ALAN'S 30 DAY FUEL & EXERCISE DIARY - November 2008
(This is a long document with 30 days of data logged into it. The final statistics and conclusions -- the juicy stuff -- are at the very end!) Go to conclusions
Declarations for the month:
* I am in “holistic boot camp” and this month is all about winning the game!
* I will be 100% vegan, and maintain 75% raw/live.
* I will juice feast at least 2 days a week, either separately or together -- and I can’t skip a day and push it to the next week -- I must juice feast 2 days each week.
* I will juice at least 20 days of the month. This can be either 2 green juices (1.5 liters or more), or 1 green juice (1 liter) and 1 wheatgrass.
* I will do my rebounding (10 minutes), skin brushing, Pranayama breath work (3 rounds of 200 rapid exhalations) and teeth flossing daily.
* My food combining will be vastly improved over August’s diary. No late night binging. No cereal, nut milks, or the slow-roasted oily tomatoes from Publix. No Newman’s Own chocolate cookies -- if I want chocolate, I’ll buy raw chocolate. Vegan “healthy” pasta and/or pizza a total of no more than 3 times a week.
* No oversize meals, no bloated belly, day or night.
* I will do two meditations every day -- healing (20 min minimum) and spirit message (10 min).
* I will purchase a shower filter.
* I will create a powerful partnership with one person in our group, who I will speak to at least once a day, and we will support each other in winning our games.
* I will be an awesome coach to everyone who wants it, available, inspiring and powerful 24/7.
* I will write at least 30 minutes every day. This promise is not directly associated with my fuel and exercise, but my biggest goal is to help millions be healthier, so I must WRITE.
* I do yoga every day and gym/weights & bike or walk on the beach most days. I will include those stats.
* I promise I will be completely honest in all my reporting.
It’s just a month -- I’ve done juice fasts longer than that -- so let’s play BIG!
Starting weight – 154 lbs.
Y = Yes, N = No
November 1
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – N
Other meals – Made myself an awesome Thai coconut meat, peanut sauce, Brazil nuts, scallions entrée with millet/brown rice/flax wrap! Followed up with a rice cake and small scoop of hummus.
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, dates, cashews, walnuts
Food combining – Fruit/nuts only an hour after entrée. 2-3 hours better. Perfect otherwise.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – healing meditation, but no message meditation
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – N
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 40 min
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – Y
Sleep – 3 to 8am, 5 hours
Comments – I taught a class from 6 – 9, and I wanted to be very conscious, clear and powerful, so all day I drank green juice, chaparral/lemon/agave tea and coconut water. I rocked through the seminar, came home and made my excellent mostly raw dinner. I could have waited the extra hour between the entrée, which was filling, and my fruit/dates/nuts dessert. I didn’t “food binge” but I was coming close there. I am very proud of myself for doing liquids all day leading up to my seminar -- excellent behavior, managing my fuel intake so as to be of the greatest service to the community. It was almost 10pm before I had a meal, and I seriously considered just not eating solids and making this one of my 2 juice feasting days for the week, but I really felt like indulging in delicious healthy food after teaching, and I knew I was going to watch Saturday Night Live and would want sweets to munch on! All in all, it was a very good first day. The one big thing that must change on day 2 …. I MUST WRITE!
November 2
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – double shot
Salad – Awesome power salad w/ 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread at 1pm, main meal of the day.
Other meals – Since I’m not eating cereal & almond milk or chocolate cookies, I made a coconut (meat & water), goji berry & cacao smoothie – WOW!! And my evening meal was a “nibbles” plate of hummus, millet/brown rice/flax wrap, raw organic zucchini, tomatoes, olives, a little leftover sautéed mushrooms & Brussels sprouts, and a handful of organic blue corn chips. A good size meal and not too much.
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, dates, cashews, walnuts at 2am
Food combining – Great!
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30 min
Gym/weights – 45 min
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – Y
Sleep – 4 to 8:30am, 4.5 hours
Comments – I ended up doing my rebounding, breath work, skin brushing & one of my meditations all after 11pm. I would not have done any of those if I wasn’t in this game, but I did my tasks because I am being accountable to a community, and because I have a coaching partner. Very pleased….. ?
November 3
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y, but just barely
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – double
Salad – N
Other meals – I juiced until 5pm, which gave me a good “daily flush/mini-fast”. My main meal of the day was a millet/brown rice/flax wrap w/ hummus spread on it, topped by freshly sautéed onion, mushrooms & lightly steamed broccoli w/ a peanut sauce. Delicious, more vegetables than grain, some green, very satisfying without breaking my agreements.
Fruit & Nuts – the usual… strawberries, dates & cashews at 11pm
Food combining – Very good
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30 min
Gym/weights – 40 minutes, and 10 of those I was talking to people about green juice!
