1. March 15: 3 slices of bread is about right for breakfast, and 2 slices of watermelon is about right for one snack
2. My eyes felt itchy sometimes
3. Fat makes you full. Although I wouldn’t say I overate, I definitely ate a lot / almost overate in the last two days (March 17 Thu, 18 Fri), and my weight picked up a little as a result. For some meals I ate little or no protein/starch, but I was still stuffed, because my vegetables were oily (especially broccoli, although it was extremely good). Thursday night I bought two packages of Sensible Foods Crunch Dried Snacks. They were “organic sweet corn” and “organic soy nuts”, which were essentially concentrated starches and proteins. They were so good that, even after normal dinner, I could not help finishing them both (not in one go tho). Strangely I didn’t feel bloated. Moreover, starch+protein totally violates food combination, but I didn’t fart or experience anything usual. Probably I did feel a little bit uncomfortable because I ate too much, but it was not very memorable. I can’t make many conclusions yet, but one thing I can conclude is that fat is the No.1 thing that makes you full. Vegetable with a lot of oil stuffs you fast, while a lot of starch/protein with little oil does not.
4. Probably because of stress, I got a couple of bad dreams. Not nightmares, but intensive dreams. Haven’t had bad dreams for a long time.
5. Yesterday my dad expressed his understanding for my vegan decision. He believed that happiness and freedom is very important, so he supports whatever decision I make. My mum initially said that she was still against my vegan diet even after reading my emails, but later she said she would like to give me time to study more about nutrition and hopefully make the decision of eating meat again on my own. I am grateful to their understanding.
6. This is not an accident, because I was aware of it when I ... had a little bit of white sauce (which very likely contains dairy) while biting the mushroom and black bean burgers bought from Axe & Palm. I had mushroom burgers from Axe & Palm twice before, and both time there was no sauce at all. However, this time both Lisa's black bean burger and my mushroom burger got sauce in it :( I still wanted to eat breakfast (we bought the burgers on Thursday night and saved it for breakfast on Friday), so I ate the margins of the burgers and took in a little bit sauce on the way.
Showing posts with label symptoms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label symptoms. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dead week
Tuesday, March 8
I overate for dinner: had a lot of lentil puree, among other stuff like squash and mushrooms. It made me feel sleepy the whole night, gain 1 kg compared to last night, and fart a lot. My stomach was obviously very flexible – it suddenly became HUGE. However, I still felt better this time than last time when I had the two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry. I concluded that too much starch/protein is better than too much fat.
I canceled the bet with Lisa, because I decided to fast for the next day to recover my stomach, and this violates the eat-every-meal rule of the bet. I was sure I would win the bet, but I hated the restrictions that the bet set on me. I wanted freedom, so I canceled the bet.
Wednesday, March 9
I was woken up by alarm that morning – the first time for a while. It showed that I needed more sleep due to overeating. I fasted for one day, and it was easier than the first time I fasted (although the first time was easy too). This time I was not as thirsty and hungry as last time. It was probably because 1) from morning to 3pm I was totally focusing on the humbio final paper due that afternoon, 2) last time I starting fasting from lunch, but this time I started fasting from dinner, so maybe it was less intense of a fast this time, or 3) the second time is just easier than the first time.
I was also more energetic: I didn't feel sleepy in the 3:15-4:30pm class at all! I broke the fast with two apples at probably around 5:15pm. At around 6:10pm I had some green salad and broccoli. At around 7pm I had three slices of watermelon. Wow that’s a lot of break-fast compared to just two apples last time!
Thursday, March 10
It was awful that I overate again. I had slightly less than normal amount for dinner, then I when into the Flomo kitchen to talk to the staff there for a while. After a short while, I felt like some bread, so I went downstairs to get some. I saw one girl pass by, eating Oroweat 100% whole wheat English muffin. I was curious so I checked the muffin out. It looked healthy, so I had one slice (half of one English muffin). It was soooo delicious, and it was instantly ranked as my favorite bread. To compare with the normal Oroweat 100% whole wheat bread, I ate a piece of the normal bread too (the crust part that I love). The normal one still tasted good, but the English muffin tasted softer and a little bit oilier, like cakes. So I had another English muffin (composed of two slices). Then I regretted, because I overate again. But this time it was much better than the previous two overeating that made me feel imperative to fast.
