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It’s Keto, Sis!

Photo by Brooke Lark

Experiment: Follow keto diet for at least 1 month. No cheat days.

What is this keto business, anyway?

The purpose of the ketogenic diet (aka “keto”) is achieving ketosis, a natural metabolic state in which your body doesn’t have enough carbs to use for energy so instead burns fat. Your liver turns this fat into ketones, an acid, that it sends to your bloodstream for energy. The way to achieve this fat-burning state is via a very low-carb, high-fat diet. Note the focus is not on restricting calories, just carbohydrates.

When you eat less than 50 grams of net carbs (Total Carbs – Fiber) per day, your body depletes its typical fuel—blood sugar—and breaks down fat and protein for energy. It can take 3-14 days to reach ketosis depending on your level of carb restriction and how your body reacts. My no-cheat-day policy will ensure I reach and remain in ketosis for the duration of the month.

Ok, so why…

  • This falls under the category of experiments that I’ve been thinking about but intimidated by for a while now.
  • The potential bennies are ample:
    • Reduced inflammation – as someone who often gets leg cramps, this is a key motivator for me
    • Enhanced cognitive functioning – you can get more out of that beautiful brain of yours
    • Increased energy throughout the day
    • Better sleep
    • Weight loss – While not a personal intention for this experiment, it has been shown to produce over 2x the weight loss vs. a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet.
    • Improved endurance performance, e.g. running and cycling, by raising your muscle-to-fat ratio and the amount of oxygen your body can use when working hard
    • Longevity – in part due to preventing or treating some of the conditions below
    • Other conditions the diet helps to treat:
      • Heart disease
      • Alzheimer’s disease
      • Cancer
      • Metabolic syndrome
      • Type 2 diabetes
      • Parkinson’s disease
      • Sleep disorders
      • Acne
      • Epilepsy
      • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Uh oh…

  • Some of my favorite foods, which I normally consume on the daily—sweet potatoes, Fuji apples, popcorn—and beverages—kombucha, coconut water—are Gone Girl from this diet. Byeee!
  • We’ll see, but this could be annoying to navigate at parties and dinners with friends.
  • Side effects? The “keto flu”… this is not an actual sickness but a state of flu-like symptoms that occurs while your body is shifting from a carb processor to a fat processor. It can include lower energy, muscle cramps, bad breath and irritability.
    • However, this can be prevented or alleviated by consuming extra electrolytes… more on this to come.

About that…

  • So, is this a new, postmillennial fad? Nerp. The ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920s as a treatment for epileptics who didn’t respond to drug treatment. The treatment proved to be highly effective. The other benefits above were found later.
  • My husband and a good friend of ours both started this diet as well, shortly before I did, which has been helpful in collecting and sharing info and supporting each other through the shift.
  • Alcohol is ok in moderation [audible sigh of relief]. To be clear, regular beer is not ok, but that’s cool with me. (Light beer is ok at 3-4g carbs but it’s also light beer.) Thankfully, a glass or two of wine is fine, weighing in at 2-4g carbs/glass. Hard liquor is the best because it’s carb-free. Just be sure to use a low/no-carb mixer like soda water or naturally sweetened, sugar-free tonic or soda. Zevia, for example, is a tasty soda brand sweetened with plant-based stevia and comes in a variety of familiar flavors. Or enjoy it on the rocks!

I betcha…

  • This is not going to be as hard as it seems for me since 1) you can still have coffee and certain types of alcohol and 2) it will mainly involve removing a few key foods and adding lots of tasty fat to my diet, like Macadamia nuts, (even more) avocado, and ghee, oh my!
  • I’m thinking and hoping I can stick with this one going forward, perhaps with some cheat days built in (post experiment) to help with longer-term compliance.

DO try this at home…

  • Here is a primer on how to get started, with specific recommendations on what to eat during your first week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z15Z1-Og_pg. This video greatly simplifies what to do for the first couple weeks.
  • It helps greatly if you can prepare most of your meals for the week at home in batches.
  • Mexican and Mediterranean restaurants also often have great options.
    • Chipotle is a godsend—in general but especially for the keto diet. You can copy this order for a delicious, filling meal with only 12g Net Carbs. It’s tastier than my normal order, with all the good stuff and no filler:
      • Chipotle Salad Bowl (no dressing—it’s just not needed and adds carbs):
        • Chicken
        • Fajita veggies
        • Fresh Tomato Salsa
        • Sour Cream
        • Guac
        • Optional: Chipotle Tabasco sauce
        • Fat 38g, Protein 38g, Carbs 22g (Fiber 10g) –> Net Carbs 12g
  • Find an accountability buddy. Share this info with a friend or partner you’d like to join you in test running the diet. It has been wonderful having friends and my husband doing it too. Then, you won’t be the only crazy one asking the restaurant to ditch the bun and swaddle your turkey burger in lettuce.

DON’T try this at home…

  • …until checking with your doctor [obligatory disclaimer], particularly if you are diabetic, obese, or have a heart condition or high blood pressure.

Week 1-2 Notes…

  • As expected, it was not hard to adjust to the new diet as eating tons of fat is fun and satiating.
  • My morning coffee feels mind-blowingly decadent with ghee (clarified butter), coconut oil, and coconut cream added.
  • No cravings for either carbs or sugar. This was a big pleasant surprise. I don’t miss what I’ve cut out because what I am able to eat is so satisfying.
    • Doing this post-holidays was convenient too since many people are also experiencing a post-holidays sugar hangover and there’s an unspoken agreement to make/buy/push fewer sweets than in the celebratory months of Oct/Nov/Dec.
  • I experienced some of the keto flu symptoms during week 2. I was a bit sluggish, had some muscle cramps, and was less interested in socializing at times—which is saying a lot since I work from home and often crave these opportunities.
    • Electrolytes in the form of Salt Stick pills and nuun tablets were quite effective in quickly lifting the physical and mental fatigue though, making me feel much better.

