I had the most wonderful breakfast this morning. 1 apple & 1 pear chopped and mixed with plain yogurt topped with strawberries and assorted nuts. Love to your digestive track! Yum! This year has marked the beginning of many changes, and one of those changes is... Hold, on, I have to go to the bathroom. Okay, I'm back. One of those changes is my focus on health and nutrition. I have to say this change actually started with Be. After Burning Man, as a gift to herself, she decided to go sober for a year. Her sobriety also encompassed a change in eating & sleeping habits. More sleep and Organic foods. More vegetables, fruits and grains. After gorging on chocolate and candy during Halloween, she decided to turn her 7-year vegetarianism into vegan. And after visiting a magnificently delicious all Raw foods restaurant in San Francisco called Gratitide, she almost went all raw. Luckily, she decided against completely raw when her resources mentioned that changing to raw too quickly could cause a person to form allergies to regular vegetables.
I watched her transformation closely, impressed with her determination (which I generally refer to as 'stubbornness'). Her skin cleared up and her eyes brightened. Sometimes her pupils were so big, I would secretly smell her breath for herb. There was none. Her health was truly vibrant. I began to wonder exactly what 13 years of nearly daily alcohol intake actually does to ones liver. I thought about how it would be nice to not have to overdose on vitamins in order to help my body recover from the weekend. And, most importantly, the current treatment of my body was causing me to get fat. Ok, so that was the real reason.
After New Years Eve, I decided to make the plunge, if only for a while.
Its amazing what one can learn when they deprive themselves of that which they are so accustomed. I'm not quite as extreme as Be is. I'll probably never give up caffeine (the tech geek's cocaine!) and my current favorite snack is still pickles with cheese. (Don't forget to drink the pickle juice. Very good for you). And while I haven't cut out alcohol completely, I have cut down to less than 1 a week. I knew that alcohol would be my biggest challenge, and it is. Hard liqueur has not been a big deal, though I did indulge in a Kahlua and Cream in Hawaii, but I do believe that is the opposite of 'hard liqueur'. Oh yeah, and I did have 1 sake during a group sushi dinner which I attribute to peer pressure.
One thing I've learned, among the many, is that I love the taste of beer and wine. Seattle is a metropolis for Microbrews and our wineries are globally known. The second thing I learned is the sheer availability of alcohol. I could drink for free on most days. Our break room at work always had good beer in the fridge and wine in the cupboards. As a DJ, I could definitely drink for free during nights I was playing and many other nights from friends who wanted to give back some love for my never-ending plight to produce parties with great vibes. And wine with dinner is truly a taste of heaven.
Most of it is just changing your habits. And let me tell you, it is not easy. Last night I tried a non-alcohlic beer, Erdinger Non-alcoholic Weiss (that was surprisingly good) to indulge my fancy for the taste. I sneak bottles of Kumbucha, which I found is also a favorite among DJ's Packy & Kadeejah Streets, into clubs to fulfill the need to hide my social nervousness behind my glass. They are easy to sip on and even have a bit of an alcohol taste to them due to the fermentation process (but beware of the 'worms'). Thrown into a large glass with ice, they look like a double Red Bull & vodka (and often have a similar effect). I no longer work at my daytime job, so the temptation during the end of work day has been tucked away nicely. I completely avoid the wine section of Trader Joes altogether. And at home, we have every tea imaginable and some that are illegal in most states.
Its been hard, really hard. I don't know if this is a complete lifestyle change or just an dry run in discipline. Be says she thought it would be hard at first then get easier, but its quite the opposite. I agree. Spending 2-3 nights a week in bars and clubs and NOT drinking is hard. But the keys to success, at least for me, are letting go of each desire as it tugs at my shirt tails and the support of my friends. And knowing that tomorrow I will feel so much better, about myself and my body, when I wake up.