Friday, March 11
Although I felt ok when I went to bed last night, I felt very full this morning. But I still had one apple around 9am. At around 10am I had the big mushroom burger from Axe & Palm (I took it back home the previous day). I didn’t have time for lunch because I had a final paper due at 1:15pm. After submitting the paper, I ate 1.5 English muffin and a piece of leftover mushroom on the lawn. I had a small dinner. My stomach does not feel great that day. Overeat-fast-overeat in three days hurt my stomach, and my diet today was also irregular. I should protect my stomach more. Take good care of it.
When I was talking to my parents at night, my parents forced/begged me to eat meat. I was sad and extremely frustrated that I needed to give up my belief just to make my parents happy, so I wrote a long email to them, hoping that they understand why I chose to become a vegan. As a result, I went to bed at around 2am. It was the first time that I went to bed after midnight since the Viennese Ball on February 11.
Saturday, March 12
I naturally woke up at around 7am. I intentionally canceled my alarm last night, expecting to sleep more this morning. But I woke up early by myself as usual, although not as early as 5:40am. Not getting enough sleep, my complexion did not look good today.
During lunch, I had a talk with the manager friend at Wilbur Dining. She told me about how she loved her children by letting them make their own decisions. She’s a wise woman who practices meditation. She said this was a good chance for me to educate my parents, so I decided not to compromise my belief for my parents. They need to understand what I think, who I truly am, what’s most important to me, and what makes me happy. So at round 4pm I started to write a letter to them. I sent the email out at around 11pm and went to bed at around 11:40pm.
I didn’t feel energetic today, although definitely didn’t feel sleepy either, until after I sent out the email to my parents. I yawned after shower. Wow I suddenly realized that I hadn’t yawned for a looong time!
My stomach still felt weird sometimes, but much better than yesterday. Today I practiced good diet and my stomach is recovering.
This morning I discovered that “Food for Life Wheat & Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread” is also soft and oily, so Food for Life’s Brown Rice Bread trumped Oroweat English Muffin as my favorite bread.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Today I got up at 7am again. It’s interesting that that’s roughly 1.5 hours later than 5:40am. I just learned the 90-minute sleep cycle last week and it looks like it applies here! I used to believe in a smaller sleep cycle of 40 minutes (my dad told me this and it works).
Lisa just got up around 10am. I always know I went to bed at around the same time but got up way earlier than her every day. However, today is the first time I consciously calculated: 10-7 = 3 hours! Before going vegetarian, we used to have the same demand for sleep. Am I really saving 3 hours every day nowadays? I’ll try keeping track of our sleep time next week.
Wait … that why! I just realized that because of the day-light saving time, we just lost an hour today. So if today were still yesterday, Lisa got up around 9am and I slept only 2 hours less than her. (The time I got up, 7am, was shown on my alarm, which did not automatically adjust for day-light saving time)
This morning, I had one slice of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread, one slice of Food for Life Brown Rice Bread, one slice of Ezekiel, and one slice of Udi’s again. They are all very good, with totally different tastes. I almost wanted to rank Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain as my new favorite, but I just discovered that it has egg whites in it. Egg’s only a minor ingredient here, so I think it’s ok to eat Udi’s once in a while, but I don’t want to make it my favorite. I compared nutrition facts and figured that the best is still definitely Ezekiel. Food for Life Brown Rice, Udi’s and Oroweat Whole Grain all leg behind. I think I won’t rank among breads, but I do think bread has become one of my favorite foods. I’ll use Ezekiel as my staple, and eat other breads once in a while.
Lunch I had half a plate of green salad and half a plate of squash and roots. I didn’t think that was too much squash and roots, but apparently that was. My stomach didn’t feel good after the lunch, although overall I didn’t eat that much. I recalled that actually I never felt very comfortable after eating a lot of squash or roots. Probably they are just difficult for my stomach to digest, so in the future I should only take very small amount of such food each time. I finished lunch at 12:45pm and had pineapple at around 2:50pm. My stomach was noticeably uncomfortable at around 3:50pm, so I went to bed at around 4pm.
