recalculating...

Quick! Re-read the title of this post out loud in your very best GPS computer lady voice! No really! That's totally what I did while typing it!

Recalculate. Reboot. Recalibrate. Call it whatever you'd like, but the idea remains the same. A good old fashioned back yard do-over.

As my knowledge of food and nutrition continues to expand, it seems that I am in need of a little recalculating. The last 29.5 years of my life have probably, as a whole generalization, been tantamount to self inflicted abuse and I really want to hit 30 this summer in not only great shape but optimal health. So how do I get there? The stock answer is: 'eat sensibly and exercise', right? What the heck does that even mean? Sensible. My eating sensibility, if I am to believe one third of the recent books I've read is about as sensible as playing chicken on the highway at night with a broken leg while also wearing an eye patch...and just for kicks, make it approximately half an hour after popping a couple sleepy time Advil....

Seriously.

I had no idea. Of course, all this is based on the assumption that these books are based on solid science and fact. You'll have to decide that for yourself. (I'll list the books I've read in the past year or so in an upcoming post.) I think, for the most part the books make sense and seem pretty grounded. Sure, I disagree with some of the books, but as a whole? Good food for thought. (HA!!)

Okay, so back to the reboot. Starting today (Februrary 13) I am going to do what I will call a 6 Week Reboot. The goal is to do my best to rid my body of the gross stuff, feed it what it needs and let it heal and repair itself. Meanwhile, I also want to just put the authors of those books I've been reading to the test. Do I feel better like they purport? or worse? Do I have more energy? Improved mood? The whole bit.

So. How do I reboot? What should I eat? Or not eat? When? Where? Wearing which socks? Should I switch to brushing my teeth with my left hand? Maybe. Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been mulling this for a while, and as such sort of half started last week. I quit all caffeine and processed sugar (except for my beloved wine) last week. This week alcohol and animal products are hitting the no-no list. So really, the plan of action is a WHOLE FOODS, PLANT BASED DIET.

Of course, I don't expect to be PERFECT at this for 6 weeks. Heck, it's day 1 and I caved and ate one piece of chocolate out of the box that the Hubs gave me for Valentines Day. But, I'm going to stick as close as possible to it. One thing going for me in this little [half]crazy experiment is that I don't have a lot of outside temptation way out here on the Rez. There isn't anywhere worth eating out at and as long as I continue to exercise a reasonable measure of self control at the grocery store, I should be good.

Now before you start typing your angry anti-vegan comment, chew your hamburger and wait. I'm not advocating this diet (yet). I'm TRYING it. The one recurring argument I keep hearing from the friends I have mentioned this to (hypothetically of course) is:
"Well sure MB, it probably is great and a lot healthier, but it's just to hard/unrealistic/impossible/unsustainable for people to really do, you know, in real life."

Maybe it is. That's one of the things I'd really like to know. Is something like this doable for the average person in the US? (I won't go into the fact that what we ARE doing diet wise in the US is obviously not working for us; see our obesity and disease rates. I'll save that for another day.) And really, almost all that I have read says that animal consumption can be as high as 10% of total calories and not seriously begin to affect your risk factors for disease. I mean, come on. I don't know that I'd even want to think about going ALL summer without a hamburger off the grill!! But, for 6 weeks? Okay. I'll give it a shot.

So there it is. A 6 Week Reboot. I plan on scheduling a full physical for after (sorry, can't do two to see any differences, I doubt our insurance would cover that) and will share the results. I will spare you the daily "what I ate today" posts, but may occasionally share. I will write a post this week about what I do plan on eating everyday. Don't worry. I am not jumping into this without having done some research. Besides, I am doing this to IMPROVE my overall health, not hurt it, so if I think the opposite is happening I will jump ship. Promise.

Also, you might have noticed I started a Twitter account yesterday. (@halfcrazyrunner) I will use that as an outlet for the what I ate vs. what I WANT to eat, diet, all things blog outlet and keep my facebook to personal, family, kids, type stuff. So follow me on Twitter to laugh with/at my daily challenges as my system (hopefully) reboots!

Happy (vegetable) eating!