#4: Made It Through the Hump!

DAY FIVE: SUCCESS!!!

I avoided food until 2pm because nothing sounded good and I was having internal ... issues. But all's well that ends well. I'm feeling much better. I ate the BEST salad for lunch: baby red romaine, sunflower seeds, butternut squash, chèvre, and seared Ahi tuna. Unfortunately, the restaurant also thought it was the BEST and charged me $20. Uh, it's a SALAD fool! Don't expect me to buy that again ... I can make it for $2.99 at home. SMH. 

I even deflected a coworker's offer of treats from the super-yummy convenience store across the street. *solo high five*


For dinner I ate chicken and veggies with a side of salad. *BORED WITH FOOD TONIGHT* Oh! And I watched my kids devour potatoes. Maybe "devour" is a little exaggerated because the lack of carbs is eating away at my brain (I'll explain in a minute). It's possible that watching someone else casually chow on some yukon golds is registered in my mind as "Why are they eating those like there will never be potatoes again?" 


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Bonus for the day: a friend of mine who read's the blog (Ms. JYW) texted me with awesome sugar-free sweet-craving tips. Here I am to share them with you!

• Sugar-Free Jello! (she personally recommends the Kiwi and Tropical Fruit flavors, FYI)
• Trident Dessert flavor sugar-free gums (bought some for my trip already!)
• Sugar-Free Tropical Sour Certs (also in the carry-on)
• Iced (or warm if you prefer) Coffees with Splenda and fat-free creamer (plus fat-free RediWhip if you're feeling particularly sugar deprived!)

First of all, I make coffee every morning in my French press. I don't care what else I give up, my morning cup is NOT on the list. Let's be really clear: you don't want to know me if I don't have my coffee. It's throws me off my game completely and to make it worse, I can't even predict which of these fantastic ways it will throw me off:

• Angry and mean because I've been deprived of my ONE vice in life;
• Spacey and forgetful because, as we all know, CAFFEINE=BRAIN FOOD;
• Anxious and irritable, marked by momentary glimpses of complete irrationality;
• Running 10 minutes behind all day;
• Sleeping (and probably drooling) on my desk by 10am;
• Over it all. 

try and take it from me!

Clearly it's a What's What of awesome versions of CAT. You should all be so lucky as to experience each and every one! But now I'm thinking that I might be able to kill 3 birds with one coffee bean by sugar-freeing it up, still getting no-carb coffee AND getting my sweet-tooth craving mastered by 6am. My thoughts on the other 3 options: SOLD. I love a good hard candy, constantly chew gum and we already know I love anything that inches me closer to the Retirement Community, i.e. JELLO. 

I'll let you know how it goes. 

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In the meantime, I learned some interesting facts while researching this no-carb thing. First off, my extreme exhaustion by 6pm isn't because I'm the next Golden Girl, it's because my body has no carbs in it and no carbs = no energy. Second, if I'm going to go to the gym, my body really needs some carbs first (and supposedly if i work out right after, my body will burn them not store them). Suspicious.

NO/LOW? YUM/YUCK? ... i'm confused ...

  

I haven't decided what exactly to do with this new information, but here are the highlights:

1. Only non-starchy vegetables are carb-less. This means that I am free to eat all of the alfalfa and beans, herb, greens, radishes and sea vegetables (!) that I want. But I'm now supposed to steer clear of carrots, peas, winter squash (see yesterday's post for my first OOPS!), corn, beets. Basically, sweeter and starchier veggies = carbs. Awesome. Thank God I love GREENS. 
2. Carbohydrates are the SINGLE source of fuel for our brain, kidneys, central nervous system and most vital organs. Let me spell that out. Without carbs, I'm starving those organs/systems and potentially causing harm to them. Now I have to decide whether to stick January out with the same rules I started with so I can win this challenge; or to harm my body. DecisionsDecisions. 
3. Everyday Nutritional needs will not be met by the low-carb diet. To remain healthy, I should be including 4 cereal servings, 2 fruit servings, 5 vegetable servings and 2 cups of milk.Too-low of carbs means the body will simply lose water weight, not fat weight and then when carbs are resumed, most calories will be stored as fat. i.e. YO-YO dieting. So you're telling me that if I don't stick permanently to no-carbs, I will just gain back every pound I lose in January. DilemmaDilemma!
4. Lower obesity, cancer and heart disease rates are observed with people known to be vegetarians. This means that in the end, it's better for me to cut out protein than carbs, if I was going to cut something out. This is not helping me!
5. "Low-Carb" versus "NO-Carb" is the better choice. After reading thru many many maaany maaaannnyyy articles, the general consensus is to limit carb intake to 30-40 net grams of carbs daily. This means unrefined, low-carb, high-fiber foods are best like: vegetables, whole grains, brown rice, barley, fruit and nuts. 

Low-Carb Pyramid ... "EAT ME!"

I refuse to give up this challenge because I know I can do it. But I'm not really excited about doing something I thought was healthy and hard but is actually UNhealthy and hard. 

Maybe I should allow in a minimal amount of unrefined carbs? Maybe 20g? Or maybe I should stick with the plan. Screw my body. I only needed it for another few years anyway.  ACK -- I hate these types of life-or-dealth (too dramatic?) decisions!!

I may have to think long and hard (over a carb-less alcohol like vodka or gin) about what I'm going to do. 

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Speaking of drinking ... Because I hate myself, I chose this particular challenge knowing I'm going on a 4-day getaway with my bestie Cass. 

Tomorrow we are "doing Dallas" ending our night with Kathy Griffin. Do me proud, Woman. I need a good laugh!

Then Saturday, we are off for 3 days at a secret-until-Saturday-morning-at-7 location (hint: there is a beach). 

So, 

Bestie? CHECK

Sun? CHECK

Gossip and laughter? CHECK

Indulgence? CHECK

But I can't have carbs. Don't ask, because I have no rational excuse for this timing decision. Maybe I hadn't had my coffee the morning I chose this?

FINGERS CROSSED! because this will be quite the test for me. And she's nursing heart-ache so BonBons, chips, comfort foods and lots of alcohol are probably on the agenda. What then? A true best friend would eat along with her. But if we can use that argument, shouldn't she have to abstain because i'm nursing a carb-ache? A true best friend would NOT eat right along with me. I'm guessing we will reach a compromise in which she benefits and I suffer silently. I imagine it will go a little something like this:

DRINKS:

bestie

me

FOOD:

bestie

me

ATTITUDE:

bestie

me

I'll let you know.