Week 3-4 Notes…

  • I’m completely out of the woods on the short-lived “keto flu” and am feeling the sweet benefit of reduced inflammation, i.e. my legs don’t feel like they’ve spent the night being pummeled by American Gladiators like they used to.
  • I got a massage this week too and it was oddly refreshing to let the masseuse know my legs weren’t too bad for once. He noticed a difference in my back too, saying it used to “feel like a marble slab” but has loosened up a bit.
  • Yas, my skin and hair are looking good… thanks for noticing. I have been using a scoop of collagen in my morning coffee, which likely helps, but I think the diet is the main contributor. All that coconut oil and ghee is doing its thing, while sugar and wheat are no longer doing theirs.
  • I regularly feel a cognitive lift, able to focus more clearly throughout the day.
  • There are a few ways to test ketone levels. The quickest, easiest, and cheapest is via urine strips. Sexy, I know. Here are the ones I used. While less precise than blood or breath testing, they are a good indicator of whether you’ve achieved ketosis. According to my daily testing over the past month, I have – woo hoo!
  • While your options are certainly limited at parties and restaurants, I’ve found that deciding between 2 potential menu options—or maybe 3-4 with slight modifications—vs. 18+ options can help in deciding faster and with reduced risk of buyer’s remorse.

Whoomp, There It is…

  • Wow, in hindsight this big change I dreaded was not actually that big of a change at all. And I feel multiple benefits.
  • I’m going to renew this experiment indefinitely.
    • In fact, at the time of this post, I’ve already surpassed the 6-week mark with no off days.
    • I may tinker with returning to Intermittent Fasting in tandem with this new diet, as the two are compatible and have some similar goals and benefits.
    • I’ll also play with switching to 1-2 days of non-keto with the aim of staying in ketosis for the rest of the week. This could help with long-term sustainability and allowing for some social exceptions that don’t derail the whole plan.
  • The benefits outweigh the costs too handily for me to quit this experiment in the near future.

I’ll leave you with a quote I heard that resonated with me, particularly around this experiment:

                “It always impossible until it’s done.” -Nelson Mandela

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Daily Affirmations, e.g. writing out by hand a mantra 15x/day
  2. CrossFit 2-3x/week
  3. Guided Breathwork
  4. Daily Acts of Kindness
  5. Your suggestion?

(Re)Sources: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-ketosis https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-ketogenic-diet https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-signs-and-symptoms-of-ketosis#section4  
https://www.ruled.me/how-to-know-you-are-in-ketosis/  
https://perfectketo.com/guide/ultimate-start-guide-ketogenic-diet/#What_Is_the_Ketogenic_Diet  

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The Path to Productivity is Lined with Pomodoros

Photo by Marco Verch

Experiment: Apply Pomodoro productivity hack Monday-Friday for a month. This involves breaking work time into 25-minute segments focused on a specific task or project, followed by a 5-minute break, and repeating for 3 cycles. This is followed by a longer break (15-30 minutes), and continuing this pattern for the rest of the day (with a longer break for lunch).

Ok, so why…

  • I’ve attended a few productivity webinars over the past year, and this is one of the tools the experts most commonly recommend.
  • While I have a decent sense of self-discipline, it’s easy to get sidetracked with lower priority tasks and spend too much time reactively replying to email rather than focusing in on the big rocks.
  • It’s a good way to eliminate distractions… e.g. news/political clickbait, movie/music info (do I really need to check what year the movie Casablanca came out, the name of an actor in a Netflix show, or Ariana Grande’s current net worth? FYI the latter is estimated at $80-100MM. Get it, gurl.)
    • I got so distracted while outlining this experiment that I had to start the practice then, putting on a 25-minute timer to help before the experiment month even started.
  • I’ve dabbled with this before and it has helped but I haven’t gone all in and used a timer all day before. Like this experiment, it’s about time.

Uh oh…

  • Will this feel draconian, adding a little too much discipline to my day?
  • What about when I’m feeling a state of flow when the timer goes off? Will stopping then actually damper my potential productivity or will the 5-minute break be short and refreshing enough that I can keep buzzing at that same level afterward?

About that…

  • Where did the Pomodoro technique come from? It was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. The name comes from the Italian word for tomato as Cirillo used a tomato-shaped timer.
  • I’ve used a few different online timers and I like this one, mainly because the alarm is gentler, less of an SOS, evacuate-the-premises type alarm than some of the others, and it includes multiple cycles in one timer.

I betcha…

  • I’m going to like using the clock as an automated accountability buddy but may need to play around to find the optimal amount of time per work session.
  • I’m thinking and hoping I can stick with this one going forward.

Do try this “at home”…

  • Try this timer out if you’re ready to dive in as it includes 4 x 25-minute cycles.
  • If you wanna wet your feet with a single cycle or two first, then try…
    • This one if the visual doesn’t matter much to you but you prefer a gentler alarm.
    • This one if you want a more neutral looking one for the office and don’t mind a slightly more jarring alarm.
    • This bonus option that I’ve just found at the end of my experiment but looks clean, is recommended by Lifehacker, and that I plan to experiment with in the coming week.
  • If 25 minutes feels too short for you, you can try using this 52-minute version.

Week 1-2 Notes…

  • Focusing on just one thing can be a challenge. I’ve found that while sometimes a more time-consuming task, e.g. building a presentation, will certainly take at least 25 minutes—or a few 25-minute sessions—to work on, sometimes I have a series of smaller tasks, e.g. emails. In these cases, I just work through chunks of smaller tasks till I hit the 25-minute mark.
  • I struggle to stop at 25 minutes when I’m in mid-thought or when it makes more sense for me to finish the step I’m working on before breaking. I find myself going to the timer and clicking it back to 5 or 10 minutes remaining to allow me enough time to finish the part I’m working on. (Shh, don’t tell.)

