All Great Changes Are Preceded By Chaos

Welcome to Day 3 of the Challenge!!  First off, I’d like to thank you for checking in to this blog.  Our goal is to make this a forum for you, where you can find some additional daily encouragement or support.  This page had 446 views on its FIRST DAY!!!! Thank you to those of you that provided comments, and we’d like to hear from a whole lot more of you.  If you have a thought, question, comment or feedback, please add it to the comments.  We’re hoping that we can spark a dialog about some of the related topics to this challenge (and it will also help me come up with future post topics).

How are you feeling today? Chances are, you’ve noticed at least a symptom or two, especially if this is your first go-round at a challenge like this. Despite drinking 7 liters of water yesterday, I woke up at 0630 with an intense thirst and dry mouth, taking me back to my college days.  I downed 500 mL of water on my trip from the bedroom to the kitchen. Thirst is your body’s fluid balance mechanism switching operational modes.  From your brain to your endocrine system to your kidneys, everything works together to decide if you are going to hang on to water or get rid of it, based on your earlier fluid intake.  I suspect that many of you are getting rid of it, even at 0130 and 0400 in the morning. Keep drinking your body weight in ounces of water (I measure liters-it’s easier) and add double water for coffee or tea if you are drinking it.  I add 32 oz or roughly 1 liter for my 2 cups of coffee in the morning.  Coffee and tea are diuretics, causing your body to flush fluid quickly, often eliminating vitamins and electrolytes.
 
Removing the real and fake sugars from your diet packs a hefty punch on your psyche and physical well-being – for a short time.  This is the hangover period, the time where you either have to pass through it as best you can, or indulge in more sugar to make the feeling go away.  When you eat any form of sugar (yes, honey, syrup, stevia, alcohol, whatever) your brain releases the same feel-good chemicals that an addict gets using illegal drugs.  Embrace the hangover.  It won’t last long, and you will feel better than you’ve felt in ages on the other side of it.  Chances are, you have a headache.  You’re edgy, tired, maybe even a bit anxious.  Don’t take the pets to the animal shelter or send the kids off to military boarding school just yet.  In fact, refrain from making any really big decisions right now.  If you feel the slightest bit angry, you might not want to put the dirt bike in your garage on Craig’s List today.  It gets better, I promise.  But here’s my Mom Voice: Every goal worth obtaining comes with a struggle.  Remember that feeling you got when you looked in the mirror, saw a picture of yourself that was less than flattering, or finished a workout in a time significantly longer than what you had planned for yourself?

Are you uncomfortable discussing your bowels? Because you are going to be experiencing a whole bunch of symptoms that will be less than pleasant, if you haven’t started already.  I can talk about defecation and flatulence like a grocery shopping list.  I live with 4 males, two of whom are teenagers, and the other two think and act like teenagers (One’s 45, the other’s 11).  Farting and pooping is part of our daily discussion.  If you’re constipated, think of it as sludge from your old diet that is blocking up all the healthy stuff behind it.  The inflammation in your bowel is resolving from the removal of toxins in your diet.  Because your bowel is going through changes, it follows that your “schedule” will go through changes too.  Okay, who’s laughing right now? Some of you are because you are experiencing the opposite of constipation.  Let me put this as delicately and as technically as possible: You WILL experience a change in the quality and frequency of your stools.  It may be drastic.  It might look weird.  Again, it’s an adjustment.  Your digestion is trying to begin working in the way it was originally designed, before food additives and chemicals adjusted our digestive response in a poor way.  

Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, greens, and squash are all high-fiber vegetables.  They will cause gas.  I would recommend that if you feel one coming on, find some privacy, because it may be loud and have an offensive odor, even to yourself.  The only people that want to share this with others are the aforementioned teenage boys or those that act like it. Again, your body will adjust to this, and these occurrences will become less frequent and less powerful.

Physical symptoms can manipulate our choices, very easily.  When a stimulus is uncomfortable, we remove it or ourselves, in order to stabilize our comfort.  However, if you’ve ever recovered from an injury, you know that a certain amount of pain is expected for a short time, in order to regain your health and wellness.  Think of this as the same thing.  Your body has been reduced to a level of accepting less-than-desirable nutrition, and has adapted to it.  You didn’t eat this way as a healthy, growing toddler.  On your journey to recovery and wellness, you will feel the pain.  Use it as motivation, a reminder, and a drive to persevere.  You’re not going to quit a workout when it becomes challenging.  Don’t quit this either.  Stay strong and have a great eating day!