Day 16 – HALF WAY!!!

 

So – it happened.

I ate…..

RICE!

I went in to the situation knowing full well that it could and likely would happen.  It’s cool.  I’m not skeered.

Also made the choice between the lesser of two evils.  Soy sauce – the real deal with gluten (not gunna happen) or what I could find on a moments notice at the ever so sketchy Food Lion?  I went with Braggs…so there went another point (since it is still soy and that’s not legal either).  – HOLD THE PHONE….After the original publish of this post 20 minutes ago, I have learned that this was not sin of the challenge.  How about that?  No point lost after all…it falls under the same category as the grains (ie rice) and it could be interperated to also fall under the legume category for which I am allowed one serving a day (I did opt for the non GMO based soy after all).

Don’t worry – I told my wife.  And after a rather impressive *gasp*, she admitted that she was a tad jealous.

Today’s Total: 8 – NO it’s actually 9!

Day 14 – Two Week Check In!

Well, look at that…two whole weeks down in our month long diet and fitness challenge!  I actually didn’t even realize that until I typed it in the subject line for this post.  Originally I was going to write about the evolution of a mature athlete…..but I think I’ll save that thought for another day.  Remind me if I forget.

Let’s do a check in for these past two weeks:

• Be prepared!  Good grief – as if #bruteyogi and I didn’t always have emergency food with us at all times, now it’s a serious situation that we MUST have food with us.  Finding challenge legal food is, well, a challenge.  So to combat that we carry a bag of food with us every where we go.
• Eating at restaurants can be done, but is a bit boring.  We’ve had a burger or seafood steamer bucket where ever we’ve been.  It’s been the easiest choice if we are to stay compliant.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to chow down on some chips and salsa or some sushi (with the rice!).  However, I do feel great and I’m fine without it for now.  Who knows, maybe I’ll eat less grains and sugar once this challenge is done.
• Grocery shopping was fairly eye opening.  Sugar being the culprit.  The wife and I eat fairly well already…or so I thought.  When I looked at some of the ingredients of things that we had purchased in the past I was shocked to find that a lot of things contain sugar that doesn’t really need sugar to begin with.  These are things that we won’t likely be purchasing again – exception being ice cream and butcher bacon for sure…duh.
• Lifting heavy has not been affected by the challenge diet in the least.  WIN!
• Making time to move mindfully has only really been a challenge on the days when I am in the hospital for 12+ hours, especially over night.  Those days I tend to make the workout a bit lighter, or practice asana (yoga), or stretch, roll and mobilize.  All good habits I am looking forward to maintaining.
• Sleep is definitely high on my to do list every day.  With this challenge it’s meant maintaining a perfect daily score.  I’ve come close a few times these past two weeks to docking my sleep point and somehow been able to pull it off by sneaking a nap in.  It also shows me how much sleep I really need, and anything under 7-8 hours is just not going to cut it.
• Writing blog posts each day has been really enjoyable.  I am surprised to find something to write about every day, and wonder what I’ll be writing about in two weeks….oh wait…we’ll be at the MidAtlantic CrossFit Regional Games….I’ll have plenty!  Now just to make the time to do it while we’re there. Time…yes that’s a challenge in writing blog posts and that’s also why some of the posts are shorter and much less edited than others. (Insert sheepish grin here.)

The next bonus challenge is to PR on something at the gym.  My goal is to PR on one of my lifts since I haven’t tested them in about a year.  We can grab a few more points if we PR on two things, and since I’d rather not PR on two heavy lifts in one week I’m going to try and beat one of my double under PRs (max unbroken, max in a minute, etc).  Check back at the end of the week to see how I did!  Hopefully everyone posts their personal bests so I can share with you what they’ve been working on as well.  I’m looking forward to the excitement and accomplishments!

Today’s Total: 10

 

Day 13 – How’s your down dog?

Unicorns and rainbows?  Why not?