Week 3-4 Notes…

  • EpicFail.com! (I didn’t include a link to that site so that you don’t get sucked in.) This has not been working as planned. In addition to being mid-flow at 25mins, I often struggle to find something to do for a break for just 5mins. Time for a mid-experiment tweak… I’m trying a 52/10min approach. Let’s see how this goes…
  • It’s been a struggle, but I think I’ve figured this out. I was getting to hung up on sticking to a certain amount of time and forgetting that the real aim of this technique is simply to help you focus on pre-identified tasks for extended chunks of time.
  • At the start of a task or day, I just need to identify what I’d like to get done and the amount of time that will best match the task and use the appropriate timer. If I need to add a few minutes to either the work cycle or break, no biggie, as long as it’s keeping me mostly on track.

Whoomp, There It is…

  • It’s like meditation in that having a timer running—and maybe some instrumental music—provides a tool to remind you to gently keep bringing your awareness back to the task at hand. Acknowledge the sudden drive to see what movies are currently topping the RottenTomatoes.com critical reviews and let that thought go or at least jot it down to get it out of your mind, and then look it up during a break.
  • Merely being conscious of a clock ticking down can help prevent you from reemerging from information rabbit holes like someone emerging from a Vegas casino, wondering what time is it, how long have you been there, and what happened to your shirt?
    • It also helps you become better at understanding how long certain tasks actually take you to complete. It’s often longer than we like to admit to ourselves, but the clock don’t lie.

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Ketogenic Diet
  2. CrossFit 2-3x/week
  3. Daily Affirmations, e.g. writing out by hand a mantra 15x/day
  4. Guided Breathwork
  5. Your suggestion?

What will you be experimenting with in January or 2020?

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Whatever Floats Your Boat

Photo by Jaanus Jagomagi

Experiment: Try float therapy (aka sensory deprivation therapy) weekly for a month.

Ok, so why…

  • Unlike giving up coffee for two months, this one will be a breeze to plan and implement, and I’m ready for it.
  • I’m buoyed by curiosity. Since I first heard about this, I’ve wondered what it would be like to exist in total darkness with no real visual, aural, edible, or tactile stimuli, i.e. sensory deprivation.
  • With the digital whack-a-mole lifestyle we lead, I welcome the idea of another natural tool to help tune out the chatter for a while.
  • It’s all about the Benefits, baby…
    • Reduced anxiety, depression, fatigue
    • Pain relief, e.g. muscle tension and headaches
    • Improved sleep
    • Reported increased feelings of well-being, optimism and even mild euphoria
    • Potential cardiovascular health benefits due to reduced stress and improved sleep
    • Drastically reduces the effects of jetlag

Uh oh…

  • Who’s to say my monkey mind is going to be a willing participant in this relaxation technique?
  • Am I just going to be paying money to be isolated in a boring, dark pod for an hour? I’m seeing Scrooge McDuck locking me in his vault—except it’s filled with saltwater instead of gold coins—while he shuffles and sniffs the wad of cash I handed him for an hour.

About that…

  • Some people have reported hallucinating during sensory deprivation sessions… good or bad, maybe this isn’t going to be so boring, after all!

I betcha…

  • I love water. I drink a gallon a day and was one of those kids you had to drag away from the pool or beach after a long day of swimming, bodysurfing, and seeing how long I could hold my breath underwater—provoking great anxiety among the older women watching poolside. Feeling in my element in this element, I feel like I’m going to enjoy this… though I’m not sure exactly how or why yet.
  • Still, I doubt this is likely to become a part of my regular routine given the cost and impracticality involved.

Tell me more, tell me more…

  • How much does it cost? $45-79 / 60-minute session (depends on location and deal)
  • How long is a session? Typically, 60 or 90 minutes; 60 was sufficient in my experience.
  • What do you wear? Nada, as recommended… except the disposable earplugs they give you.

Do try this “at home”…

  • Search Yelp or Google for float therapy or sensory deprivation tanks near you and check the reviews. You can often find discounts for multiple sessions. 3-packs are common, and I would recommend them. More to come on this…
  • Minimize caffeine within 3 hours of a float. It’s hard to relax and clear your mind if you’re jittery.
  • Don’t shave the day of your float. That saltwater can be a real pain in the pores, allegedly. I still shaved my neck in the morning before an early afternoon session and didn’t have any issues.
  • Don’t pee in the pod, dude. For reals though. The first place I went to threatens a $500 charge for contaminating solution with bodily fluids, so no funny business y’all.
  • Turn on your inner Elsa and…

Let It Go GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Week 1-2 Notes…

  • The first time you go is mostly about understanding how the experience works and how you’ll react when spending 60-90 minutes in quiet isolation with yourself… something many people have not done in a while (or ever).
  • At some places, there are soothing sounds—you can choose the type and duration of these—that played for 10 minutes at the beginning with slowly color-changing mood LED lighting during the first 10 minutes, followed by 45 minutes of quiet darkness, and then 5 final minutes of the relaxing sounds and lights again.
  • It felt like floating in a countryside lake at night, minus the chirping of crickets and twinkling stars. While the setting is neutral by design, the lack of distracting sights and sounds produces a relaxing effect.
  • The idea is to be calm and still, but at least at first I enjoyed gently swishing back and forth like a piece of seaweed, savoring the idyllic experience.
  • Time seems to move slowly at the beginning, but then you settle in, and all of a sudden the gentle lights and nature sounds come back on to let you know you’re almost done!
  • You then saunter off slowly with softer edges and a glowing sense of calm. I’m laughing at my own phrasing here, but it is an accurate sense of how I feel afterward.

