Another Day Another Adventure

This morning I woke up hella early for my Hebrew class. Totally thrown off because I was so tired and didn't give myself enough time.

Made the worst smoothie ever. (avocado, roasted fig, cinnamon, a touch of lemon juice, soymilk to try and salvage.) It was drinkable until I forgot it at home...on the counter...in 80 degree weather. It went down the drain when I got home.

I was super hungry and feeling bloated all morning. Not the best combo. During the class I had chopped mango and plum. Rice, chickpeas, cukes, carrots and lettuce. It was good but I still felt super hungry. I didn't have any other food but didn't really want to eat anyway because I wanted my body to digest the food I had just put in it. I was also having a new reaction...heartburn! So then I really didn't want to eat more.

By 12:30 I was famished. After a failed errand I got a pick me up smoothie, partly because I needed one and partly because I didn't think I would make it home without sustenance and partly because I couldn't be imagine finding the energy to make one at home. It was scrumptious- melon, kiwi, blackberry.

Came home and stuffed my face with a tomato and lettuce on rice cakes and then sunflower seed butter on ricecakes for dessert. And an iced coffee which I also forgot to take with me this morning and needed so badly. I feel much better and my headache is gone. YAY!

Yay for successful dinners

I live with 8 other people so it is VERY rare to get alone and quiet time with my boyfriend. My some weird alignment of the universe the house was empty yesterday so we had a quiet romantic evening.

I made an awesome dinner (I don't he loved it. He likes dairy, meat and gluten of which this meal had none.) Really it was a meal my roommate Tamar would have loved.

Cheezy Rice Casserole (4-5 servings)
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup chickpeas
1 small butternut squash-peeled and chopped
1 small zucchini- chopped into small pieces
1 carrot- chopped into small pieces

Mix all ingredients into a casserole dish. Lightly coat with olive oil and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and bake for an hour.

Cheez
.5 cup cashews
.5 cup soymilk
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs nutritional yeast ( add to taste)
1 tsp garlic powder
pepper to taste

Grind cashews in a coffee or spice grinder. Add all other ingredients and whisk. Add liquid (water or milk) for desired consistency. Add spices for desired taste.

I made the cheez without my food processor because I am missing my converter but that is what is recommended. Also you can add any veggies to flavor the cheez.

I then added the sauce to my rice and popped it back in for 15 minutes.

Sugar to the veins

Today I am tired and irritated. Yesterday I had sugared soymilk, cereal, peanut butter and went on a nutella binge (which led to my stomach exploding). Correlation?

My stomach and eating has been out of wack for a few days. I can't remember the last time I was genuinly hungry.

Anyway So I am tryign to clean up my eats. Obviously that didn't start with this morning. I was on and off  hungry so I started with warm lemon water. Then over the course of a few hours had an apple with peanut butter, a bowl of cereal and 2 rice cakes with peanut butter (unfortunatly the PB had sugar in it). Then I went all day feeling tired and irritable and super bloated. But 2:30 came around and I figued I should try to put soemthing in my body. I realized one thing I really love about smoothies is you get nourishment and it is easy to ingest and digest. I defintely feel less gross after having smoothies if I am already feeling full and bloated. So I made a variation on a pure2raw smoothies.

Avocado-Beet smoothie

water
1 lemon
half of a large avocado
1 small beet
1 tablespoon chickpeas
cinnamon

I put the water and lemon juice in my smoothie cup and blended it with the avocado and cinnamon. Then when the beet was ready added that and decided to throw in some soft chickpeas for a bit of protein. And since this is with a hand blender that can't do ice I popped a few cubes in to make it cold.

Currently thouroughly enjoying it. And it is hitting the spot for lunch.

Also this weekend I made the best salad I have ever made.

It was a Roasted Sweet Potato-Cauliflower and Lentil Salad. This recipe is in a quantity to feed 20 people.


5 or 6 sweet potatoes
1 head of cauliflower
2 cups black lentils (looked and tasted like green)
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Cinnamon


Chop the sweet potato into bite size pieces and coat with cinnamon and then lightly coat with oil. Spread out on to a baking sheet or other oven cook ware. cut up cauliflower to desired size and coat with balsamic vinaigrette and lay out on a baking sheet. Potatoes will cook for about 45 minutes  at 175C. Cauliflower is about 30 minutes depending on the consistency you want it to be.


Cook lentils according to package- usually take about a half an hour to an hour. (black closer to a half n hour  green, an hour.


