P.G. Snacks Personal Growth in bitesize chunks

[Day 2]: Saying no to habits and temptations

After day the first day it wasn’t too hard to continue with the challenge, since I felt my energy was high. I wasn’t sure I was structurally gaining anything but at least it sure didn’t feel like I was losing anything. But as it turns out, there were a few “surprises” I would be confronted with today.

Sleep:7 hours of solid sleep, from 0:30 till 7:30. But somehow I didn’t get out of bed right away, possibly because a 9:00 AM appointment I had was canceled because of the weather conditions. (It’s been snowing like crazy for our standards, and transportation is hard since the country isn’t really prepared for it.) Either way, 7 hours of sleep turned into 8.
A for my energy level at wake-up, I actually felt quite energetic after 7 hours, but I guess lying in bed with my girlfriend was more tempting then jumping out. Obviously, after another hour of sleep I was still feeling ready to kick off the day, and actually a bit jumpy. Kinda like I was bored with lying still and wanted to do stuff.

Breakfast:
Well, once again, because of the weather conditions the last days it hadn’t been a top-priority to go to the store and buy a lot of food / drinks. So I was still stuck with the same fruits I had on day 1. So no smoothy for me today, instead I had:
- 1 Banana
- 2 Mandarins - 1 Apple - About 500ml of tea
Luckily, I had a trip planned to a giant store with my mother, brother and girlfriend to shop for our two Christmas dinners. So I figured I could get all the things I wanted/needed while I was there. Although it wasn’t drinkable, I really enjoyed the mixed flavors of the fruits for breakfast, as well as the different textures you experience in your mouth.

Lunch-time: Nothing fancy either, as I had prepared a large bowl of mixed nuts the day before I just ate from that. Today however, I decided to stick a bit more to a “schedule” of eating, instead of eating small portions throughout the day. I guess that would make for a better comparison to a “normal” lunch. I did not weigh the amount of nuts I ate but it was about two hands-full. I drank some more tea with this, but I realized that I actually wanted something else. (But had nothing in the house at the time, lol;))
The thing that stayed consistent was that I did not really feel hungry between meals; No stomach rumbling or yawning because my body was crying for more food.

Shopping-temptations:
It really surprised me how this affected me, but let me first paint the picture for you. The store I went to wasn’t a typical one; It’s one of those giant industrial-like supermarkets for entrepreneurs. Everything comes in large quantities, is pretty cheap and very good quality of fresh food. They don’t sell 4 brands of .. euhm… let’s say potato chips, but 24. I usually really enjoy going there because I can buy things there that are not available in my local retail store. But today I noticed that I was almost drooling over all that “other” food. But seriously, I really felt myself being pulled from one corridor to the other thinking “Oeh! That looks good!”… “Oeh,. Check that out!” Vegetarians might not appreciate what I’m going to tell you now, but it got the worst when I entered their giant fridge. It literally had over 10 meters of steaks; all sorts, shapes and sizes. And in my mind I could see, hear and smell them sizzling on my barbeque.

I really felt like a bit of a caveman so I got the heck out of there and went shopping for greens. Pfew,..

Dinner:
My roommate had been bugging me all day about wanting to finishing his eggs before they expired. So he made a giant omelet with cheese and ham and I had a piece of it on two slices of white bread. (Thought it’d be easy on digestion) In return I gave the guy half of the ham&mushroom pizza I bought that afternoon. As for drinks, I just had two glasses of water with it.

End of the day:
Throughout the day I had felt really fit and didn’t drink a single cup of coffee. However, after dinner I got into a bit of a discussion / fight / makeup / cry / cuddle scenario with my girlfriend. And this just totally drained me. I’m quite a sensitive person and if you’re like me, you know that extreme emotions can really suck you dry quickly. Off course I was happy that the things that we fought over were spoken out instead of letting them fester inside. So looking back it doesn’t feel like a waste of energy at all, but it does take its toll

Related posts:
- New 30-day challenge coming up
- [Day 1] Kicking off the challenge

New 30 day challenge coming up

Hey everyone,

I'm feeling a bit ashamed that I haven't been able to keep up a steady stream of new content, but a lot's been going on lately. While finishing my thesis I have also been in the middle a job interview and the associated selection process.
Luckily, everything worked out and I got hired. (yeah!) Feels great to get hired on the first try and also feels like a great way to start expressing myself in this new job. It probably doesn't beat being self-employed, but just finishing university I do appreciate the job security. (In case you're curious, I got hired as a junior information consultant for a very large municipality.)

