This past Friday found me playing out a scene normally reserved for Saturdays or Sundays: sitting on my couch in my sweats, flipping through Netflix suggestions, recovering from the boozy previous night. I rarely get overtly terrible hangovers (probably because I fight them off by sleeping as much as possible), so this was my usual hangover: feeling at about 75% energy level, which is just low enough to prevent me from working out or going on an adventure somewhere in the city. Thursday night was fun; I got to see a couple college buddies and lots of local friends, but I was quite aware of the fact that I didn't feel that great. Kind of shitty, even.
It also didn't help that my wallet was probably about $150 lighter. And it wasn't comforting that this day was probably going to be completely wasted. And that this was another hangover in a string of bad hangovers stretching back a few weeks. I've always heard that hangovers get worse as you get older. How old am I again?
As I flipped through my Netflix queue, I stumbled upon a documentary called Hungry For Change that I had added recently. The movie summary said something about exposing the problems inherent in fad diets. It sounded marginally interesting, but certainly not relevant to me, since I don't go on fad diets. I figured the movie would make for some pleasant, monotonous background noise for a nap on the couch, so I put it on and prepared to drift off to sleep.
Fast forward two hours to me feverishly erasing the whiteboard I keep on my fridge so that I can write down a set of nutrition rules. And definitely not sleeping.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this particular documentary had such an effect on me, but it was exactly the kind of information and perspective I needed to hear on that mentally foggy Friday afternoon. Hearing the passionate interviews of many health experts from a variety of different backgrounds was truly inspiring. By the end of the film, I had decided to embark on a month-long nutritional experiment with the following refrigerator-mandated rules:
I tend to follow many of these rules already, but the next month will be a much stricter observation. The major changes are the new bans on soda, fried foods, and alcohol. I won't be making any quantitative measurements of health during this time, but rather some subjective measurements of happiness and how good I feel. This will be the first time in my adult life I go for any extended period without alcohol, so we'll see how that pans out (hence the snide remark I left for myself in the picture above).
I'm actually quite excited to try this out because it's challenging, outside of my comfort zone, and a test of my willpower, all of which I try to incorporate into my life at a reasonable level. As a gift to myself, I'm currently planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands on the day that this experiment ends (April 15). Well, to be honest, the trip planning is a bit coincidental, but the timing is close enough that it made sense to tie them together. More on both of these adventures after they conclude next month!
Everyone raise a glass (of avocado and kale smoothie). Cheers!
It also didn't help that my wallet was probably about $150 lighter. And it wasn't comforting that this day was probably going to be completely wasted. And that this was another hangover in a string of bad hangovers stretching back a few weeks. I've always heard that hangovers get worse as you get older. How old am I again?
As I flipped through my Netflix queue, I stumbled upon a documentary called Hungry For Change that I had added recently. The movie summary said something about exposing the problems inherent in fad diets. It sounded marginally interesting, but certainly not relevant to me, since I don't go on fad diets. I figured the movie would make for some pleasant, monotonous background noise for a nap on the couch, so I put it on and prepared to drift off to sleep.
Fast forward two hours to me feverishly erasing the whiteboard I keep on my fridge so that I can write down a set of nutrition rules. And definitely not sleeping.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this particular documentary had such an effect on me, but it was exactly the kind of information and perspective I needed to hear on that mentally foggy Friday afternoon. Hearing the passionate interviews of many health experts from a variety of different backgrounds was truly inspiring. By the end of the film, I had decided to embark on a month-long nutritional experiment with the following refrigerator-mandated rules:
I tend to follow many of these rules already, but the next month will be a much stricter observation. The major changes are the new bans on soda, fried foods, and alcohol. I won't be making any quantitative measurements of health during this time, but rather some subjective measurements of happiness and how good I feel. This will be the first time in my adult life I go for any extended period without alcohol, so we'll see how that pans out (hence the snide remark I left for myself in the picture above).
I'm actually quite excited to try this out because it's challenging, outside of my comfort zone, and a test of my willpower, all of which I try to incorporate into my life at a reasonable level. As a gift to myself, I'm currently planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands on the day that this experiment ends (April 15). Well, to be honest, the trip planning is a bit coincidental, but the timing is close enough that it made sense to tie them together. More on both of these adventures after they conclude next month!
Everyone raise a glass (of avocado and kale smoothie). Cheers!