After everything is finished and cooled mix in a bowl and put in it the fridge. Serve cold.


Sorry for the vagueness. I don't usual follow recipes or measurements but I will try to take note for the future.


YUM! (unfortunately I don't have a picture but I will make it again and take one then.)

 mini rice cakes

 sweet potato and red lentils

 almond honey flakes, branflakes, soymilk and iced coffee

 what i binged on

 avocado beet smoothies

Back on track...sort of

Today was much although I think the heat is affecting my hunger levels.

Woke up in an awful mood and with a headache. It was one of those days that I should have gone back to sleep. But it was 8:30 and I had stuff to do today which ended up taking the better part of the day.

Got up and was snappy to pretty much everyone until I got some coffee in me. I also made a smoothie with spinach, kiwi, sunnut butter, and a nectarine. Yum. I realized smoothies are how I need to start my morning. I don't need food. I need liquid and smoothies have nutrients in them so its like a meal. Also because my hunger and schedule is all over the place the past few days I haven't been hungry right after the smoothies. So essentially it is my breakfast.

At around 12 I decided that maybe I was feeling a bit lightheaded because I was hungry even though my body wasn't signaling hunger in my stomach. So I had half a pepper that was stuffed with quinoa and lentil tomato sauce. and then I had way to much sauteed sweet potato and butternut squash. It was just so good I couldn't stop. And I kind of felt hungry. It certainly kept me full through the afternoon which I liked because I actually don't like snacking.

Also around dinner did not feel hungry, but felt good after I ate. S made an awesome veggie stirfry. Turns out, boy can cook. And then about an hour or so later felt little pangs of hunger. Had a little bit of the fruit crumble I made and then a rice cake with sunnut butter and dried cranberries.

In general sleeping patterns are awful. I guess I have deviated this blog from that which is funny cause of the name. I kind of want to change it but don't want to start all over. Oh well.

I have been enjoying my workout, though I want to get back to the gym. I have been doing variations on bodyrock.tv workouts. Today I did 50 seconds interval of jumping jacks, one leg weighted deadlifts, burpees and pushups. I was hot and tired after but definitely could have and should have done another set. Yesterday I was so tired after the workout it hurt to wash my hair. That's when you know it has been a good workout.

Random funny stuff

Losing it

Not in a good way. I have totally lost control. After a few really hard days I ditched the diet in a major way. I have been feeling like crap anyway and yesterday I had a looooot of dairy, brownies, bread and other such things that I have been avoiding. I don't know what to do. I didn't sleep much last night probably from a sugar rush and felt like crap all day today.

I had overnight oats with some oat bran and canteloupe and felt super bloated afterwards. Had a salad for lunch and felt ok after that. A little bit full. Then didn't feel hungry for dinner but it was awesome and it was like 5 hours after lunch so I had a small stuffed mushroom and half a zucchini. Then I had half an apple with sunnut butter and a handful of grapes.

All I want to do right now is eat until  I vomit. But I feel awful at the same time. Hopefully I will sleep tonight and will be able to eat regularly tomorrow.

I have no idea what hungry feel like. This is a problem.

Feeling pretty good part 2

Still learning how to use blogspot so after trying to format the last post with no success I published and started a new one. During my meeting I also had lunch which was salad with black lentils and techina dressing.

Then when I got home I was starving so I had some rice cereal with mango, soymilk and sunnut butter. mmmm so tasty and I didn't get a stomach ache from the butter. I was still hungry about an hour later so I has a a carrot and techina.

I still felt hungry but I wanted to gave myself a chance to digest so I would overeat which was a good idea. It seems like it takes me like 2 hours to digest because at round 6 I felt full. Good thing we didn't have dinner until super late cause i was hungry and dinner was good.

We had a few guests for shabbat which always nice and the feast consisted of black lentil burgers, roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, salad, grilled eggplant and meat burgers and chicken. I allowed myself some challah and ate the perfect amount so I didn't feel sick afterwards.

I have been pretty much not gassy (yay) , but still bloated (boo).

Feelin' Pretty Good

I had one of my proudest moments yesterday. I did 100 burpees in less than 10 minutes. I wish I would have finished the 10 minutes and not just the 100 burpees but I had lost all motivation once I got to 100. I can see the strength in my arms but to be able to do something I really did't think I could is a great feeling. I can also see the change int he upper abs which I am thrilled about. Going to keep doing workouts everyday even if it is 10 minutes before I go to bed. Today I did another bodyrock workout I didn't think I could do which is awesome. These are a really good addition to the gym. I can't get there everyday but I can so a 12 minute workout. I do miss the communal feeling of working out together but I think it might be another few days before I have time to return to the gym.