Either way, this was all a bit off topic. Because what I wanted to announce that I'm gonna start posting a new 30-day challenge on the blog. It's gonna be one regarding food & energy levels.
Although it is the holiday season, I wanted to try adjusting my food habits and see how it affects my energy levels throughout the day (and night).

I realized that I have the most control over the first two meals of the day: Breakfast and Lunch. Unlike dinner, where you are usually a bit limited because you're sharing your meal with someone, I can choose what I eat for those first two meals very easily. Partially inspired by Steve Pavlina's 30-day smoothy fest, I decided to create for following plan for myself:

• Breakfast: Smoothies
  I'm not sure how much I'll need to drink to feel "satisfied" but I'll discover that along the way.
• Lunch: Various fruits & Nuts
  I found that I like both these things quite a bit, and there are a ton of fruits&nuts to choose from, all holding important nutriënts. Also, it's very to bring these wherever you go. Fruits are also easy to get at local shops but I can imagine you would like to bring the nuts from home.
• Dinner: Whatever I want, or rather.. what I would normally eat.
  Being realistic, limiting myself to a very strict diët during the holiday is just not gonna happen. There's social events where you don't decide what you get served for dinner. And on top of that, I enjoy good food, so without gorgeing myself I am just gonna take part in the festivities as anyone else would.
• Throughout the day: Whatever I feel like
  This might sound like a trap, but if I get enough nutricional value from my breakfast and lunch I don't see myself running out and go snacking. But, if I happen to feel like having cookies or chocolate, what the heck?! This is supposed to be fun, and not a big strain. Keep it practical and realistic!

I think this is a great challenge because anyone could do it, while staying in the holiday spirit and enjoying all the good times with friends, family and loved ones WHILE still working on a healthier, more energetic feeling throughout the day.
I'm still finalizing the details but as it looks now I'd like to keep track of the following things:

• WHAT I ate during breakfast & lunch exactly
  Specifically: What smoothy I drank, how much and what it contained. Which fruits and nuts  ate for lunch and a rough estimate how much. I'm not gonna weigh it all, this is not a weight-loss challenge after all. It's all about energy!
• Sleep cycles
  The time I go to sleep and wake up. But also the quality of sleep I experienced, since this is hugely important for how rested & energetic you feel.
• Energy levels throughout the day
  I want to record how energetic I feel when I wake up, related to how eager I am to take on the day's challenges.
  During the rest of the day I'll record my energy levels on specific times while noting any sudden changes if they might happen. Naturally I'll keep doing this till I go to bed to get a complete picture.
• I'll be making daily pictures of my tongue in the morning. (yes, this might sound weird but let me explain)
  I've been reading up a lot on chinese medicine lately and one of the greatest tools to get an impression of someones condition is looking at their tongue. I'll take a picture every day when I get out of the shower, before breakfast so my mouth is clean. By doing this I hope to start seeing progression I make visualized.

  I'm trying to make a deal with my acupuncturist at the moment to support me with this. I can email her the pictures and have her make a contribution to the blog post by providing feedback from a professional point of view.

As I stated earlier, I'm working out the final details at the moment and preparing to get all the things I need sorted.
If all goes well, I'll be starting off tomorrow and blogging my progress dialy.
So I hope you keep following me see how I do!

or, better yet.. JOIN ME!!
Share your experiences in the comments below. I'm actually really curious how it'd work out for you.
Or just get in touch with me on twitter: MarkNap or PGSnacks