Week 3-4 Notes…

  • What’s that smell though? Wait a second… my sense of smell isn’t being deprived. I want a refund! I kid, but there was a faint chemical smell from the bromine used to treat water between uses at one of the two places I went to. It’s easy to ignore this soon after the initial entry. (This was also way fainter during a morning session I did later in the month than during the ones I did in the afternoon, perhaps because fewer cleanings were required.)
  • The 3rd float was when it all really clicked. I had my initial busy barrage of thoughts—do I try to block these, do I indulge them like listening to a song stuck in your head in order to release it, do I try to focus on a specific issue I want to solve? And then, after about 10 minutes, when the initial music stopped and I hit a button to turn off the colored lights, I slipped into a deep state of blissful relaxation—like the black, watery void Eleven travels to in Stranger Things, just without any of the creepiness she encounters.
    • Now that I know the drill, I can get in, slip away, and more quickly reach that state of neutral Zen.
  • By my final session, I reached the theta brainwave state—that border between the conscious and subconscious mind. I recall at one point having to blink in order to check whether my eyes were open or closed… and ended up repeating this a few times. Trippy, right?
  • The post-float effects were more transformative and longer lasting too, giving me a calm glow that lasted beyond the day of my float.

Whoomp, There It is…

  • Did I enjoy the experience? Definitely. Will I continue it regularly? Magic 8-Ball says “Don’t count on it.” While I enjoy the benefits, the time/money investment and convenience factor don’t justify them for me on an ongoing basis… but I do plan to try it after my next trip abroad to reduce the jetlag symptoms.
  • As much as it is a sure-fire stress relief option, so are meditation—which is free and more convenient—and massage—which is similarly priced and bears additional physical benefits.
  • Would I recommend it? If you’re looking for an alternative way to disconnect and recharge, go for it. If you are interested, I would recommend trying at least 3 sessions. It takes some time to get into the first time or two, and while you definitely reap benefits with each session, the real magic starts at session 3 for most people, myself included. This is why you often see floats sold in 3-packs.

A Year & Change of Change Here…

It’s been over a year since I started this blog and all my tinkering. Here’s a quick recap of what I have been and will be keeping up with regularly and those changes that were less sustainable for me:

Yas, you can stay:

Sashay away:

Sashay Away Rupauls Drag Race GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Slow Carb Diet (from The 4-Hour Body)
  2. CrossFit 2-3x/week
  3. Daily Affirmations, e.g. writing out by hand a mantra 15x/day
  4. Guided Breathwork
  5. Your suggestion?

Reference: https://www.healthline.com/health/sensory-deprivation-tank

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Buzz Cut Results… What Happened When I Had 0 Coffee for 2 Months?!

It was easier than I’d ever imagined… but not permanent
(duh).

Check out the original post and reasons for this experiment here: Buzz Cut… I’m Giving Up Coffee for 2 Months!

Week 1-4 Notes:

  • Switching from my 1-2 cups of coffee/day to just a cup of green tea or yerba mate in the morning was not nearly hard as anticipated… so much so that I reduced the weaning period to just 1 week.
  • I discovered here that there is a supplement you can take to greatly reduce the effects of caffeine withdrawal. Phenylalanine is a simple and inexpensive amino acid supplement that can help. Here’s how:
    • In short, chronic caffeine usage depletes the brain’s stores of tyrosine and phenylalanine, amino acids that aid in dopamine and adrenaline production. Supplementing with either can make recovery quicker and easier.
    • Phenylalanine is likely more effective than tyrosine because tyrosine is synthesized from phenylalanine but not vice versa.
    • Here’s the brand I used, just under $10 on Amazon Prime when I purchased.
    • I started using this just after week 1, when I shifted from green tea to herbal tea (i.e. no caffeine) and I felt it helped make the transition smoother. To determine just how much it helped, I’d have to do this all again without the supplement, and I’m going to take a hard pass on that for now, thank you.
    • The one thing I would change: I would have bought and started using Phenylalanine sooner, i.e. during the first weaning week. While the 1st couple days of the coffee-to-tea switch were not too bad—just a slight dragging—they might have been even better with the phenylalanine supplement.

  • The 2nd key strategy I’d read about and used was changing my morning habit. Psychologists and behavior economists agree it’s easier to change a habit than to break it. This was my experience too. By switching 1st to green tea and then to herbal tea, I maintained my satisfyingly warm and aromatic morning indulgence, just with a fun new flavor profile:
    • Naturally, I took this as an opportunity to sample the full Trader Joe’s herbal tea selection.
    • My top pick: Yogi Ginger Tea. It smells and tastes warm and delicious, with ample ginger spice.
    • As an added benefit—especially helpful when giving up coffee—it aids in digestion so, you know, it keeps other important daily habits on track too.
    • Want something a little less gingery? Try TJ’s lively, fruity, and herbaceous Red Refresh tea or their Organic Detox Cleansing Blend, which is much tastier than it sounds.
    • Much like with coffee, I’d occasionally spice it up with some cacao powder, cinnamon, or vanilla extract. Cacao is known to have similar mood-boosting properties to coffee, without all the caffeine. (Some cacao or cocoa powders have trace amounts of caffeine but not enough to really register.)
  • Side note: I actually got a buzzcut during this 1st month… keeping it cool for the summer, okkurrr?

Week 5-8 Notes:

  • I still occasionally get what feels like
    mid-afternoon narcolepsy but overall, I experience fewer peaks and valleys,
    with a more even-keeled, sustained energy. I also fine myself a little less
    nervous, less prone to getting “on edge.” So, the effect of caffeine is
    basically the opposite of the edge-softening effect of CBD oil. Maybe a combo
    of the two would work well…
  • While I’m fortunate enough to be a good
    sleeper—till we have kids, at least—I undoubtedly fall asleep quickly more
    consistently than before this experiment. I bet it was the semi-regular
    afternoon cup and its half-life that was keeping me up at times.
  • It can feel tough to not have the “safety
    net” of caffeine if I’ve stayed up a little too late or made a little too
    much progress on a good bottle o’ wine. Because of this though, I’ve been
    better about getting to bed on time and not drinking too much… except maybe
    during SF Pride, but that’s day-drinking, so we’re good, right?
  • There’s something psychologically satisfying
    when you’ve had a productive day, morning, or even hour that was purely fueled
    by your own inherent focus and ambition, completely unaided by that magical
    brown elixir we’ve grown so fond of.
  • On weekends, I wistfully glance at passersby
    clutching coffee concoctions and have a mixed reaction. On the one hand, I
    acknowledge that I’ve moved on from my daily Joe, like an amicable ex that’s
    just not part of my regular life anymore. On the other, part of me remembers
    how good it can be—it wasn’t that long ago that I was holding, smelling, and savoring
    its richness as it touched my lips. Between this and the fact that I’d been
    literally counting down the days left in month 2, I know this is just temporary…
    not the end for me and my sweet coffee.