Yesterday was a day of really good eats. After 100 burpees I made a smoothie of a small apple, a plum, spinach and a scoop of sunnut butter. Delish a filling with the protein. Later at a meeting at aroma I also had a latte with soymilk. 

Jetlag and Nausea

Got back to Israel on Monday afternoon. Stayed up pretty late but "slept" a good amount. Obviously it would be a good amount if i slept like a normal person which I don't. Was tired for most of the day on Tuesday plus was   smoothie-ing which probably added to my fatigue. Fell asleep at 8:45 and then woke up at 1:45 on Thursday morning. Was awake for a few hours and then woke up for good at around 7:30.

Did some stuff in my room and the house then had breakfast, which was maple baked apple. I chopped an apples and microwaved it with a splash of maple syrup and cinnamon. Then I added a spoonful of sunflower seed butter. I also had a bowl of puffed rice. Was nauseous after that. Have experienced nausea after every meal including the smoothies. I think I am eating too much.

Started a workout but couldn't finish it cause I thought I was going to throw up. By the time I got to lunch with Leon I felt much better. I had a sweet potato-black lentil salad which also had red onions which I avoided and goat cheese which I had a few bites of. Felt ok after that meal. I think I was super hungry without realizing it and ate the right amount.

I totally forgot to photograph dinner which is too bad because it was awesome. I tried out quinoa tortilla (recipe modified from fitnessista). I took a half cup of quinoa flakes and ground them. Then I added half a cup of water, salt, pepper, and basil. Then I fried it. It was so good and a really nice "bread" alternative. It was also fun since my socca experiment failed. It tasted a bit funny but I think that was the flakes and maybe I need stronger spicing. I also had brussel sprouts, a cucumber and tachina. I felt pretty full after that but about an hour later I got pangs so I had a small bowl of puffins and sun butter. Nausea ensues. Maybe its the butter? I hope not :( As usual my goal it to eat less. Super hard.

Like a broken record

stomach problems and serious fatigue in the late afternoon.

I love not sleeping

Ok so my first mistake was going to bed so late. I am addicted to my computer and I really need to stop. I am adding this to my goals. 

4. Do not use computer after 10pm. 

5. Do not use computer in bed which I am already breaking as I am in bed currently. 

6. Read more 

I also woke several times in the middle of the night. I was having stomach issues which kept me up. Not fun. Don't know what to do with that today. Normally I would do a smoothie detox but I don't think that is the right answer and tried to do that last week and failed. I guess I will just have to rely on myself to not overeat today and eat simply. 

Goals

1. Do 20 minutes of ab workout in the course of a day. This most likely means doing multiple ab workouts in a day. Ab workout also happen in other places like yoga.  This is going to be difficult to track but Ia m up for it. I am really happy with my arms and could be happier with my legs but my midsection is really where I want to focus. I always have but have never really dealt with it. Now that the rest of my body is getting stronger and I am committed to some exercise routine on a daily basis I am excited to be doing crunches and see the difference. In a few short weeks I went from not being able to do a 30 second plank to being able to do a 90 second full extension plank and at least a 60 second low plank. I feel awesome. I am also hoping that by focusing on ab exercises every day I will see a change and be less depressed about the fact that I am bloated all the time and look like I am preggers.

2. Figure out my daily caloric intake. Mostly I am curious and I find all these websites that do it are not super helpful. I guess it also means that I need to be more conscious of amounts of things that I eat which is going ot be the hard part cause how many calories does a handful of blueberries have? I am going to start writing that stuff down in my food journal. It could also help to start photographing my food which seems like it could be kind of fun and I would get to use my camera more often.

3. Cut down on sugar!

Lots of first attempts

First attempt at overnight oats: semi success.

It was a bit tasteless, next time I will add the fruit the night before so maybe the juices will marinate a bit and give it more flavor. I ended up adding some of my blueberry smoothie for flavor. I also added pecans and strawberries. Maybe it also needed some more milk. I was still hungry after which is weird so I had cashew butter, quinoa granola and flax puffs. I also had the tiniest it of coffee.