Dinner I had green salad, boy choy, broccoli, and three slices of breads: Ezekiel, Oroweat whole wheat, and Oroweat whole wheat English muffin. Oroweat English muffin didn’t taste THAT great to me anymore. I actually enjoyed the Oroweat whole wheat the most today. It’s weird that, for dinner again, I felt full after meal even I don’t think that I had that much. There are a few possible reasons for that: 1) I took a 1.5 hour nap right before dinner, so I didn’t feel like eating before dinner. 2) I suspect that boy choy in the US contains too much fiber or is too huge and thus it fills me up easily. 3) I guess that I should not eat both Ezekiel and normal bread at the same time, because Ezekiel is a complete protein and leaner on carb. Mixing Ezekiel and normal bread is a bit like a starch-protein combination. 4) Three slices of bread is just about right for breakfast, but for dinner, since you also consume so much fiber from other sources, three slices of bread may be too much? About two hours after dinner I also farted a little bit. I guess farting is directly correlated with how stuffed you are after each meal. You may also fart if you violate food combination, e.g. having starch and protein at the same meal, but I’m not sure on this point.
I overate for dinner: had a lot of lentil puree, among other stuff like squash and mushrooms. It made me feel sleepy the whole night, gain 1 kg compared to last night, and fart a lot. My stomach was obviously very flexible – it suddenly became HUGE. However, I still felt better this time than last time when I had the two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry. I concluded that too much starch/protein is better than too much fat.
I canceled the bet with Lisa, because I decided to fast for the next day to recover my stomach, and this violates the eat-every-meal rule of the bet. I was sure I would win the bet, but I hated the restrictions that the bet set on me. I wanted freedom, so I canceled the bet.
Wednesday, March 9
I was woken up by alarm that morning – the first time for a while. It showed that I needed more sleep due to overeating. I fasted for one day, and it was easier than the first time I fasted (although the first time was easy too). This time I was not as thirsty and hungry as last time. It was probably because 1) from morning to 3pm I was totally focusing on the humbio final paper due that afternoon, 2) last time I starting fasting from lunch, but this time I started fasting from dinner, so maybe it was less intense of a fast this time, or 3) the second time is just easier than the first time.
I was also more energetic: I didn't feel sleepy in the 3:15-4:30pm class at all! I broke the fast with two apples at probably around 5:15pm. At around 6:10pm I had some green salad and broccoli. At around 7pm I had three slices of watermelon. Wow that’s a lot of break-fast compared to just two apples last time!
Thursday, March 10
It was awful that I overate again. I had slightly less than normal amount for dinner, then I when into the Flomo kitchen to talk to the staff there for a while. After a short while, I felt like some bread, so I went downstairs to get some. I saw one girl pass by, eating Oroweat 100% whole wheat English muffin. I was curious so I checked the muffin out. It looked healthy, so I had one slice (half of one English muffin). It was soooo delicious, and it was instantly ranked as my favorite bread. To compare with the normal Oroweat 100% whole wheat bread, I ate a piece of the normal bread too (the crust part that I love). The normal one still tasted good, but the English muffin tasted softer and a little bit oilier, like cakes. So I had another English muffin (composed of two slices). Then I regretted, because I overate again. But this time it was much better than the previous two overeating that made me feel imperative to fast.
Friday, March 11
Although I felt ok when I went to bed last night, I felt very full this morning. But I still had one apple around 9am. At around 10am I had the big mushroom burger from Axe & Palm (I took it back home the previous day). I didn’t have time for lunch because I had a final paper due at 1:15pm. After submitting the paper, I ate 1.5 English muffin and a piece of leftover mushroom on the lawn. I had a small dinner. My stomach does not feel great that day. Overeat-fast-overeat in three days hurt my stomach, and my diet today was also irregular. I should protect my stomach more. Take good care of it.
When I was talking to my parents at night, my parents forced/begged me to eat meat. I was sad and extremely frustrated that I needed to give up my belief just to make my parents happy, so I wrote a long email to them, hoping that they understand why I chose to become a vegan. As a result, I went to bed at around 2am. It was the first time that I went to bed after midnight since the Viennese Ball on February 11.
Saturday, March 12
I naturally woke up at around 7am. I intentionally canceled my alarm last night, expecting to sleep more this morning. But I woke up early by myself as usual, although not as early as 5:40am. Not getting enough sleep, my complexion did not look good today.