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – Y
Sleep – 1:45a – 6:15a, 4.5 hrs
Comments – I loved making my cooked veggie dinner; however, in retrospect, I wish I had had a big salad. I have 2 lbs. of sunflower sprouts in the frig, and I must eat them daily to use them all up before any go bad. I also felt very sleepy after the cooked meal, and was groggy for an hour or so. That rarely happens when I eat salad. Again, delighted that I achieved good food combining and not overeating. Excellent results today.
November 4
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – double
Salad – 2 power salads, 1 of sunflower sprouts, 1 of romaine with hemp/spirulina dressing! Ezekiel bread or millet/flax wrap on the side.
Other meals – another coconut/goji/cacao/agave smoothie!
Fruit & Nuts – the usual… strawberries, dates & cashews at 11pm
Food combining – Very good!
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30 min
Gym/weights – 40 min
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – Y
Sleep – 2:30 to 6:45am, 4.25 hours
Comments – WOW, excellent day, to match the excellent election results -- I toast our new president with an organic strawberry! The one thing I want to improve is the amount of time I spend writing. I’m barely pulling out 30 minutes. Time to break through the resistance and produce better results.
November 5 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – single
Salad – N, juice feast day
Other meals – Right at the completion of 24 hours of juicing (midnight), I ate a “nibbles” tray of hummus, millet/flax wrap, romaine leaves, olives, Brazil nuts & cherry tomatoes
Fruit & Nuts – a handful of cashews
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N, just 25 minutes sauna, perfect on a juice feast day, moves the toxins being raised in the body through the lymph system, out through the pores and bowels.
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N, but I am emailing my daily report
Sleep – 1:45a to 6:15a, 4.5 hrs
Comments – I’m pleased to have completed a day of juice feasting, one of two promised for each week of this month. I could have gone on for the 2nd day, but decided to eat, which means I have to do a 2nd day before the end of Friday, 24 hours from now. So I will eat for a day and juice feast another day, so that I will have kept my word for the week. I love how light and free my body feels on juice feasting days, so free in the hips -- my yoga stretch is amazing. Even with only one day of juicing, I can see the difference on my face -- my skin is tighter and smoother. I can feel the change in skin quality both on my face and on the palms of my hands, softer and smoother.
The fast ended at midnight, and what I’d normally do upon breaking a fast is food binge, whether it be healthy food or not. The fact that I broke a fast with a normal smallish size salad-y kind of meal is awesome!
Here’s what’s lousy, though -- I didn’t write. I did all sorts of good things...but I didn’t write. And I didn’t call my coaching partner…sneaky. I gotta do better tomorrow.
November 6
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – 1 sunflower sprout power salad
Other meals – awesome millet/flax “pizza” with hummus & sautéed org veggies
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, cashews, dates at 1am.
Food combining – Very good. 2 hours between “pizza” and fruit/nuts. 3 or 4 would be preferable.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 45 min
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – not by phone, but emailing daily report. She did leave me a message, though.
Sleep – 2:45a – 7a, 4.25 hrs
Comments – OK, now it’s getting embarrassing with the writing. I’m doing everything else on the list great, but not the ONE THING that is truly at the top of my list, the one thing that will manifest my destiny in this world, give me full self-expression, and most importantly, make the biggest difference I can make in the world. FEAR is stopping me. When I do write, some good stuff comes out. So -- tomorrow, no beach, gym, or meditations until I write.
November 7 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 2 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – N
Other meals – Upon breaking the 24-hour juice feast, at 11:30p, I had a “nibbles tray” of millet/flax wrap, hummus, sunflower sprouts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, olives & peppers.
Fruit & Nuts – a handful of cashews
Food combining – Awesome
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 35 min
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – I’m being sneaky and only emailing my partner, no voice contact. I promise phone contact tomorrow.
Sleep – 1:30a – 6:45a, 5.25 hrs
Comments – Again, a near perfect day EXCEPT…the big “N” next to “Writing”. I’m just a total sleaze at this point with the most important thing I want to be doing. Total resistance, fear, weakness. Filling the day with all my other accomplishments, knowing inside the whole time that I’m avoiding the one thing that can catapult me into the next stage of my life. And now I’m avoiding coaching from my coaching partner, and I’m the guy telling everyone to use each other for support! Well, at least I FEEL absolutely amazing! Stay tuned…
November 8
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – a big sunflower power salad w/ 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread at 4pm
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – a LOT of strawberries, dates & cashews -- it was dinner, 9pm
Food combining – Awesome
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 35 min
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – by email, didn’t phone like I said I would.