I have been having weird sensations after eating. Sometimes I get super tired. Sometimes I get a little pain in the my stomach which passes quickly. How am I supposed to know what is causing this when I haven't really changed my diet. And it doesn't come after anything specific. I think coffee actually does negatively affect me which is a bit tragic because I looooooove coffee. I love making it, the smell, the taste, the whole experience. I guess I can start making iced tea instead. Not as exciting but I guess it will do.

Off to the city to soak up some rays and the park! Then the Mets game.

small meals are where its at

ok so small meals with snacks throughout the day seem to be the way to go. this is gonna be hard. so far dinner has been the most problematic. I just never want to stop eating. Until I feel full I don't stop then I feel overfull and bloated.

Dinner was a small stuffed pepper with rice, black beans,tomato and onion. Green salad with chickpeas, carrots and radishes, and my first attempt at socca.

Onto my first attempt at Socca....epic fail.

next less oil, better pan, better flavoring.

Yay for yogurt

I have had Greek yogurt twice now and I feel good so far.

I have had 1.5 days of little gas. Definitely still look like I am five months pregnant. Will that ever go away?

Not overeating is hard when you aren't busy. Also I think today I was a it dehydrated and craving food so I had a very big lunch in the span of an hour and a half.

breakfast- greek yogurt, pecans, flax seeds and mango
lunch- roasted veggies, chickpeas, melon, cashew butter, apple hummus, and flax cereal.

I don't feel overstuffed but I do feel full. I don't kno if thats what I should be avoiding and just accept that if I don't feel full but don't feel hungry i should probably just have some water or something.

Yoga in the morning = happy body

woke up tired and sluggish and achy so I decided to do some yoga right after I got out of bed. I felt great afterwards. Note to self: go back to doing some yoga first thing.

for breakfast I had apple hummus, cashew butter, an apple and 2 tbs of yogurt. So far stomach wise I feel ok.

Then I did some errands and forgot my water and now I am feeling tired. Dehydration? Hunger? Actual fatigue? Who knows.

So I am having water and rice, broc, tomatoes, spinach and lentils for lunch.

Eating out tonight so hopefully I will find something suitable for the stomach.

Not any better

quinoa crumble, pear, apple hummus
exhaustion
2 cherry tomatoes
roasted veggies, tachina, broc, rice, almonds
headache, fatigue, stomach ache

alright i will be cutting down on sugar significantly. I will do it. hopefully this will make a difference.

Another bad stomach day

woke up at 8:30 bloated and not hungry at all until just now at 12:40. I ate 2 slices of gluten free bread with cashew butter because i thought i should and had a few sips of almond milk to take my vitamins.

Now I will try to stomach real food but I'm still not super hungry. I want to work out today but if I don't eat its not a good idea.

why can't i just feel normal?

Where did all my willpower go?

I want to detox but can't find the willpower. I want to take care of myself but can't find the strength. Probably because I am not doing anything and am bored.

Blueberry-Strawberry smoothie for breakfast
Tropical fruit smoothie, tablespoon of cereal and cashew butter for lunch
handful of chickpeas
lentil loaf, brussel sprouts, avocado for dinner
apple hummus for dessert.

11:00- stomach ache and gas

My stomach should call the cops

Was at an out of town wedding this weekend and abused my body. Had a lot of gluten, alcohol and dairy. Detoxing this week. lots of smoothies and plain rice, beans and veggies.

5am munchies?

What is going on? I woke up at 5 to pee and was super hungry. I didn't really want to eat cause I wanted to go back to sleep but I couldn't concentrate on anything else so I had one of my mini protein bars.

So last night in the afternoon I got a foot cramp and a stomach ache and didn't think I would be hungry for dinner, By 7 I felt better so I had lentil and quinoa and fake cheese.

I was also itchy all afternoon which continued after dinner so I think I am allergic/sensitive to something in the fake cheese since that is new and it was the constant between both meals.

Things I am avoiding
tomato
yeast
casein
sugar (for real)

And I am going to buy a little notebook and food/sleep log and write down physical and emotional reactions throughout the day.

blah.

Hopefully I will enjoy the wedding and not worry about food too much.

Malls Malls Malls

Went to 4 malls in 2 hours. Welcome to suburbia.

Ok so after running around and finding out that Barnes and Noble doesn't carry any of the books I was looking for I came home hungry.

1 small slice of lentil loaf
small salad of carrot, 1 tomato and a handful of spinach
1.5 slice gluten free bread and vegan cheese

stomach still acting weird

Feeling ok so far...