During lunch, I had a talk with the manager friend at Wilbur Dining. She told me about how she loved her children by letting them make their own decisions. She’s a wise woman who practices meditation. She said this was a good chance for me to educate my parents, so I decided not to compromise my belief for my parents. They need to understand what I think, who I truly am, what’s most important to me, and what makes me happy. So at round 4pm I started to write a letter to them. I sent the email out at around 11pm and went to bed at around 11:40pm.
I didn’t feel energetic today, although definitely didn’t feel sleepy either, until after I sent out the email to my parents. I yawned after shower. Wow I suddenly realized that I hadn’t yawned for a looong time!
My stomach still felt weird sometimes, but much better than yesterday. Today I practiced good diet and my stomach is recovering.
This morning I discovered that “Food for Life Wheat & Gluten Free Brown Rice Bread” is also soft and oily, so Food for Life’s Brown Rice Bread trumped Oroweat English Muffin as my favorite bread.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Today I got up at 7am again. It’s interesting that that’s roughly 1.5 hours later than 5:40am. I just learned the 90-minute sleep cycle last week and it looks like it applies here! I used to believe in a smaller sleep cycle of 40 minutes (my dad told me this and it works).
Lisa just got up around 10am. I always know I went to bed at around the same time but got up way earlier than her every day. However, today is the first time I consciously calculated: 10-7 = 3 hours! Before going vegetarian, we used to have the same demand for sleep. Am I really saving 3 hours every day nowadays? I’ll try keeping track of our sleep time next week.
Wait … that why! I just realized that because of the day-light saving time, we just lost an hour today. So if today were still yesterday, Lisa got up around 9am and I slept only 2 hours less than her. (The time I got up, 7am, was shown on my alarm, which did not automatically adjust for day-light saving time)
This morning, I had one slice of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread, one slice of Food for Life Brown Rice Bread, one slice of Ezekiel, and one slice of Udi’s again. They are all very good, with totally different tastes. I almost wanted to rank Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain as my new favorite, but I just discovered that it has egg whites in it. Egg’s only a minor ingredient here, so I think it’s ok to eat Udi’s once in a while, but I don’t want to make it my favorite. I compared nutrition facts and figured that the best is still definitely Ezekiel. Food for Life Brown Rice, Udi’s and Oroweat Whole Grain all leg behind. I think I won’t rank among breads, but I do think bread has become one of my favorite foods. I’ll use Ezekiel as my staple, and eat other breads once in a while.
Lunch I had half a plate of green salad and half a plate of squash and roots. I didn’t think that was too much squash and roots, but apparently that was. My stomach didn’t feel good after the lunch, although overall I didn’t eat that much. I recalled that actually I never felt very comfortable after eating a lot of squash or roots. Probably they are just difficult for my stomach to digest, so in the future I should only take very small amount of such food each time. I finished lunch at 12:45pm and had pineapple at around 2:50pm. My stomach was noticeably uncomfortable at around 3:50pm, so I went to bed at around 4pm.
Dinner I had green salad, boy choy, broccoli, and three slices of breads: Ezekiel, Oroweat whole wheat, and Oroweat whole wheat English muffin. Oroweat English muffin didn’t taste THAT great to me anymore. I actually enjoyed the Oroweat whole wheat the most today. It’s weird that, for dinner again, I felt full after meal even I don’t think that I had that much. There are a few possible reasons for that: 1) I took a 1.5 hour nap right before dinner, so I didn’t feel like eating before dinner. 2) I suspect that boy choy in the US contains too much fiber or is too huge and thus it fills me up easily. 3) I guess that I should not eat both Ezekiel and normal bread at the same time, because Ezekiel is a complete protein and leaner on carb. Mixing Ezekiel and normal bread is a bit like a starch-protein combination. 4) Three slices of bread is just about right for breakfast, but for dinner, since you also consume so much fiber from other sources, three slices of bread may be too much? About two hours after dinner I also farted a little bit. I guess farting is directly correlated with how stuffed you are after each meal. You may also fart if you violate food combination, e.g. having starch and protein at the same meal, but I’m not sure on this point.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Inflammation and curry
Yesterday, the corner of my month got inflamed, or “on fire” according to Chinese medicine, and today it began to bother me. There are a few causes that I suspect: 1) I normally eat “cold” fruit every day, but during period I’m not eating any “cold” fruits, so the “fire” caught on; 2) it’s easier to get weird symptoms like inflammation during period; 3) I eat too much curry. It’s actually not much in absolute terms, but it’s more than enough and my body has become sensitive enough to react to it; 4) I need more vegetables. These days I feel like green vegetables more, while before I always feel like grains and beans more. I still somehow told myself I need the amount of grains and beans that I used to have for each meal, but actually my body might have reached a more natural stage of wanting 80% vegetables and fruits and 20% grains and legumes.