Sleep – 1:30a – 6:15a, 4.75 hrs
Comments – A day of perfect fuel intake. My salad was at 4pm, and my fruit/nut meal at 9pm, a good amount of time in between the meals, main meal in the middle of the day, and amazing that I stayed up til 1:30a, even watched Saturday Night Live, and resisted the urge to eat more!! That’s unusual for me, and a good thing. I’m not promising more of the same, but it would be good for me to finish my eating earlier.
And I hope I’m running out of resistance to writing. Talking about this issue every day is a drag.
November 9
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – Awesome power salad at 12:30pm
Other meals – millet/flax “pizza” with hummus & sautéed org zucchini, tomatoes & mushrooms, 7pm. I loved the ritual of cooking, smelling the seasonings, the warm tomatoes bursting in my mouth. I’m raw most of the time, but I grew up with cooked food, and this kind of healthy cooked meal is still vegan, whole grain, partly organic and relatively light. It satisfied a need without compromising too many of my values.
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, cashews, dates at 10pm.
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 90 minutes!
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – multiple emails to be complete on all biz, very pleased
Sleep – 2:30a – 6:45a, 4.25 hrs
Comments – I wrote on and off throughout the afternoon, for a total of about an hour and half, and a good chunk of it was "writing writing" as opposed to journaling just to get me going. But that first 30 minutes of journaling was what kicked me back into gear, and I was not doing it until my coaching partner Maggie suggested it, even though I've used journaling many times over the years, even as recently as last week. So – there’s the power of coaching!! And it didn’t take that much effort on her part to shift me, just showing up, being in communication and showing some love… and a gentle nudge.
November 10
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – medium romaine/avocado w/ power dressing at 10:30am
Other meals – coconut meat & peanut sauce, leftover sautéed veggies, Ezekiel bread, 7pm
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, cashews, pecans, dates at 12:15am
Food combining – Excellent!
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 90 minutes, all on one specific story!
Gym/weights – 35 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 2:30a – 6a, 3.5 hrs
Comments – I feel INCREDIBLE. One third of the way into this month’s fuel and exercise diary/game, I am blown away by the positive results I’m producing. The major changes I’ve made this month are better food combining and not over-eating. I already eat the right foods, but I tend toward food binging and combining too many types of foods in one sitting, or having two meals with incompatible food groups too close together. I’ve focused on being diligent about amount of food and combinations this month, and the benefits are wonderful -- fantastic energy, VERY POSITIVE MENTAL & EMOTIONAL STATE, even less sleep needed, effortless bowels, feeling light in my torso all the time, grounded, agile, balanced, less gas & stomach activity. Just amazing.
The other excellent thing I did today was sit and write again. I got to 5pm and had not written, and was about to do what I usually do, which is fill the remainder of the day with gym, other business -- anything but write. I even decided I really needed to go to a furniture store for a lamp right then. And I realized what I was doing, and I sat down and wrote for 90 minutes! I think I had to go through all of those days in the past week, whining about how weak I am about writing, until I bottomed out and shifted the tide.
November 11
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – romaine/avocado w/ power dressing at 1:30pm
Other meals – smoothie of fresh coconut meat & coconut water w/ spirulina & one date
Fruit & Nuts – strawberries, cashews, pecans, dates late evening
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30 minutes
Gym/weights – 45 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 1:30a – 6:30a, 5 hrs
Comments – Another great day. And I know I wouldn’t be experiencing this lightness, clarity, calmness, feeling grounded if I was not playing this game. It is this game that is keeping me on track with my diet, exercise, meditation – all of it!
