Day One - Where it all begins again

Mood: 7/10 - Happy out.

Energy: 7/10 - Ready to rock.

Withdrawals? Nope.

Ate/Drank:

• Breakfast - Nakd bar
• Lunch - Sweet potato fries & venison burgers
• Dinner - Chicken, broccoli and rice(!)
• Drank - Water, diet coke and tea

For some reason when I sat down to write a blog on day one all over again, I was reminded of the stupid Wrestlemania 20 tagline - "Where it all begins again". But that's honestly how today feels. A whole new world, hence the blog name.

The past couple days, with MT's birthday, have involved sampling much of what had been removed in the past month, to varying degrees of success. The weirdest sensation was drinking coke for the first time, which just tasted so horrendously artificial. Given that most drinks are fruit based in flavour, it was quite strange to taste this flavour which has its basis in a lab. It felt so fake. Now, mind you, by the end of the drink my taste buds had mostly acclimated. Sweets on the other hand...not really. They just tasted unpleasant mostly, and afterward I felt nauseous. MT sees this as a positive and I guess I should as well but it makes me kind of sad that these long time favs just don't work with my palate now. 

I will say this, the sugar impacted both of us drastically and immediately. MT's sleep was heavily disrupted and mine was affected too. It took me longer to go asleep and I woke a couple of times. I felt a big impact on my digestive system. Without being graphic, I spent more time in the bathroom today than any other day the past month. And I could see very clearly how I'd get a lift in my energy and then be tired and irritable an hour later. Having had the absence of that in the past month and reintroduced this week, it was so stark. I had a coffee as well. I enjoyed it but had no desire to go back to having several a day. I can see I drank them mostly for the caffeine kick and the sweet taste (I loaded it with sweetener). The coffee itself isn't enjoyable enough for me to desire it on its own. All in all, sweet things all left me mostly disappointed, after a month of looking forward to being able to try them again. Diet coke was about the only thing that I still enjoyed and can see myself having regularly. The idea of eating all that processed sugar every fucking day...crikey. It's just desperately unappealing. 

Today, truthfully, I looked forward to eating clean. I felt so much physical benefits from it over the past month, and losing 18 pounds was a big sign of the impact it had. Today I enjoyed my sweet potato, my chicken, my broccoli and ESPECIALLY my rice. You've never seen someone so irrationally excited about wholegrain rice. It was just nice to eat something other than veg or potato with my dinner. There is a tangible but indescribable overall sense of wellbeing one gets from consuming what is a borderline paleo diet - all things that are grown or were alive at one point - and I felt that again today having missed it the past few days. It's overall been a really positive few days. The realisation that just because I can eat these things now, doesn't mean I have to or I will. When I began this journey, the goal was to take the power back in my relationship with food. I strongly feel, even just on day one, that I have accomplished that goal. I can lose that power at any time, of course, but for right now, I feel empowered to eat what tastes good and nourishes my body. The sugar demon has been buried, and long may that continue.