Fell asleep at around 10:45 last night and was up at 7:30am. Most sleep I have gotten in awhile and I got up early. Win.

Wasted a bit of time in bed and then got up at 8:15 feeling hungry so I made:
an antioxident packed smoothie- blueberry, blackberry, red grapes, spinach, and almond milk. (maybe no grapes next time)
a pear with cashew butter
flax cereal with almond milk
coffee

Today I am going to focus on not snacking and what times I eat. So breakfast was an adventure between 8:30-10am

In about a half an hour I am going to do errands and then hopefully some sort of exercising so I probably won't eat until lunch because I feel full now. Full not stuffed or bloated. YAY!! Let's see if I can keep that up.

Yesterday I ate tiny snacks about once an hour in the afternoon. It was weird. And then I ate a ton for dinner because I just wasn't feeling full.  I didn't feel like I was overeating but then I had some cereal and then I lost a little bit of control. This is gonna be tough the next couple of weeks to not eat when I am bored. Maybe I'll fill my time by taking my dog for a walk and trying out new exercise routines. Win for Lily and for Shani. Or I'll go broke by shopping. hmmmm

Gluten Free Heaven

Went food shopping with Netta and found so much good stuff.

Stomach still rebelling so I am yo-yoing between feeling nauseous and hungry.

So...
blueberry, blackberry, apricot smoothie
cup of red grapes
flax cereal, almond milk,  blueberries

laying down and soaking in some what not to wear. a little "america" can be a good thing.

Post flight blech

Am in NY after an 11 hour flight. Stomach isn't great.
The rest of what I ate yesterday/today
quinoa with butternut squash, zucchini and chickpeas
fruit
"granola"
2 fruit/nut bars

am so bored with not know what's wrong and trying to figure it out alone. definitely going to go to the gastroenterologist so that at least I have someone helping to and to talk to. By then it will 2.5 months.

Having coffee and water only today and trying to flush out my stomach. I can't eat until I feel better. Maybe I'll detox until the wedding.

The Bloat

I just don't get it. Why do I look like I am 5 months pregnant?

Ugh. I know drinking water is supposed to help but then I feel mega full and bloated.

Will eating smaller meals help? Does that mean I am just gonna go to bathroom every 3 hours? Boo.

I can't live with unpredictability. Creates stress which worsens the IBS.

What to do? How long will this take?

At least I slept

Went to the gym this morning but my usual weights class was some weird drumming cardio class. Walked for an
hour and then did weak abs/weights. Then went to the doctor who told me that my levels are all good. Awesome. As usual a doctor tells me nothing is wrong. So its about continuing my diet and drinking lots of water. My main goal is eating when I am hungry, differentiating cravings, hunger, dehydrating, etc. and not over eating. This is the hardest. When I start I just want to keep eating. Today because I am leaving I drank a full smoothie when normally I only have 1 full glass and put the rest in the fridge. Have been totally bloated since. :(

What I ate today
8:15- rice, nectarine, and gluten free granola
12- spinach, peach, pear smoothie
2:30- rice, lentils and beets hummus
last few spoonfuls of granola

Bad Day

super tired.

wanted off this diet so badly.

had 2 slices of mozzarella staring me in the face. and a chocolate croissant. humf

what i don't get is how to tell what is working and what isn't. i kind of feel the same all the time. tired and gassy. and now itchy. are the bumps from soy? are they bugs? do i itch everywhere because i released the histamine by scratching them or am i just crazy?

want doctor to have answers tomorrow.

want to add eggs back in on Wednesday.

maybe a dose of NY will help.

or Not Sleeping

Up at 1:30 because of loud neighbors. Now at 2:45 no sleep because of itchy skin. Are the red bumps an allergic reaction or bug bites. Who knows but soy is out. I even got up and took it out of my lunch for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is not looking good despite the sunny weather and my exciting plans.

Itchy skin

Result of eating soy?

I hope not but I guess after I finish this last bit of cooked tofu it is out for awhile.

Day X of this experiment called life

So for awhile now I have been having stomach problems and sleep problems. Connected? who knows. From what I have been reading, probably. Anyway I need a place to vent and track so I figured I would do i here. Who cares if o no one reads it, although knowing the internet someone ill probably find it.

