Day 2

Hey interwebs. Today was a good day. Lots of fun session work with some talented artists. I'm starting to realize already how hard it will be to find "interesting" meals. I feel like part of the spoil of eating processed food is that you can have anything you want just about whenever you want. You can get mexican, chinese, American, whatever food you want at the grocery store, but who knows how long its been packaged and preserved to be able to come to your city.

The most promising place to find good local made food is at hole-in-the-wall restaurants and organic food stores. Period. I bought some cheese at Akins (local organic store) and it was a half pound for $4. Uggg....so expensive. Luckily fruits and veggies are never that pricey, but nuts, grains, dairy, and meat that are unprocessed are PRICEY.

Today I had some organic peanut butter and bread with some organic unfiltered Chilean Honey (which is ASTOUNDING). Some more granola and organic cheese, a few apples, some grapes, and lots of good old fashioned water. It's weird not eating meat - I am DEFINITELY a meat eater, but organic / unprocessed meat is so pricey. Chicken isn't too bad, but beef definitely is expensive.

I've been doing a lot of reading on unprocessed food diets and most of them link back to things called "raw food diets" which as you can imagine are comprised of diets with no cooking involved. I'm definitely not that type of person - I've GOT to have meat. I feel like with my build and my lifestyle I need that protein and fat that meat provides to keep me awake. I do like nuts and granola of all kinds, which definitely has a lot of protein, but still. I'll be going to Akins again tomorrow to try and get a rough idea of how much the meat there costs and hopefully talk to a manager or something about "what do they sell that contains GMOs?" My hope is nothing, but I may be surprised. Like I said, just because it says "organic" and or "all natural" that doesn't mean it's not processed along the way.

Another thing I'm finding about this diet is how often I want to eat. Now that I'm eating smaller meals, I'll find myself wanting to eat about every three or four hours, which puts me at about 5 or 6 tiny meals every day. Not really a problem; any dietitian will tell you this is better for you anyway as it keeps your metabolism up. Another thing I've find is that I'm so used to eating fewer bigger meals, it's hard for me to fall asleep if I'm pretty hungry, and cutting calories by 500 or more per day (which is still plenty for me, I'm just an average american that eats more than they should anyway) makes me hungry at night. As my body gets used to it I am sure I will crave less at night and feel more satisfied with what I eat.

I'm feeling good about this so far; it's not as hard of a start as I presumed it would be. I think what will be really hard is continuing to find meals and continuing to find healthy foods without completely emptying my wallet.

K