November 12 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – single
Salad – N
Other meals – Upon completing the 24-hour juice feast, at 11pm, I ate a “nibbles tray” of hummus, Ezekiel bread, sprouts, olives, coconut meat, peppers
Fruit & Nuts – Right after the nibbles tray, a small dessert of strawberries, cashews, pecans, dates
Food combining – Good, because it was a juice feast day; however, my nibbles tray & fruit/nuts were all at the same sitting….not the best, but at least I did not overeat.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – message meditation, but not the healing meditation
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – N
Breath work – N
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 12:45a – 5:30a, 4.75 hrs
Comments – This was a day where “fate” or the universe blew my game out of the water, and I went with the flow. I found out there was a Full Moon party with tribal drumming, and I wanted that energy, wanted to dance, laugh, hug -- and I knew it was a good group of people to build community with. Given my Landmark Education training, I examined whether or not this was just an excuse to blow off writing, or if this was one of those moments in which it was appropriate to surrender my well-planned game and just have FUN. I’m writing these comments in retrospect, on 11.20, catching up on the “Comments” for the past week, although my intention is to do them at the end of each day. Point being – this being “tossed around by the wind” or fate, went on for four days, through Saturday the 15th. Relatives visiting, last minute calls for work (which I must take these days), a raw food potluck, my own class to teach, romance, anything and everything that sounded right for me to say YES to for 4 days in a row. I got most of my daily promises completed, but the WRITING disappeared…and what felt like “going with the flow” and “being free and wild” lapsed into laziness and less rigor with my game. After the 4 days of activity, I then did not write for 3 more days, til the 17th -- no excuses any longer, and I no longer even cared!! So “going with the flow” lapsed into laziness turned into TOTAL APATHY. Nothing wrong here, as Landmark would teach, but useful to look at. So now I look to see where the weakness is in my support structure. I have a coaching partner, but we don’t have a stated agreement to speak with each other every day. My partner has not called me (and I certainly don’t call my partner if I’m being a “bad boy”), and she hasn’t even questioned my not emailing her daily reports anymore. Nothing wrong with my partner -- the weakness in our coaching relationship goes back to the origin -- we have not stated agreements in our coaching relationship. And I, as a longtime Landmark Education student know better. When you form a coaching agreement, it is effective to immediately make a plan to speak or email every day, or whatever works for the two partners, and then adjust as you go along. But if you don’t make any specific agreements, the coaching is slippery and weak. So today, 11.19, I’m finishing all my comments for the past week, emailing the whole list to my partner, and then calling her to resurrect our coaching relationship, and inject some muscle into it!
November 13
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – single
Salad – sunflower sprout, romaine, coconut meat, power dressing, 1:30pm
Other meals – org pasta w/ mushrooms, peppers, onions, toasted sesame oil, 11pm
Fruit & Nuts – a few cashews and a date, 2am
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 40 min
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 2:30a – 6:15a, 3.75 hrs
Comments – It’s amazing how hard I go all day, and how little I’m sleeping. Please note -- I am NOT using an alarm clock! I’m waking up after around 4 hours almost every night. I’m sleeping quite soundly, have great energy all day, and sleep this little because of my AMAZING DIET, and the only reason I’m so on top of my game is because I’m playing THIS GAME with YOU!
November 14 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – single
Salad – N
Other meals – At 11pm, upon breaking a 24-hour fast, I ate the leftover pasta from yesterday, and some hummus and a millet/flax wrap. A medium sized meal, not too much.
Fruit & Nuts – A small handful of cashews and a couple of dates.
Food combining – Very good
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – neither
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N, but got a workout giving a 2 hour massage & healing session
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 2am – 5:30a, 3.5 hrs
Comments – Went to a fabulous big fish restaurant on the ocean in Fort Lauderdale with my mom and relatives -- and stuck to my juice feasting and did not eat!! And I felt great. And I promise you, I would have eaten fish had I not been playing this game. I had the perfect excuses… I always do… “I’m with relatives, it’s a special occasion, I rarely do this”…blah blah blah. I loved keeping my word and feeling good and feeling superior to the rest of the world. Did I just admit that??
November 15
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – single
Salad – Lots of salad at a big raw food potluck, and nut pate, salsa, all sortsa goodies!
Other meals – 11pm, a nibbles tray of coconut meat w/ roasted sesame oil & org peanut butter, hummus & millet/flax wrap, olives, cucumbers, sunflower sprouts
Fruit & Nuts – only the apple in my juice, didn’t get to the desserts at the raw potluck, and no sweets late in the evening -- unusual for me, but good!
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – in person at my health talk and support group
Sleep – 4:30a – 7:30a, 3 hrs
Comments – Raw food potlucks and similar gatherings are so wonderful for the spirit; they reinforce my commitment, make it real, remind me I’m not alone. And my class was awesome -- 30+ people, but more importantly, I was IN THE FLOW, because my body is so clean, properly fueled, light, green, alkaline. Two of the most important things I’m accomplishing during this game are NOT OVEREATING and BETTER FOOD COMBINING. The benefits are many, most noticeably a significant reduction in the production of unpleasant gasses in my system, much less mucus in my muscles (more supple, less ache) and in my air passageways (easier to breathe in every aspect, from clearer nostrils to lungs that allow more air to enter…awesome!), and more energy. All my organs feel lighter and emptier, therefore my spinal rotation during yoga is extraordinary -- seriously, like I’ve never experienced, way down toward my tailbone, the ability to twist and release blocked energy and open up the hips. So you see, proper fuel and proper cleansing yield benefits that extend to skeletal and muscular function. As I approach my 50th year, I am stunned at the level at which my body is operating.
November 16
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – 2 awesome power salads, one of sunflower sprouts, one of marinated kale, both with “green power” dressings. Ezekiel bread or millet/flax wrap, coconut meat, sautéed peppers & onion, a little hummus.