So exactly one month ago I embarked on an elimination diet, to try and find out why my body is so messed up. Haven't been able to deduce much for a few reasons.
1. got sick in the week I was supposed to start adding in food.
2. Have also been experimenting with my sleep patterns (probably a bad idea to do both at same time)
3. Have not felt any really change since going on diet. (had sort of regular bowel movement for a few days and then it all went to shit.

I got lazy and had a bad day so I skipped ahead and added in sugar early as well as not waiting the recommended 3 days per food. I really wanted to see it through but it really hard especially when you are doing it alone. And  started to have anxiety about going to the wedding next weekend and not being able to eat anything.

So where I am now.

After waaaay too many hours of reading blogs and going to the doctor again I have sort of come to terms with what I am doing. I have decided that I will need to be honest with myself and others about my dietary needs because it is really important to find what is wrong and what works. I went to the doctor last week and took a blood test so I am waiting for those results. Most likely I am not celiac which would be good but will make my journey really long and really hard. Basically I have gas after every single things I eat, and generally have irregular bowel movement. Some days I do, Some days I don't. It is super uncomfortable and unpredictable. Although I have now finally convinced myself to stop taking laxatives and have found ways to change my diet  everyday and not just when I feel blocked up (so I don't get to a place where I feel like I need them). Another relief is that now I know why I feel bloated and fat even though I know I am not and work out almost everyday. It's really disconcerting when you work really hard to be in shape and can feel your abs but can't see them. IT'S CAUSE THEY ARE UNDER THE BLOAT! All I want is to see my abs.

ok so for now what I am not eating
Gluten
Yeast
Dairy
Eggs
Soy
Tomato
Sesame
Citrus
Refined Sugar (except honey)
Chocolate
Oats
Corn
Strawberries
Kiwi
Mushrooms
Potato
Eggplant
Vinegar

Some of this stuff is still on the list because I just haven't tested it (the produce). Some of it I have eaten and don't know if I had a reaction. Like last week I started to have eggs and felt fine and then the next day had some chocolate with sugar in it (I had already tested sugar and though it was fine) and felt really ill. Most likely from the sugar and not the egg bit you never know. I have also been reading a lot about vegan diets so I figured I would try it. I am getting lots of protein from other places and for now I am fine. Although I love eggs so I hope this isn't a lifelong change. :(  I tested soy yesterday and I hope that is back in. I don't think I can live without soy and eggs. Yesterday and the day before at dinner I have techina (sesame paste) and tomatoes and both nights didn't sleep great. I think that means they are out for now. boo. I live in Israel, it is going to be freaking hard to avoid those things. I also had to pee a lot last night which is probably because I ate dinner at 9 and kept drinking 20-30 ounces of water. Bad move. I have been so good about finishing eating and drinking early enough.

I guess on to the sleeping bit. For a very long time I have had trouble sleeping. Light, noise, bad pillows, hard mattresses, any light movement, needing to pee, anxiety, dreams etc. I don't sleep well. I am always tired and usually irritable. I once asked my mom if I was going to be tired for the rest of my life and she said she does't always feel tired and that's when I knew something was wrong. That was probably 3 years ago. I am not the best at taking acre of myself when life gets in the way. Since moving to Israel I am now part of a community that doesn't really let that happen. So I went to the doctor and told her I was having sleep problems. She said that I needed to monitor my sleeping for 2 weeks and then go back to her. So I did. It was bad. After I went back she said I need to sleep 7 hours hours a night only and the same seven hours. So I embarked on my journey to sleep from 12-7 everyday. At first it was hard. I could not pull myself out of bed at 7 to save my life. Then after a few days I regulated. I got out of bed and realized I love the morning. It is quiet and I have more time to do things like read, surf the internet, go to the gym. It was great except that every day between 1 and 4 pm I would crash. I could not sit upright or keep my eyes open. I didn't nap, probably couldn't if I tried but I was tired (and cranky). Now it has moved to around 6pm when I feel so tired I can't open my eyes. I like sleeping on a schedule, its just hard to do all the time and I need more than 7 hours of sleep. We will see what happens when I go to NY for 3 weeks now. Also I was sleeping well during the 7 hours for the most part but now I am back to feeling like I haven't slept and waking up a thousand times during the night. Why? I just want some answers. Possible because of what I am eating and when but I don't get it. Why am I so messed up. I just want it to end.

So that's where I am at. Trying to stay positive.

Good things that have come out of these lifestyle experiments.

1. I like the morning and will continue to wake up "early"
2. I have learned to be more creative in cooking...rice and quinoa for breakfast mmmm