Whoomp, there it is…

  • TBD whether I go back to drinking it each
    morning or just when I “need” or want to enjoy it, i.e. as a productivity
    tool or a special treat but not a daily ritual.
  • Does 2 months without caffeine sound crazy to
    you? It did to me before this experiment. The good news is you don’t need to
    give it up for 2 months to get over a caffeine addiction. You can reset your
    tolerance in about 9 days. You could do this within the span of a long
    vacation. Check the links below for more info.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  2. Slow Carb Diet (from The 4-Hour Body)
  3. CrossFit 3x/week
  4. Daily Journaling
  5. Guided Breathwork
  6. Cryotherapy
  7. Your suggestion?

References:

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-quit-caffeine-in-one-week-e041892698ec

https://addictionresource.com/addiction/caffeine-addiction/

Posted on

Buzz Cut… I’m Giving Up Coffee for 2 Months!

The T on Caffeine:

  • 90% of the world’s population consumes a meal or drink that has some caffeine in it every day.
  • 70% of caffeine is consumed as coffee.
  • America is the largest consumer of coffee (followed by Brazil), with over half of American adults drinking it daily.
  • The physical effects of caffeine we experience are mainly due to the placebo effect.

Experiment: No coffee for 2 months… after an initial two-week weaning period, no caffeine of any form for the remaining 6 weeks (aside from trace amounts in dark chocolate… let’s not get crazy now).

I’m moderately terrified of this challenge, a sign of its worthiness. I have given up meat, dairy, dessert/sweets, alcohol, TV, breakfast, “adult activities,” and social media for periods of time before. Each had its challenges, but none intimidated me the way giving up caffeine does. I’ve thought about giving it up for years but have never pulled the “drip” cord.

Ok, so why…

  • The people have spoken. Thanks to all who suggested I take on this experiment next… we’ll see how thankful I feel when it starts, haha.
  • I’ve become caffeine dependent, even if it’s largely mental, and would prefer to not let any substance hold that much control over my behavior. While I only have 1-2 cups a day, the thought of not having that first cup in the morning is like the thought of not putting on any clothes in the morning. I could do that when I’m working from home and shut all the window shades and maybe it would feel briefly liberating but a) it would be cold—at least in the morning/evening, b) it wouldn’t be super comfortable on furniture, and c) why? The mere discomfort with the thought of giving up caffeine is motivation enough to try grinding it out.
  • This challenge falls right in the Goldilocks zone of personal growth… Tackle something too vast in scope and you can feel helpless and overwhelmed. Tackle something too easy and there’s no real sense of accomplishment or growth. Finding goals in the optimal zone—challenging yet achievable—can be a great source of happiness.

Uh oh…

  • Another reason I haven’t tried to cut the morning buzz yet is productivity. Coffee in the morning feels like my own little fairy work-mother, at its worst clearing away the morning brain fog—and sometimes crankiness—and at its best giving me that glorious, let’s-f’n-go I-can-do-anything-right-now feeling. None of the other indulgences I’ve given up before could have a negative impact on my work, and many benefitted it. Hence my wariness to pull the plug on the electric kettle. But I plan to be a father in the near future (hopefully next year) and the challenge of reduced sleep that parenting a newborn produces will be greater if anything. In fact, this experiment seems like good initial training for that new challenge.
  • Another concern: with Intermittent Fasting, I look forward even more to my morning cup of coffee. Even though I wait 60-90 minutes after I wake to enjoy my first hot cup o’ brew (Why? See this 2-minute clip from one of my favorite authors, Dan Pink), it is often among the 1st things I think about in the morning. How will I cope with this… perhaps herbal tea or some other new reward/indulgence as a replacement?

About that…

Two months… why so long? As my cousin pointed out, it takes some time for your body to adjust to the removal of caffeine from the system. To set myself up for success, I will be phasing caffeine out like an awesome t-shirt you don’t want to admit has stains in it—maybe from coffee? Meta. The first two weeks I’ll be sipping on some green tea or yerba mate–each of which has just 30-40mg of caffeine via tea bags, as a weening period. After that, it’ll be all caffeine-free herbal all the time, baby.

Let’s be clear… practicing discipline builds inner strength and can teach us to want less, which can make it easier to be happy. The less you feel you need to be happy, the happier you are with what you have. However, the goal is not to punish myself or remove something that brings me joy. In other words, the intention is not to give up drinking coffee forever. The goal is to change my relationship with caffeine, i.e. maintain the joy I get from the experience of drinking a warm, rich cup of coffee without the daily caffeine dependency.

I betcha…

After experiencing an initial dip in energy, I’m wondering if this will improve my overall energy. This is my hypothesis and my hope. I’m envisioning a graph showing time without caffeine on the horizontal axis, energy on the vertical axis, and a line resembling a Nike swoosh that eventually flattens out, but we’ll see soon enough… here we go!

UPDATE: Check out the results here! Buzz Cut Results… What Happened When I Had 0 Coffee for 2 Months?!

References:

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-quit-caffeine-in-one-week-e041892698ec

https://addictionresource.com/addiction/caffeine-addiction/

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Breaking Up with Breakfast: My Experience with Intermittent Fasting

Experiment: Only Eating 8-10 out of 24 Hours a Day

Intermittent Fasting… it sounds kind of like sporadic self-torture… and it is! I kid, but it does take a little adjusting to.

