat pure and clean food that requires less energy for my body to digest, those emotions are there as big as life, and my mind has to deal with them.

SO - that has been a help for me because it's very obvious that the reason I eat junk food (sugar, breads, snack food, dairy) is because there are often things in my life that I don't want to deal with, I don't want to face. For instance, I'll have a mountain of dishes that needs to be done but - all I want to do is open a box of granola bars (supposedly "healthy" but full of chocolate chips, marshmallows, you get the point!) or a bag of chips or make a greasy grilled cheese sandwich and sit in front of a good movie or the computer and just ------- vegg and mindlessly chow down. Then I don't have to deal with the guilty feelings of knowing I need to do housework, or I push aside those thoughts that I need to be eating raw and it really does make me feel better for a while. It's pleasurable to enjoy the food, mmmmmm so good.......and then about an hour later I feel heavy, sickly, indigestion starts happening, etc.

So anyway, I'm kind of rambling here, but it does help to get my thoughts out on paper. Yesterday I was in my room and realized that I really need to get my act together and just use discipline. I am stronger than my stupid cravings - why do I go against something that I want so much? Why can't just buck up and DO 80-10-10 like I want to do? So I decided that by jove, I'm going to seriously do this. No more tinkering around with excuses and dumb reasons. I'm so tired of that! And by putting this in my blog and not hiding behind longer & longer absences on here, I'm going to be held accountable by everyone who reads it. Scary! LOL.

Here are my goals I've written out in my diary, but I'll outline them here too. The most I've managed to go 80-10-10 is 4 days in a row, earlier this month, so that is my goal #1, to beat that by going 5 days. The next goal after that is to beat my 12-day-run of 811 back in March of 2007. After that, 30 days .... and after that, we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that by 30 days I'll be down to my pre-pregnancy weight and will be loving the results SO much that I'll keep on going. Long-term goal is to weigh 120lbs which is standard for my height of 5'3"- right now I am 23 lbs over that, at 143.

Goal #1 - Complete 5 days 100% ~ Feb. 23-27
Goal #2 - Complete 13 days 100% ~ Feb. 23-Mar. 6
Goal #3 - Complete 30 days 100% ~ Feb. 23-Mar. 23

I'm looking forward to spring (we had a gorgeous day here today!!) because the abundance of fruit will be starting....I am looking forward to lots of watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, grapes, to name a few! It gets easier & easier to eat 80-10-10 during the summer.

Today I also starting something brand new since last summer. I waited until DH was done taking his shower and making his breakfast (Jack was sleeping) and put on my tried & true workout clothes, and stepped outside with my stopwatch. I learned this particular technique from my "bodybuilding days" such as they were, back after baby #3 when I was following a strict diet that included lots of protein & clean carbs/veggies/fruits along with heavyweights. Part of that routine included cardio, and I hired an online trainer named Pam Brown to work with me for my weight training/diet and she was AWESOME! I will always be thankful for the education I got from her.

Anyway, back to my technique. It's pretty cool. Most people for cardio just power walk, or jog or run, however they prefer. What she taught me is that ALL you need is 20 min. and you can get into the highest level of fat burning quickly, plus keep on burning fat well after you're done. Basically you have a stopwatch or timer, and set it to 20 min. You set out powerwalking at a fast pace as the timer counts backwards from 20:00. As soon as 2 min. have gone by, you start jogging as fast as you can, and you do that for 1 full minute. It's actually more like sprinting, going as fast as your body will let you.

As soon as that one minute is gone you slow down back to a powerwalk and do that for 2 full minutes again. Doing that for the entire 20 minutes, you'll end up sprinting for 6 of those minutes, getting your heartbeat up and then letting it slow a little for 2 minutes so you can do it again. In the end you'll have an extra 2 minutes left to powerwalk at the end. It might sound confusing, but it works for me and I LOVE the kick-butt workout it gives me in such a short time especially since I don't often have like, a full hour to walk 4 miles or whatever else I wish I could do.

By the time I got back, my body was definitely fatigued and my lungs felt like they'd expanded....ooooooh smell that good, clean air! I'm already getting stiff & sore, which is the annoying part of starting something like this, but it'll even out as I keep on doing it.

The only problem is that I don't often have a babysitter to watch the kids so I can go, especially in the morning on an empty stomach like I'd prefer. But that's OK - I'm not going to stress about that. I'll just make do with what I can, and my goal is to go twice on the weekends and then once or twice during the week, probably in the dark (although the neighborhood streets are well lit) after dinner when DH happens to be home and it works out. When it starts getting lighter in the mornings, I might be able to go out while DH is in the shower before work.

On to baby news. I got my BabyWise book and am LOVING LOVING LOVING it!!!!!! I really think this is going to be the answer to what I am looking for. And actually, ever since my friend Jen explained the concept to me I've been trying it a little, and Jack has really calmed down already on his little crying spells. I figured out that when he wakes up and immediately is fed, then plays for literally an EXACT hour every single time (he did this on his own, not me), he starts getting fussy. Before, I would try to make him stop fussing....holding him, rocking him, etc - and it never worked! Now I lay him in his bed at the first sign of fussing once he's had his "play awake time" and he literally rolls his eyes in pleasure, turning toward his favorite side of the bed, and goes to sleep! In like, minutes. It's crazy and awesome - he sleeps for 2-3 hours and then we repeat the cycle again.

I'm not all the way through the book yet so I need to make sure I'm doing it right, but so far now that I understand what to do, it's working well. I plan to wake him up every morning at 7:30 so he can be nursed and ready when the kids wake up for school at 8am. He'll have his awake time until 8:45 at which time I can go down for a nap if I want to, while the younger kids watch a movie or play on the computer.

That's it for now - stay tuned!