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – apple, dates, cashews, pecans, 10pm
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 45 minutes
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 1a – 6:15a, 5.25 hrs.
Comments – OK, now my body is perfect and I’m a total sleaze with the writing again, don’t care, and am not contacting my coaching partner. Bad boy! ?
November 17
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter at 9:30pm, when I needed life force to get me to the gym and work out!
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – 2 amazing power salads, both with sunflower sprouts and marinated kale -- double protein! Plus hemp/spirulina dressing -- triple protein! One salad had an avocado and Ezekiel bread with it, the other had coconut meat, hummos and a millet/flax wrap with it. The first was a breakfast salad and the 2nd was at 4pm.
Other meals – 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread with org peanut butter and pickles, 11pm. Great old comfort food with almost no guilt! Followed directly by….
Fruit & Nuts – apple, dates, cashews, pecans – midnight, delicious
Food combining – Good, not great…but good
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – N
Breath work – N
Teeth flossing – N
Writing – 45 minutes …… YAY!!!
Gym/weights – 40 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 3:45a – 7:15a, 3.5 hrs
Comments – Look, I wrote for 45 minutes. I guess I bottomed out on not writing and whining and running from it that I finally just sat down and did it, no coaching, no whipping, nothing. Just waded through the resistance. Will I write tomorrow or not? Oh, and yes, my body is still ROCKIN’!!
November 18
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – BIG super-power salad, sunflower sprouts & marinated kale, avocado, dulse
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – N
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30 minutes
Gym/weights – 30 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 2a – 6:45a, 4.75 hrs
Comments – I was so tired before going to bed at 2am, yet I made myself do my skin brushing and teeth flossing, only because I’m playing this game. It only took a couple of minutes, and I felt better for doing these things, and I would NOT have done them if I was not playing this game!
November 19 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – N
Other meals – broke 24-hour juice feast w/ lotsa lightly steamed broccoli, a millet/flax wrap, hummus, tomatoes, peanut sauce
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, walnuts, cashews, dates – yum!
Food combining – Excellent. Waited more than 2 hours between dinner & fruit/nuts, which took discipline.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 30+ minutes
Gym/weights – 40 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 2a – 6:15a, 4.25 hrs.
Comments – I FEEL AMAZING.
November 20
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – ½ liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – 3 major salads, 2 of them at home, and a big one at the Hippocrates Institute’s month open house. Hippocrates is the king of the sprout buffet!
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 9pm
Food combining – Great
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – said I would call, but only emailed
Sleep – 12a – 5:30a, 5.5 hrs
Comments – Perfect day…except for not WRITING.
November 21 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 2 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – coconut meat, peanut sauce, romaine, tomatoes, peppers, almonds, pumpkin seeds, w/ two millet/flax wraps
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 10pm
Food combining – Very good.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 45 minutes!
Gym/weights – 35 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – Yes, email and phone!
Sleep – 11:30p – 4:15a, 4.75 hrs
Comments – I’m counting this as a juice feasting day, but barely. I actually broke the fast 3 hours early. I learned from the Hippocrates Institute’s weekly 24-hour fast -- the best way to do it is to stop eating early in the evening, like 6pm, then fast for 24 hours and eat the following evening at 6pm or later. My problem is that I almost always eat late, even the night before a fasting day, which means if I want to eat the evening of the fasting day, then I’m eating at 11pm or later -- or cutting my 24 hours of juice feasting short...which is what I did this evening. So I must strengthen the muscle of discipline and stop eating earlier in the evening the day before a juice feasting day.
November 22
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – 2 medium romaine salads, 11:30am & 4pm, w/ all the usual good stuff, but now adding whole hemp seeds – yum!
Other meals – attended a high school “pizza party” reunion, didn’t touch a thing, came home and made my own healthy version, with all org. millet/flax crust, all org. fresh sautéed mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and a thin layer of hummus between the crust and veggies (cheese substitute) -- awesome!!
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 12:30am
Food combining – This evening, I had my fruit/nut dessert right after my “pizza”, instead of waiting at least a couple of hours, so I only get an “OK” for the day.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – NO!
Gym/weights – 30 minutes
Bike or beach walk – a walk with a friend, not on the beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – yes, early morning coaching call!
Sleep – 1:45a – 5:45a, 4 hrs
Comments – A very social day, filled with conversations about good health. The cleaner and stronger my system gets, and the truer I am to my path, the more I effortlessly draw people to me who want to get healthier. By walking the path, I exude health and truth in an authentic way, and that energy pulls people to me, instead of me having to pursue them. Cool!
November 23
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – Awesome romaine salad w/ a whole big cucumber, power dressing, and added goji berries and hemp seeds, cayenne – what a combo!