Ok, so why… bother restricting your eating to 8-10 hours a day? There are many health benefits to Intermittent Fasting (IF), such as:

  1. Reduced insulin levels, which aids in fat burning
  2. Increased level of human growth hormone, supporting muscle development
  3. Cellular repair and immune system support
  4. Reduced inflammation in the body
  5. Potential benefits for heart health and cancer prevention
  6. Good for your brain and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease
  7. May help you live longer

Uh oh… I luuurv breakfast. I eat eggs scrambled with assorted veggies, herbs, and savory nutritional yeast every day (check out some of my favorite eggy dishes here). Since the most straightforward way to implement IF is to skip breakfast, I’m going to have to reconcile how to give up this joyous part of my day.

About that… I’ve also adopted a grazer diet for years, eating small frequent meals and snacks throughout my waking hours. I had previously heard this was the best way to keep the caloric oven constantly burning and maintain steady energy levels. Without my regular feedings, will I shut down like a neglected wind-up toy? Will my energy levels be low until I eat and then low again because my stomach is digesting a significantly larger meal than it is used to?

I betcha… This experiment is simple in theory but will be challenging in practice. I expect my body will adjust after the first week or two and hopefully my energy levels will improve. I do think I’ll like the indulgent feeling of getting to eat all my day’s food in a shorter window though… like a post-fast Fat Tuesday every day but without the weight gain.

Week 1-2 Notes:

  • The first day was surprisingly easy; it may have helped that I’d had a big dinner the night before. Aside from my stomach’s occasional hunger yelps in the mornings, my body continued to feel good the 1st couple of days. I noticed I was slightly irritable but more aware. While I missed my breakfast routine, I enjoyed having some extra time in the AM for personal work and reflection (an ideal time to meditate) and not having that post-breakfast slump I’d attempt to combat with coffee.
  • The first real challenges came with a couple morning workouts. I’ve always been told—and practiced—that you need some energy in your system before working out and to recover with healthy carbs and protein after. Several IF practitioners advocate just consuming some BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) to help with protein synthesis until your first meal of the day. I’ve just ordered some capsules, so we’ll see!
  • Who says I can’t have “breakfast” foods for lunch, the time when I’m literally breaking my fast? Not a damn person. Besides, breakfast time is just an intangible idea we’ve all agreed to believe in… so I’m breaking up with this belief and eating whatever I please, starting at noon. I’m not alone, after all; LA restauranteurs decided years ago that brunch goes till 4pm. Game on, afternoon eggs!

Week 3-4 Notes:

  • My body has adjusted. The slight irritability from the 1st few days is gone. Some days I still aggressively check the clock, especially around 11am, but others I get into a rhythm with whatever I’m working on and realize it’s 1 or 2pm before I eat.

via GIPHY

  • In addition to having more time in the morning, without cooking or eating breakfast, I’ve been feeling a supercharged level of alertness that has led to greater productivity while I’m fasting. The impact was less noticeable in the afternoon, though I found my normal afternoon circadian slump hasn’t been hitting me as hard or often.
  • While weight loss has not been a goal for me and I haven’t been restricting the number of calories I eat during the “feeding window”—that phrase makes me feel like a farm animal—I’ve noticed a clear leaning out of my body, which appears to be a conversion from fat to muscle. I say this because I haven’t lost weight and have increased muscle definition. The BCAA capsules I’ve been taking pre/post-morning workouts may be helping here, as they aid in synthesizing protein, promoting muscle growth and speeding recovery.

Whoomp, there it is…

  • Energy level impact: While my afternoon energy levels improved only slightly during this period, my morning energy levels and feeling of alertness and productivity increased greatly while I was fasting. I’ve had a taste of supercharged mornings, so… sorry breakfast, but I’m not coming back anytime soon.
  • I like the simplicity of having one less meal to prepare and the way my body looks and feels too.
  • This experiment is being renewed indefinitely!

References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156

Drop me a line with any feedback. Also, please leave me a comment with what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. CrossFit 3x/week
  2. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  3. Give Up Caffeine for a month
  4. Guided Breathwork
  5. Daily Journaling
  6. Cryotherapy
  7. Your suggestion?
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A Month of Meditation: The Proof is in the Sitting

Note this is a follow up to my initial Meditation post you can check out here.

Obvi but necessary disclaimer: No guru here, just a student of life interested in sharing what he’s gathered from multiple sources and experiences.

December seemed an ideal time to escape the holiday crazy train, look inward and prepare myself to best deal with the added end o’ year excitement. I’d also just gotten married (woo hoo!), traveled to South America for our honeymoon, was visiting family across the country for the holidays, and was getting ready to move cities… all exciting changes, but a lot of change, nonetheless.

The first few days of sitting to meditate were rough… I caught myself checking the time like a man on death row and realizing I’d been following a runaway train cruising off into some remote region of thought, including meta thoughts about the experience and what I’d write about it (d’oh) before nudging myself (more of a mental headbutt) back to focusing on the meditation guide’s voice. Day 7 was first day I made it through a session without once checking the time remaining – woo hoo!

What did I do right?

I found a great free beginners’ course on the Insight Timer app (with whom I have no affiliation) that had me looking forward to my sessions. I continued with guided meditations vs. freeform—meditating silently or to some ambient sounds—as it keeps me more focused. I learned tips and heard affirming messages–e.g. an orchestra of monkeys is banging their cymbals inside other people’s heads too–from the guides that helped make the process enjoyable and productive.

What did I do wrong?

I let the holiday/travel craziness influence the timing of my practice, meditating at different times of day. It worked for December since I’d been applying Dojo-like diligence to fitting it in, but I need to be more consistent for sustainability going forward. Ended up missing a day (d’oh) though learned to be more compassionate with myself with minor setbacks like this. After all…

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.’