About curry now. Before I ate the epic “two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry (TBFPOTVC)”, I thought curry had become my favorite food. But ever since the epic TBFPOTVC, I don’t really enjoy curry that much anymore. These days, I got curries simply because I told myself I like them, not because I really feel like eating them. I used to always get a little bit more than normal amount of curry, but now even I still got the same amount of curry, my stomach began to feel uncomfortable and it also affected my appetite for the next meal. Curry is too oily for my stomach now. I think I’ll take a break with curry and not eat it until next quarter.
About curry now. Before I ate the epic “two big full plates of Thai vegetable curry (TBFPOTVC)”, I thought curry had become my favorite food. But ever since the epic TBFPOTVC, I don’t really enjoy curry that much anymore. These days, I got curries simply because I told myself I like them, not because I really feel like eating them. I used to always get a little bit more than normal amount of curry, but now even I still got the same amount of curry, my stomach began to feel uncomfortable and it also affected my appetite for the next meal. Curry is too oily for my stomach now. I think I’ll take a break with curry and not eat it until next quarter.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Breaking the fast
At 10am, I ate three slices of Ezekiel bread, breaking the fruit fast. Actually I had always planned to wait until brunch to have a bowl of hot oatmeal, which I think is better for digestion than bread, but I finally chose to listen to my body: I was imagining how satisfying it would be to have some Ezekiel bread, but oatmeal didn't turn me on at all. Sure enough, the bread meal was very satisfying.
At 12:40pm I had some green salad and 3/4 plate of cooked vegetables as a light lunch. I rinsed the Zucchini with hot water, because I thought it was greasy. Today I really chewed all my food till they breakdown, which I think made food taste better. I almost never ate sweet peppers, but today I ate the sweet peppers that went with the Zucchini, and it was the first time I think sweet peppers taste great. I also discovered that summer squash (Zucchini) does taste like squash!
Before the bread, I felt a little dizzy when I stood up; after the bread, the symptom lessened; and after the vegetables, the dizziness was gone.
Boring lectures have always had a hypnotizing effect on me, so I went to take a nap at 1:40pm. I planned to limit it to only 20 minutes but ended up sleeping until 3:30pm. Then I had some honeydew, 15 minutes later some pineapple, and went to the presentation group at 4pm. In total, I still slept 7 hours today, and I have been energetic the whole day, so it looks like 7 hours per day is my standard amount of sleep these days.
I'm happy that tonight I resisted the temptation to get another plate of curry. Actually I only had a bowl of green salad and half plate of curry today (plus Flomo's plate is smaller than Wilbur's). If I had taken more curry, the tragedy of two plates of curry before the fast might occur again, although in a smaller scale. I'm about to go to bed now and my stomach is feeling terrific. Actually I'm not that excited about curry today, because now whenever I saw / thought about curry, I thought about the two full big plates of Thai vegetable curry, which immediately turned me off a little. Maybe it's also because after the fast, my body does not feel like fatty food.
At 12:40pm I had some green salad and 3/4 plate of cooked vegetables as a light lunch. I rinsed the Zucchini with hot water, because I thought it was greasy. Today I really chewed all my food till they breakdown, which I think made food taste better. I almost never ate sweet peppers, but today I ate the sweet peppers that went with the Zucchini, and it was the first time I think sweet peppers taste great. I also discovered that summer squash (Zucchini) does taste like squash!
Before the bread, I felt a little dizzy when I stood up; after the bread, the symptom lessened; and after the vegetables, the dizziness was gone.
Boring lectures have always had a hypnotizing effect on me, so I went to take a nap at 1:40pm. I planned to limit it to only 20 minutes but ended up sleeping until 3:30pm. Then I had some honeydew, 15 minutes later some pineapple, and went to the presentation group at 4pm. In total, I still slept 7 hours today, and I have been energetic the whole day, so it looks like 7 hours per day is my standard amount of sleep these days.
