Sunday, August 2, 2009

Day 2 ... Salads, Salads, everywhere

Quote from Angela Stokes-Monarch's blog...
“It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.”
~ Vernon Howard
Angela is the author of the book, "Raw Emotions", which, I am told, is about her incredible weight loss and the path that she followed to becoming a raw foodist. (She only eats raw foods now.)

Day 2 ... Rise and Shine
The sun came out and the birds were celebrating. My new ritual of rising at 5:30-6:00am continued and I was able to turn on my creativity quickly. I've found that if I 1) get my feet on the floor, 2) take care of bodily functions and, most importantly, 3) move to a room other than my bedroom, e.g. office or kitchen, the sleep tends to fade from my brain. I'm sure there will be days in the future when this simple method won't be 100% effective due to late nights or other indulgences... it's working now and that's all that counts !

Is it over yet?
As anyone who has tried to change a habit or start a new diet knows, the first few days are the hardest ... and Day 2 was no exception ... sort of. My "run" was about 1 mile and is in quotation marks because I am still walking at least a third of the way. To my credit... there are some steep hills (on about a third of the route).

Work it out...
I felt good after running and before taking a shower, I decided to work on my deck a little. I had started to power-wash it a few days ago and figured I was already sweaty and needed a shower so a little labor could not hurt. I set up the equipment, turned on the water and proceeded to enjoy the mindless activity of slowly, inch by inch, spraying the grime off the deck.

Sort of like a form of meditation .... OMMMMM... got to get that spot.... OMMMMM... don't forget the green stuff on the railing.... OMMMMM... I wonder if I could sleep standing up?

With about 3/4 of the deck done, I decided to call it quits for the day, removed my soaking wet socks and took a shower to remove all the splattered grime that I had accumulated. After a refreshing shower.... it hit.

The URGE...
My body demanded .... something. "A pizza would be ideal." "We would settle for fast food if you don't have much time." "That commercial on TV looked delicio.us don't you think?"

I countered with a salad of chopped lettuce (two types), radishes, cucumbers with d.Mark dressing.
Recipe for d.Mark dressing...
  • Olive oil (lightly drizzled)
  • Rice vinegar (other vinegars possible... e.g. malt, balsamic,apple)
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • Sea Salt
  • Fresh shaved parmesan cheese
  • All ingredients added "to taste" (go light on the vinegar the first time)
The bowl of salad was surprisingly filling and it allowed me to work for 3-4 hours on my "millionaire status". While I'm waiting for my real estate business to ramp up, I'm creating a product for my consulting / speaking business... Value Discovery Cards ! (look for them later this year on www.TheWorldsMostCreativePerson.com)

Revenge of the URGE ....
The real challenge came at dinner time. The urges were stronger (from my stomach... I know what you were thinking... keep your mind out of the gutter).

I had let myself get really hungry ... which I've learned is when I usually make my poorest food choices. Thoughts of pizza and McDonalds crossed my mind ... and echoed in the cavern of my stomach.

Escape... Save Yourself... It is on the loose...
I decided to get out of the house and go to Chili's Restaurant for some of their chips & salsa along with a simple salad. I am a bit of "salsa conessoir" and I've found that Chili's is one of the better ones offered by a chain restaurant. The meal was a good choice ... I felt full and enjoyed being out "in public". I guess I needed a change of scenery after staring at my computer and dancing with the powerwasher all day.

Overall... there were a few challenges today ... and* I am one step closer to a health lifestyle.

How are you doing?
(comments welcome)

* I'm also following Marshall Sylver's advice to remove "wimpy" words like "but" and "try" from my vocabulary and replace them with "and" or "will". The words we use influence the programming in our heads so I need to be more conscious of which words I'm using.... look for more about this in a future post.

d.Mark "Dave" Wheeler

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