Day 10

I turned my back on my employees, who, after my board meeting for the Endangered Wolf Center, held in Pfoodman Headquarters last night, were sitting in the bar eating and drinking, celebrating favorite employee, Connies, birthday.

They were there at 6 when I went upstairs, still there at 9 when I came down. A tad adjusted, to say the least. "Come on Ralph, sit down" they said. I held my hand up and said: "I am on a mission and, by Gad, I plan on getting there". Twenty years ago I would have ordered another pitcher.

I think I turned a corner on my journey to detox/cleanse. Wednesday, day 9, was rough due to the fact that I could not get my food, because of my travel. It is tough to do this when you are cleansing and have a need to get you nutrition when you got to have it. Even an hour is like a nightmare, only to find the wrong foods waiting when you finally find a place to eat, while on the road. I cannot pack my food, likely never will. I should plan ahead more, realized this and was pretty much pissed off all day.

No, the laughter and the prodding went nowhere with the group of birthday revelers. I made up some excuse like "no way, American Idol is kickin", and got the hell out of there.

I am not bothered at all by the lack of caffeine anymore, don't crave it, but I do like the smell of it in the morning. Since "elimination" is the key word here, it seems to me that the smell of fresh brewed coffee is all your system needs to "go". That will have to be good enough moving forward. I don't plan on going back to it, green tea perhaps. The reason? I think caffeine masks your bodies telling you what it really craves, which is usually not the sugar, the carbs, the quick fix. Usually it is the protein and often times, water. Most of the time water. Hydration is key. I will also likely stay on the supplements, because these provide me with the assurance that my system is not losing out on the vitamins necessary to sustain the basics, especially immune system. Especially if I plan on not sticking every salty snack I can find in whatever dip I can find. I honestly feel great today. No headache, no hollow feeling of hunger.

Weighed in this morning at 206, down 10 pounds in 10 days. Not water weight, really fat burned. My clothes are not as tight, people are starting to say my face looks thinner. I have had no stomach problems and have narrowed down what it might have been. Likely gluten or soy. These two products have a history of causing allergies and I am sure this has caused me the discomfort. I am also suspect of eggs and dairy. Since I am off of all of them, if I plan on going back to any of them, it will be necessary to re-introduce one at a time, to find out which is really causing the problem and eliminate completely from my diet. Remember, the alternative was pharmaceuticals. More toxins. The beer may have to go, due to the grain products. A personal issue, but I have suffered from IBS and have been treated for diverticulitis numerous times. Red wine might be the ticket...I like my drink.

Now the detox is not a weight loss thing. It is a cleansing thing, getting rid of the mucus buildup in the cells, the body, the nasties from all of the toxins having no place to go, staying right there in the body. You eliminated that during optimum detox period, a 12 hour time between meals where it takes place. Over time you shed that stuff. Due to the types of foods and the religion towards eliminating all refined sugars, breads, (insert anything that you know tastes good but is bad for you), you drop basically drop the weight. I have stayed to the T on this, other than perhaps having to eat some blueberries that were not organic and some chicken that did not look like chicken once. I have had no fat, no wheat products, no alcohol, no red meat, no soda. Did I say a buttload of avacados?

This is my education on nutrition, my practicum, my way of learning of what is right and wrong. This is just what I needed to get fired up about my health. Can't weight to start the buildup on fitness. I have still refrained from intense exersize for the time being, only doing 50 push ups a day, hiking or walking a couple miles a day, and/or riding the bike in the neighborhood. I am going to push it this weekend, but do not want to vary or have to drop blook sugar to the point where I need a carb product to offset the energy needed to do it. This is a time of transition, it will be a learning curve for my body to adjust to the types of energy burned.