I'm happy that tonight I resisted the temptation to get another plate of curry. Actually I only had a bowl of green salad and half plate of curry today (plus Flomo's plate is smaller than Wilbur's). If I had taken more curry, the tragedy of two plates of curry before the fast might occur again, although in a smaller scale. I'm about to go to bed now and my stomach is feeling terrific. Actually I'm not that excited about curry today, because now whenever I saw / thought about curry, I thought about the two full big plates of Thai vegetable curry, which immediately turned me off a little. Maybe it's also because after the fast, my body does not feel like fatty food.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Trying fasting
I had two big full plates of extremely delicious Thai vegetable curry for lunch yesterday, and I felt bloated and didn’t eat anything for the rest of the day. I certainly still felt stuffed when I went to bed yesterday, and when I got up this morning my stomach was still not emptied. I would like to give my stomach a rest, so I decided not to eat anything today. Naturally I began to wonder if fasting was healthy, so I searched online. This led me to a whole day’s reading about fasting (except from 1 to 5pm when I hung out with friends). What I was surprised and happy to find was that fasting seems a lot like practicing vegan. They both make you healthier and more spiritual. They are both radical changes to my life and require a leap of faith. Two articles into reading about fasting, I had already decided to take the challenge and practice fasting to explore myself.
Yesterday I ended my curry feast at around 1:30pm and hadn’t eaten anything besides warm water until 5:55pm today. It was my first fasting experience, and it was not painful at all. I didn’t suffer from unbearable hunger or any unusual symptoms, except that 1) My breath and body odor were a little bit unpleasant this evening, 2) I drank a LOT of water today. Today is probably my highest-water-consumption day of my life so far. I was not really thirsty, but I just WANTED to drink this much, partially because it made me feel more filled. I ate two apples on 5:55pm, because I read that fasting for one or two days does not get you to the extremely beneficial deep cleaning stage yet, but it breaks down your muscles. Although it looks like I water-fasted for 28 hours this time, I don’t think the 28 hours fully counts, because even this morning I still felt a little bit something in my stomach. So I thought eating apples at dinner time today could stop my muscle breakdown right in time and also satisfy my stomach when it routinely secreted digestive juice. After further reading, I now tend to believe that fasting for 24 hours does not really hurt muscles, but I’m not 100% sure. Need more research. But at least I’m now ok with fasting for one or two days without being too concerned about losing muscles.
Longer fasting is definitely disproportionally more effective than shorter fasting, so I’ve decided to do a 10-day water fasting during spring break from March 18 to March 28. There will be only 10 days between my graduation on June 12 and the start of my full-time job on June 22, and I’ll work in banking for two years, so I see this spring break the only chance I can do a longer fasting in the near future. The trick is that extended water fasting is better not conducted during periods of stress and heavy workload, so I won’t do it during school year or on the job. I’ve been vegetarian for more than one month and vegan for more than three weeks, so I’ve already started the right preparation for longer fasting. However, since water fasting is an intensive experience for newbies, I think I should do more preparation in the next three weeks by 1) eat mostly raw foods, 2) eat little greasy food, and 3) NEVER feel full. I’m pretty confident that I will easily obey these three fasting prep rules, because I feel a strong belief and commitment in fasting, just like how I believed in my commitment to vegetarian and vegan when I first started them.
Two things are still uncertain. First, since finals are approaching, I don’t know whether I should gradually adapt to fasting by doing one to three days of water/juice/fruit fasting every week in the next three weeks. Second, since today all I had were two apples, I’m actually still on a fruit fasting. So if I continue to eat only fruit tomorrow, I’ll continue the fasting I started yesterday, which will give me a more intense first fasting experience. With regard to these two uncertainties, I think I’ll just listen to my body when I need to make a decision.
Finally, I’ve been not using facial cleansers (except during shower times) since I made the decision of not using them 5 days ago. My skin didn’t change much. Maybe it became a little bit worse, but it could be the skin’s adaptation to the change or the symptom before menstrual cycle. Anyhow, today I’ve decided to go back to using facial cleansers once a day, because when your body actively releases toxins, you want to clean the pores to assist the removal of toxins; I believe in the stage of transitioning to a healthier diet, which is what I’ve been doing recently and will do for the next few weeks, the body releases toxins at a faster rate than usual.