Other meals – 8:30pm nibbles tray of hummus, olives, celery, 2 millet/flax wraps, leftover sautéed veggies, tomatoes
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 1:00am
Food combining – Awesome
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – N (fell asleep on the couch)
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 35 minutes
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 1a – 7a, 6 hrs
Comments – Looking at the rich, diverse and possibly complete array of nutrients I put in my body each day, I can’t help but feel truly blessed and lucky and happy about it! This may sound corny, but… I live in a lovely but modest apartment with a great view, not far from the beach. Every time I walk along the beach and pass all the great big mansions, I think I am still the richest guy in the world for having discovered these simple truths about proper fuel and proper cleansing of the body -- why? Because I FEEL GOOD!
November 24
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – marinated kale, coconut meat, hemp seeds, tomatoes, Ezekiel bread.
Other meals – millet/flax pizza crust with sautéed Portobello mushrooms, veggies & hummus
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 11:00pm
Food combining – Very good
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 40 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 12:45a – 5:30a, 4.75 hrs
Comments – OK, I just added up how much writing I promised for the month and how much I’ve actually written. I promised 30 minutes a day, or a total of 15 hours of writing for the month, which is actually a puny promise for someone who wants to be a writer. At the same time, I’ve been so resistant to sitting down and writing, the 30-minute promise seemed at least realistic and possible. So here it is the 24th and I’ve only written a total of 10 days and 8 hours. The bare minimum requirement to win this game is 15 hours by the end of the month (an adaptation of my original promise), so I have 7 days to pull out at least 7 hours, so I MUST WRITE AT LEAST AN HOUR A DAY. I know I will sleaze out if I don’t create a stronger support structure right now, so I will not only call my coaching partner, but I will also email or call at least 5 other “inner circle” people and ask for their support, tell them to call and email me, yell at me, humiliate me, whatever it takes to keep my ass in line. I will have a breakthrough with my writing!
November 25
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – kale, cucumber, coconut meat, hemp seeds
Other meals – millet/flax pizza crust with sautéed leeks, peppers, zucchini & hummus
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 11:00pm
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – N
Breath work – N
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 2 hrs, 5 minutes!
Gym/weights – 35 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 12:49a – 5a, 4.25 hrs
Comments – I’m so pleased to have worked on my writing for 2 hours today!
November 26 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 2 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – medium romaine w/ Annie’s Goddess dressing, dulse, tomatoes, avocado, Ezekiel bread
Other meals – right after the salad that broke the fast, a millet/flax wrap w/ sautéed Portobello mushrooms -- coulda skipped that.
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts, an hour after dinner
Food combining – POOR, too many different foods right after a 24-hour juice feast.
Overeating – just a little
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N – and I did not contact the 5 friends for support as I had said I would.
Gym/weights – 35 minutes
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 1a – 5a, 4 hrs
Comments – Will write tomorrow, will call coaching partner, will be the best little boy in the world -- HA HA! (Next comment added following day) -- I have excessive gas this morning, clear evidence of having broken my juice fast with too many different kinds of food too fast -- healthy foods in a lousy combination that causes putrefaction (rotting).
November 27 - Thanksgiving Day
100 % vegan – N
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – Major Thanksgiving Day salad buffet at the Hippocrates Institute with about 300 people!
Other meals – bits of dessert at a party
Fruit & Nuts – grapes, dates, cashews, walnuts – at 10pm
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – Not the ones on my stated list, but the bits of dessert at the 3rd party
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – N
Writing – N
Gym/weights – 30 minutes
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 1:30a -7a, 5.5 hrs
Comments – I went to 3 Thanksgiving gatherings, and ate my big meal at the first one, the Hippocrates Institute. My belly got filled with healthy fuel, and I wasn’t tempted to touch anything at the other 2 parties….until I decided to break my rules at the last party and try two of the “less-dairy-more-fruity” desserts -- apple pie and a triple-berry cobbler. These were beautifully made desserts, served with love in an elegant setting. The only sweets I’ve been eating this month are fresh fruit, dates, raw nuts and agave nectar, so what struck me as I began to taste these more high-end “Standard American Diet” desserts was the presence of refined sugar, the mushiness of desserts that have been cooked so much the fiber is almost completely decomposed, and much of the natural taste of the fruit has been cooked out of the final product. I took just two or three bites of each and did not finish the rest. I’m OK with having broken my rules this one day, and I’m glad that I did not feel the desire or obligation to finish the food I had put onto my plate. At the end of the evening, I sat down in my own home with my fruit and nuts, enjoyed them and felt grateful for having discovered a healthy dessert that satisfies me and doesn’t leave me feeling guilty or drugged. I want to add here that I’ve eaten healthy cooked pies and cobblers that were delicious, that were made with whole grains and better sweeteners, fruit that isn’t overcooked, organic ingredients, all vegan -- it’s not hard to do; it simply requires consciousness, education and commitment.