-Confucius

Final Meditations

The combination of this experiment along with two books I was reading at the time, Daily Stoic, and 10% Happier, has made another noticeable change to my outlook. There was a piece in Daily Stoic suggesting that our devastation is directly related to how likely we believe an event is to occur. You shouldn’t be (that) devastated about having to file your taxes this year because we accept and expect tax season to come every year. Along these lines, imagine your favorite mug already broken. If at some point, it gets knocked off the coffee table by your dog’s overactive tail—a likely scenario for me—you will be less bummed because you’ve made yourself conscious that this could easily happen at any moment and that you should appreciate having it until that point. Similarly, if, hypothetically speaking, you expect a president to sputter an endless stream of ridiculous, selfish, and inaccurate remarks, you may be slightly less enraged when his actions are fully in line with your expectations. Expect to be unexpectedly and inconveniently caught in traffic and understand it has nothing to do with you—no one is conspiring against you to make it happen—and it will lessen the blow a bit.

(I recommend both of the above books, especially Daily Stoic for those who appreciate the manageability of literally having just one page a day to read.)

Finally, I’ve concluded that meditation is like running and eating salads. I know it’s good for me and that I usually enjoy the experience more than expected but I sometimes struggle to take the first step/bite/breath. Just like setting out clothes the night before a morning run or buying the tastiest salad ingredients (yes to avocado and pepitas, no bitter greens or raw red onions, thank you) and finding an ideal time, comfortable spot, and tool to help simplify (ahem, Insight Timer) will reduce the friction to building good habits. Starting with guided meditations of 5-10 minutes and eventually building to 10-15 minutes work well for balancing benefits with compliance. Again…

“Perfect is the enemy of good.’

-Voltaire

I’ve carried my practice into 2019 with me and look forward to continuing it, knowing it ain’t gonna be perfect, but it’s gonna be good.

Leave me a comment with any experiences you’ve had with meditation, tips to share, or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Daily Intermittent Fasting (restricting eating to 8-12 out of 24hrs)
  2. CrossFit 3x/week
  3. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  4. Daily Journaling
  5. Your suggestion?

As always, any other feedback is welcome.

In the meantime, I’ll be training for and competing in an insane, unsanctioned ultra relay race experiment called The Speed Project with some badasses from Electric Flight Crew.

Peace!

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A Month of Meditation: Moving from Glorified Naptime to Centered Practice

Intro: Flirting with Meditation… My first exposure to meditation came from Shirley the Loon on Tiny Toon Adventures levitating cross-legged and chanting her mantra, “Ohm, what a loon I am.” Fast forward a few years [ahem, decades]… With the constant inflow of emails, texts, beep-boop-beeps, deliveries, ads, and phone calls—which ironically have become the least problematic among these—I’m often operating in a semi-distracted state. In the past, I’ve dabbled with meditation and while not a cure-all, it’s like a little natural Adderall for the monkeys playing bumper cars in my mind.

My history with practicing meditation started off decently. I first used Headspace’s free Take 10 program, which involves 10ish-minute guided meditations narrated by founder Andy Puddicombe, with his soothing voice and delightful English accent. It’s highly beginner-friendly… I mean, there are animated cartoons to go with the sessions. I would highly recommend this as an intro to meditation.

While I loved the intro program, I opted not to continue with the paid version. The frugal gene I inherited from my wonderful parents questioned the need to spend any money on something I could easily do for free. The amount of money I spend on running each year tells another story. Don’t worry about that…

Next, I joined a series of group meditation sessions via Google Hangouts led by my friend Jess. This was both the best experience I had and the least practical to recreate. It was the best because Jess provided direction and she and the group added accountability with a side of solidarity. However, varying schedules alone make a group virtual session the least likely to be sustained—for me, at least.

Finally, I started using guided meditations on the excellent, free Insight Timer app. However, things deteriorated from there. While I continued to use the app nearly daily, it was to put on the soothing ambient sounds for 10-15 minutes of naptime. This has its own benefits, but meditation it is not.

 

Ok, so why… You’ve probably heard about the many benefits of meditation, like stress management, improved immune system, better sleep, improved happiness, and a better Uber rider score (ok, maybe not directly, but indirectly…). The main benefits I’ve experienced when I’ve practiced for multiple consecutive days are a calmer presence and ability to keep the little things in perspective, e.g. accepting that not everyone handwashes their dishes the second they finish eating and uses the dishwasher as a big, fancy drying rack like I do or that when our dog has a big accident downstairs, it’s usually just that. I would like to achieve these again and to be more present in each activity I’m doing and most importantly in my interactions with others.

Uh oh… How many times has a doctor, trainer, or Oprah suggested we just start simple habit X that will only take us 10 minutes of our day? It’s easy to say, “yeah, I’m gonna start doing that… not today, or tomorrow, but oh boy starting next month…” at which point, after 1,000s of emails/texts/ads/shows have throttled and distracted our mind, we’ve conveniently forgotten about it. There are often good (and seemingly good) reasons to make an exception and skip following through with the new habit but with good prioritization, you can make it happen.

About that… It’s been nearly 30 years since I could comfortably sit cross-legged. So, I will either sit cross-legged with a rolled-up yoga mat under my butt for support or sit up straight (without being too rigid) on a couch for the meditations. For the 1st couple weeks, I’ll use the guided meditations on the Insight Timer app, since the app was never the issue—just my use of it as a nap soundtrack. I’ll then decide whether I want to try freeform meditation, with just the ambient sound playing… but sitting up, not lying down… we know what that leads to.

I betcha… I’m confident I’m going to enjoy and appreciate the benefits of this experiment. Finding the optimal time and location and eliminating distractions will be the keys to keeping this as a daily practice.