Yesterday I ended my curry feast at around 1:30pm and hadn’t eaten anything besides warm water until 5:55pm today. It was my first fasting experience, and it was not painful at all. I didn’t suffer from unbearable hunger or any unusual symptoms, except that 1) My breath and body odor were a little bit unpleasant this evening, 2) I drank a LOT of water today. Today is probably my highest-water-consumption day of my life so far. I was not really thirsty, but I just WANTED to drink this much, partially because it made me feel more filled. I ate two apples on 5:55pm, because I read that fasting for one or two days does not get you to the extremely beneficial deep cleaning stage yet, but it breaks down your muscles. Although it looks like I water-fasted for 28 hours this time, I don’t think the 28 hours fully counts, because even this morning I still felt a little bit something in my stomach. So I thought eating apples at dinner time today could stop my muscle breakdown right in time and also satisfy my stomach when it routinely secreted digestive juice. After further reading, I now tend to believe that fasting for 24 hours does not really hurt muscles, but I’m not 100% sure. Need more research. But at least I’m now ok with fasting for one or two days without being too concerned about losing muscles.
Longer fasting is definitely disproportionally more effective than shorter fasting, so I’ve decided to do a 10-day water fasting during spring break from March 18 to March 28. There will be only 10 days between my graduation on June 12 and the start of my full-time job on June 22, and I’ll work in banking for two years, so I see this spring break the only chance I can do a longer fasting in the near future. The trick is that extended water fasting is better not conducted during periods of stress and heavy workload, so I won’t do it during school year or on the job. I’ve been vegetarian for more than one month and vegan for more than three weeks, so I’ve already started the right preparation for longer fasting. However, since water fasting is an intensive experience for newbies, I think I should do more preparation in the next three weeks by 1) eat mostly raw foods, 2) eat little greasy food, and 3) NEVER feel full. I’m pretty confident that I will easily obey these three fasting prep rules, because I feel a strong belief and commitment in fasting, just like how I believed in my commitment to vegetarian and vegan when I first started them.
Two things are still uncertain. First, since finals are approaching, I don’t know whether I should gradually adapt to fasting by doing one to three days of water/juice/fruit fasting every week in the next three weeks. Second, since today all I had were two apples, I’m actually still on a fruit fasting. So if I continue to eat only fruit tomorrow, I’ll continue the fasting I started yesterday, which will give me a more intense first fasting experience. With regard to these two uncertainties, I think I’ll just listen to my body when I need to make a decision.
Finally, I’ve been not using facial cleansers (except during shower times) since I made the decision of not using them 5 days ago. My skin didn’t change much. Maybe it became a little bit worse, but it could be the skin’s adaptation to the change or the symptom before menstrual cycle. Anyhow, today I’ve decided to go back to using facial cleansers once a day, because when your body actively releases toxins, you want to clean the pores to assist the removal of toxins; I believe in the stage of transitioning to a healthier diet, which is what I’ve been doing recently and will do for the next few weeks, the body releases toxins at a faster rate than usual.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The weekend of room decoration
Dizziness
From probably Thursday to yesterday, I felt dizzy when standing up from the floor (I sit on the floor to admire/arrange pictures). It was the first time I showed such symptom after I went vegetarian/vegan. I suspect it’s because 1) not only did I overeat in general, but I also ate too much starch and protein, which are too heavy for my stomach, and 2) iron. So this weekend I studied iron, along with zinc, another mineral that vegans usually do not take enough. Reason 1) may sound weird, but that’s my intuition. Starting from yesterday I began to consciously follow the 80% eater rule and eat less starch and proteins, and it does seem to work against dizziness. I admit that I didn’t follow the 80% rule well in the past few days.
Fruit
Does a vegan diet enhance your ability to listen to your body, or it makes you less adaptable? Recently I began to notice the effect of some fruit on my body. Probably even before going vegetarian, I had already discovered that pears were incredibly good at making me feel full. Even when I’m very hungry, one pear can keep me full for more than an hour. After eating a pear today, I felt very cold for a few minutes. Watermelons stuff me quickly and make me cold too. Last Tuesday, I felt very uncomfortable after eating a banana in class (MS&E 270, Markstrat party). It occurred to me that these fruits were all “of cold property” according to Chinese medicine. So I studied fruit today. Sure enough, cold fruit makes you feel cold and slows down your digestion, which makes you feel full.