November 28
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1 liter
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – medium romaine w/ avocado, tomatoes, Annie’s
Other meals – 2 millet/flax wraps w/ sautéed mushrooms & onion, coconut meat, hummus, and a big pile of lightly steamed broccoli w/ spicy peanut sauce
Fruit & Nuts – a couple of bites of dates & cashews
Food combining – Excellent
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 90 minutes
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – beach
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – email
Sleep – 3:15a – 7a, 3.75 hrs
Comments – The veggie wraps & broccoli dish was way too much for one meal, and I’m glad I stopped eating and put the remainder away for tomorrow.
November 29
100 % vegan – N
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – N
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – Added a bunch of fresh chopped veggies to yesterday’s leftover broccoli & coconut meat, making it into a “sorta salad”.
Other meals – Ate bits of “vegetarian” food at tasting tables at a big AIDS benefit. More in “Comments” below. After I got home, I made a tray of olives, hummus, tomatoes, nuts & some of that millet/flax pizza crust.
Fruit & Nuts – org tangerine, dates, cashews, walnuts in the middle of the day. Perfect.
Food combining – Great, except for the stuff at the benefit.
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – N
Skin brushing – N
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – Y
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – N
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 3a – 6:45a, 3.75 hrs
Comments – Almost all benefits for health care and research include plenty of alcohol, meat, fried greasy food, refined grains, tons of sugar, and plenty of room for smoking cigarettes. This evening’s “White Party” at Vizcaya in Miami Beach, one of the largest and longest-running AIDS benefits in the nation, was no exception. There was not an organic green leaf or a piece of fresh fruit to be found, not a whole grain, not a single thought given to the health of the human body. As we raise yet more millions of dollars to take care of sick people and nobly continue the quest to figure out the mysterious cause of illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and cancer, we blithely feed our raging addictions, in total denial of the simple truths about health and well-being, ignoring the obvious connection between what we put in our mouths and how our bodies feel and function. I ate a few bites, spit most of it into the garbage, tried not to exhibit my disdain and thought about which publications I could write an article for to express my thoughts and maybe strike a chord somewhere in the AIDS care community.
November 30 - Juice Feast Day!
100 % vegan – Y
75% raw/live – Y
Green Juice – 1.5 liters
Wheatgrass – N
Salad – N
Other meals – N
Fruit & Nuts – N
Food combining – Perfect, all juice, coconut water & lemon water
Overeating – N
Forbidden foods – N
Meditations – both
Skin brushing – Y
Rebounding – Y
Breath work – N
Teeth flossing – Y
Writing – 3.5 hours
Gym/weights – N
Bike or beach walk – N
Yoga – Y
Check in with coaching partner – N
Sleep – 2:30a – 6:15a, 3.75 hrs
Comments – Done. YAY!
FINAL STATISTICS & RESULTS FOR NOVEMBER:
* 100 % vegan – 28 of 30 days, and on the 2 days I broke the rule, only a couple of bites of food that had dairy or eggs in it.
* 75% raw/live – 30 of 30 days!
* Green Juice – 29 of 30 days, total 37.5 liters
* Wheatgrass – 8 of 30 days, 11 shots total
* Juice Feasting Days – 2 days each week, total 8 days, met my goal!
* Salad – 28 salads total for the month
* Other meals – 20 vegan meals, most on the light side, most 50% or more raw
* Fruit & Nuts – 26 servings
* Food combining – All “Good” or better, except 1 “Poor” and 1 “OK”, most “Excellent”!
* Overeating – Not even once!
* Forbidden foods – Nothing on my list, not even once!
* Meditations – Did both on 26 days, skipped one or the other 2 days, no meditation 2 days
* Skin brushing – 21 of 30 days
* Rebounding – 27 of 30 days
* Breath work – 25 of 30 days
* Teeth flossing – 27 of 30 days
* Writing – 12 of 30 days, total 15 hours. The promise was 30 minutes each day, for a total of 15 hours.
* Gym/weights – 21 of 30 days, total 13 hours 5 minutes, average 37 minute workouts
* Bike or beach walk – beach 21 of 30 days, no biking
* Yoga – 30 of 30 days
* Check in with coaching partner – We spoke 7 days, I emailed daily reports 14 days, and there was no communication 10 days.
* Sleep – 132.5 hrs total, average
* Shower Filter – Promised to get it in November; got it on December 2nd.