Leave me a comment with what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. CrossFit 3x/week
  2. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  3. Daily Journaling
  4. Daily Intermittent Fasting (restricting eating to 8-12 out of 24hrs)
  5. Your suggestion?

As always, any other feedback is welcome. Namaste, y’all!

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I Wore The Same 4 Outfits for 4 Weeks. Here is What Happened…

[This is the follow up to my Spending Less Time Getting Dressed! post.]

“Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It’s your masterpiece after all.”
-Nathan W. Morris

 

Week 1-2 Notes:

  • I love it. Fewer options means less time deciding what to wear. Since I picked some of my favorite clothes, I’m always wearing something I like. I never have that silly urge to wear something just because I haven’t worn it in a while… even though the sleeves are too long, and it’s got a coffee stain, and it’s from the 90s.
  • I’m so excited to pare down my wardrobe that I’ve already flagged 18 or 1/3 of my short-sleeved shirts to get rid of! Sorry not sorry, oversized polos – you’re dunzo.
  • You can do this too by going through each item in your closet. Maybe limit yourself to one section at a time to make it easier to start. For each item, if it’s not a hell yes, I’d wear this shirt this week—if there’s any real hesitation—flip that hanger around to flag it or add it to a give-away pile in your closet. Later, donate or trash everything in that pile or with a flipped hanger.
  • It can be hard to ditch your precious threads but anything that doesn’t look great on you or has noticeable stains or holes is ripe for pruning.
  • Darker options can be your friend if, like me, your somehow mysteriously end up with food or other unidentifiable spots on your clothing from time to time.

 

Week 3-4 Notes:

  • Ask for help: my partner Will was doing a load of laundry this week and he let me throw one of my Ts in that needed a full wash, which helped stretch out the time ‘til my next required load.
  • Workout clothes and athleisure wear are probably the biggest challenge because they need more frequent and thorough cleaning. Fortunately, you can save yourself from doing extra laundry loads by taking gear in the shower with you and washing with Dr. Bronner castile soap—an all-purpose wonder—or soaking in Oxi Clean in a tub or spare bathroom sink. (Full disclosure: I’m not getting anything from these brands for saying this, though maybe I should be.) This works best with non-cotton blends, which dry faster and are less prone to wrinkling.

 

Whoomp, there it is…

  • This was the spark I needed to do an aggressive shakedown of my wardrobe.
  • A shopping paradigm shift: If I feel the need to get something new now, it will likely be a color, cut, etc. that I already know works, if not an exact clone of something I already own rather than something completely different.
  • However, this experiment has shown me how few pieces of clothing I really need, which helps alleviate the already negligible shopping pressure I feel altogether.

 

What’s next? Drop me a line with any feedback. Also, please leave a comment with what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. CrossFit 3x/week
  2. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  3. Daily Meditation (10+ minutes)
  4. Daily Intermittent Fasting (restricting eating to 8-12 out of 24hrs)
  5. Your suggestion?

I will likely pause the experimentation for a few weeks as I’ll be embarking on one of the most popular global, longitudinal experiments in history: getting married. Cheers!

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Spend Less Time Getting Dressed!

Experiment: Wear the same 4 outfits for 4 weeks (+3 for workouts).

Wardrobe minimalism. Jobs did it. Zuckerberg does it. Doug Funnie and the rest of your favorite ‘toon characters did it. I may be dating myself as an elder millennial with that last reference and I’m ok with that. In fact, Zuckerberg appears to have literally grayscaled this aspect of his life.

Ok, so why… Similar to my 1st experiment (eating the same 7 meals for 7 weeks), this one is all about reducing the number of choices you have to make in a given week to free up more time for your highest priorities… and your Netflix to-watch list. (Speaking of which, one more plug for Elder Millennial which should be on that list!)

Uh oh… This means not even one unique outfit per day of the workweek, let alone a full week. And given that I work out 6-7x/week, I’m gonna have to get really good about the sink suds, scrub, and hang-to-dry method. Also, I enjoy the variety of colors and styles I get to wear and my—as cliched as it sounds—freedom of personal expression.

About that… Confession: I work from home. This helps me in two ways. 1) I don’t have coworkers who would consistently see me repeating getups from one week to the next. 2) I don’t really have to wear much at all, particularly in these warmer months in LA… and without A/C. But I do still crawl out of my hermit cave and need to be presentable—as low as the SoCal standard may be—for meals with friends, group workouts, occasional client visits, and if for nothing other than to walk Zara thrice daily.

That said, I was originally planning on 7 outfits—one for each day of the week—+3 for workouts, which seemed somewhat reasonable given I don’t have a closet full of the same gray Ts like Mr. Z and will have to do a lot o’ hand washing. Well, I cut that 7 down to 4 to ensure this challenge is, well, challenging.

I already only wear a few pairs of shoes so no issue there. Socks and undies aren’t part of the issue and are exempt from this challenge because ew.

I betcha… I expect to benefit from some newly freed mental RAM as with experiment 1. However, I’m doubting the likelihood of me wanting to continue this approach as is. The constant manual laundry effort does not seem sustainable. If I’m really feeling less conflicted at the closet, then it may be time to invest in some multiples of my favo’ faves and ditch some of my third-string threads.

 

The Lineup:

Left half is a jacket and the 3 workout outfits. Right half is the 4 daily outfits.

If you see me wearing something else in the next 4 weeks, heckle away!

 

Do try this at home: Look at your closet and/or dresser and ask if I could only wear 4 shirts/sweaters and 4 pairs of pants/shorts for the next month—or better yet year—what would I choose? (Dresses would count as one outfit.) Sentimental but ill-fitting clothes are quickly stricken from the consideration set.

Items that are the most comfortable, best fitting, and versatile win for me. Solids are generally a great choice. In addition to matching with more other clothes, people are less likely to notice you wearing them over and over. I still included a few printed shirts because of their great look, fit, feel, and versatility… and, in one case, fabulousness.

Stay tuned for my results in a few weeks!

Grayscaling