Eating
I didn’t eat much today and it felt good. Couple of thoughts: 1) I don’t really need to eat as much as I usually eat. Moderate intake of food is enough; 2) water fills me up too; 3) feeling hungry is not necessarily a sign of actual hunger. After waiting for a while the hungry feeling disappears. If the feeling of hunger lingers for probably more than 15 minutes, then it’s real hunger.
Nuts
During my visit to Palentir this Friday afternoon, I had two handful of mixed nuts, and my stomach definitely didn't have a good experience.
Flax Seed Oil
I've only used my new flax seed oil once after I bought it two weeks ago, but starting from today I'll use it pretty frequently.
Sleep
Regarding sleep, it’s been both good and not so good. I was decorating my room for three days including today. I loved doing it so much that I didn’t want to go to bed or didn’t even realize that it was already past 11:30pm. So for the past two nights, I slept from midnight to 7:10am. I woke up at 7:10am in the past two days naturally and pretty precisely, and I didn’t feel sleepy at any point of the day (maybe it’s because I was loving decorating my room and studying fruit, vegetables, iron, zinc … …). So the not-so-good part is that I went to bed too late, but the good part is that I figured my natural amount of sleep now is 7 hours every day. I believe if I go to bed at around 10:30pm-11pm, I can sleep even less.
I’ll make a few new resolutions and edit my vegan documents tonight and tomorrow.
From probably Thursday to yesterday, I felt dizzy when standing up from the floor (I sit on the floor to admire/arrange pictures). It was the first time I showed such symptom after I went vegetarian/vegan. I suspect it’s because 1) not only did I overeat in general, but I also ate too much starch and protein, which are too heavy for my stomach, and 2) iron. So this weekend I studied iron, along with zinc, another mineral that vegans usually do not take enough. Reason 1) may sound weird, but that’s my intuition. Starting from yesterday I began to consciously follow the 80% eater rule and eat less starch and proteins, and it does seem to work against dizziness. I admit that I didn’t follow the 80% rule well in the past few days.
Fruit
Does a vegan diet enhance your ability to listen to your body, or it makes you less adaptable? Recently I began to notice the effect of some fruit on my body. Probably even before going vegetarian, I had already discovered that pears were incredibly good at making me feel full. Even when I’m very hungry, one pear can keep me full for more than an hour. After eating a pear today, I felt very cold for a few minutes. Watermelons stuff me quickly and make me cold too. Last Tuesday, I felt very uncomfortable after eating a banana in class (MS&E 270, Markstrat party). It occurred to me that these fruits were all “of cold property” according to Chinese medicine. So I studied fruit today. Sure enough, cold fruit makes you feel cold and slows down your digestion, which makes you feel full.
Eating
I didn’t eat much today and it felt good. Couple of thoughts: 1) I don’t really need to eat as much as I usually eat. Moderate intake of food is enough; 2) water fills me up too; 3) feeling hungry is not necessarily a sign of actual hunger. After waiting for a while the hungry feeling disappears. If the feeling of hunger lingers for probably more than 15 minutes, then it’s real hunger.
Nuts
During my visit to Palentir this Friday afternoon, I had two handful of mixed nuts, and my stomach definitely didn't have a good experience.
Flax Seed Oil
I've only used my new flax seed oil once after I bought it two weeks ago, but starting from today I'll use it pretty frequently.
Sleep
Regarding sleep, it’s been both good and not so good. I was decorating my room for three days including today. I loved doing it so much that I didn’t want to go to bed or didn’t even realize that it was already past 11:30pm. So for the past two nights, I slept from midnight to 7:10am. I woke up at 7:10am in the past two days naturally and pretty precisely, and I didn’t feel sleepy at any point of the day (maybe it’s because I was loving decorating my room and studying fruit, vegetables, iron, zinc … …). So the not-so-good part is that I went to bed too late, but the good part is that I figured my natural amount of sleep now is 7 hours every day. I believe if I go to bed at around 10:30pm-11pm, I can sleep even less.
I’ll make a few new resolutions and edit my vegan documents tonight and tomorrow.
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