* Honesty – On two of my juice feasting days, I broke my fast 2 or 3 hours early, and did not record those facts, and counted them as juice feasting days, even though I said I had to complete the 24 hours to score it as a win. Those were my only lapses in integrity in regard to reporting my results.
* Start weight – 154 lbs, end weight – 153 lbs.
CONCLUSIONS –
This has been a phenomenally successful game. The results in most areas are measurably improved over my August fuel and exercise game, and I was pleased with my game in August.
* I achieved significant breakthroughs in food combining, not overeating, and in keeping my goal of juice feasting two days a week. Now that the game is concluded, I intend to continue these practices. I can identify positive changes in my physical body as a result of my diligence -- more stretch during yoga, feeling lighter throughout my torso, freedom in my hips and movement, greater spinal rotation, and more. How this shows up in my life is that moment to moment, every move I make is easier, whether it be bending over, reaching, turning, lifting, pushing, breathing – everything. It’s my business to observe how my body functions as a result of the fuel, cleansing and exercise choices I make, and I can honestly say that I feel measurable improvements in the overall functioning of my physical body as a result of this month’s fuel & exercise game. My mind is clearer, I am more on track in other areas of my life such as career, finances and relationships, and that my overall emotional outlook is even more positive than usual.
* I drank more green juice this month – 37.5 liters over 24.75 in August (a 50% increase!), ate more salads, and ate pasta only twice, as opposed to August, when I fell into the “pasta pit” 8 times.
* My average night of sleep dropped from 5.1 hours a night in August to 4.4 hours a night in November. I feel energized, well-rested, and did not use an alarm to wake myself once. When I became a raw foodist in December of 1998, I slept 6.5 – 7 hours a night, and 10 years later I sleep 2 – 2.5 hours less each night, feel better than ever, and have that much more time each day to LIVE!
* This is one of the greenest months I’ve had in the 10 years since I first embraced the living foods lifestyle.
Much thanks to my coaching partner, Maggie Stewart, for helping keep me on track, especially with my promise to write every day. Maggie was great, but I could have generated a more effective relationship with her. I have years of training in coaching relationships, and our support of each other could have been more rigorous, had more structure to it. We were useful to each other, but the whole thing was kind of casual -- Maggie was there when I requested support, but if I want to hide out and avoid her, it was not hard to do so. I know I can be sneaky in these games, and I knew at the top of the game I wasn’t setting up a stronger structure with my partner. So I unconsciously but intentionally avoided a more powerful and effective coaching partnership. The game still went quite well, and our coaching agreement was useful to us both; I’m just being honest in the final equation. Thanks again, Maggie!
I also promised to be an awesome and inspiring coach to “anyone who wants it 24/7”. Well, only my partner Maggie took me up on that, and while no other people who have attended our workshops reached out for my support, I also did not reach out again to the community and offer mine, so as to fulfill my promise. No crime there, just laying my cards out on the table, as they say.
About the diary format --
In August, I recorded the time at which I did everything, throughout the day. This required more effort than November’s game, in which I simply recorded what I had done, not necessarily when I had done it. Since I was not recording the times I ate, I added “Food combining” as an item to report on each day. The standardized format I used for November allowed me to copy and paste the format 30 times and simply fill in the blanks, which I sometimes did at the end of the day. This is a much easier way to play the game, but one must be diligent and remember the details of the day accurately, as the mind can be a slippery thing. This is only the 2nd “fuel & exercise” game I’ve played, and I’m pleased with the evolution of my structure from August to November.
Intentions for my next fuel and exercise game --
* Finish eating a little earlier in the evening, and go to sleep earlier, not so many late nights and late night eating.
* Find a better source for nuts and utilize it. Right now, most of my nut purchases are not organic, and I don’t soak my nuts. I don’t like to soak nuts, but I know it’s good for me, and I’d get used to it over time, I’m sure.
* It would be a breakthrough for me to just eat fruit for dessert in the evening, instead of always “fruit/dates/nuts”, so working in more “fruit only” desserts would be good.
* In August, I biked over 500 miles. In November, I didn’t go biking at all, but I walked on the beach a lot. I made great strides with “greener eating” and juice feasting, and I didn’t feel the need for regular aerobic activity, especially since I do weight workouts 5 days a week. I tend to be extreme, so it was actually an act of maturity for me to walk on the beach instead of adding biking to my regimen -- my ego would opt for proving “I can do it all, I’ll bike 1000 miles!” Instead, I instinctively knew I needed the calmness of walking this month, to keep me from getting too manic as I was winning my game. But for the next game, I’d like to strike a balance between the aerobic biking and the more meditative beach-walking.
* And, of course, I’d like to make even better use of coaching partnerships in the next game.
Thank you for reading this -- I hope you have been inspired….to ACTION!
Alan Pratt