Had the pleasure of watching my wife, #bruteyogi, wrangle about 40 dudes at a Bro’s and Brew’s event today at a local brewery.  Not that I’m biased or anything, but she’s pretty fucking awesome when she’s presenting her passion to the masses (in this case a diverse room of all men).  Not many people can teach yoga to a bunch of guys and hold their attention AND make an impact in the way that she does.  Her craft is body mechanics and understanding how to give the room what it needs in a way that they can receive it – it is a kick ass sight to behold.  Need a tune up?  Go follow her on Instagram @yogiweezy, or FaceBook, or Twitter @yogiweezy, or all of the above!  You won’t be disappointed.

We – the wife and I – also had the pleasure of working out and hanging out with our amazing friend, Josh (I’ll have to work on a nickname for him).  Working out with friends is always so much better than working out alone, guess that’s why CrossFit was so appealing in the beginning.  We are such social creatures by nature that the group aspect of CrossFit has really helped to make its mark in the fitness world.  Just like this diet and fitness challenge.  All 18 of us coming from fairly different backgrounds (doctors, lawyers, self employed, coaches, mothers, fathers, single, military, etc) really helps put the diversity of life in to perspective.  While we are all the same animal, breathing the same air, our containers and experiences in this life are vastly different.  It’s also a reminder that what we put our energy towards is what we will ultimately get in return – it’s why we’re so diverse!  It’d be pretty boring if we were all the same, eh?  I’d have nothing to write about every day……….

My favorite quote this week from our private FaceBook group:  “…make sure you bend over in the mirror and do the “see thru” test before you buy.. No one wants to know your down dog is not neutered….”  I may have seriously laughed out loud even copying that in to the blog!  Tomorrow I’ll debut another creative quote from one of the participants…these people are seriously witty with their words.

Insert Creative Smart Ass Caption Here

Today’s Total: 10

PS.  I’m not proof reading this because I want to go to bed.  There, I admit it…I’m a lazy editor.

 

Day 12 – No Excuses

“Is their gluten in that?”
Feeding the little birds…..

I don’t want to hear any excuses about “I don’t have time to workout” or “I’m going to cheat because I’m going to a kid’s birthday party”.  Screw that.  You can make time to do the things you want to do, or the things that you find important.  If it’s not high on your priority list then let the excuses fly because I’m not listening.  Talk to the hand, cause the face don’t wanna hear it any more!  (Name the movie!)

Not only did #bruteyogi and I get up at 4:00am to get a workout in before I had to be at work at 7:00am, we also went to my nephew’s 2nd birthday party that surrounded us with pizza, chips, salsa, beer, and homemade cupcakes!  The wife lost a point with her gluten free beer (we’re such a stereotype), but I don’t like beer – my will power came in with the tortilla chips and homemade cupcakes.  I surprised myself without having to even fight with my good angel and devil – I didn’t even flinch with the temptation at my finger tips.

Be prepared.  If you’re going somewhere that has temptation – go in knowing and allowing yourself to have the temptation, and then don’t beat yourself up about it.  I don’t want to hear, “oh, I shouldn’t be eating this or drinking that”.  I call bullshit – you’re an adult and can say no if you want to.  Today, I said no.  Today #bruteyogi went in knowing she was going to allow herself to enjoy a beer with the rest of the people pretending to be adults.  Did she apologize or beat herself up for it – absolutely not.  If you don’t want to give in to the temptation today – bring food with you, or eat a big meal before you go, and say thanks but no thanks.  Get rid of the story and the excuses why you can, can’t, will or won’t do something.  Enjoy yourself, be yourself.

Oh – and try something new!  Today was #bruteyogi’s first time EVER in a bounce house (she has horrendous vertigo and motion sickness).  Her adventure buddies included a 3 year old that asks “is there gluten in that” because she’s been recently diagnosed with Celiacs, and the most adorable 2 year old nephew in the world that happens to look like a minion.

Today’s total: 10 + 5 bonus points for 4 perfect days in a row

Seriously – could they get any cuter?

 

Day 11

 

One of my other jobs is teaching yoga at a local studio.  I teach a class on Sundays called Bodhi’s in Motion:Sunday Funday.  As I have found my voice and passion in teaching Hatha Yoga I too have learned (and continue to learn) more about myself and the people that surround me.  One of the things I like to do is create a group intention at the beginning of the 90 minute class.  What that does, or what I ultimately hope it does, is create a sense of unity within the group as they move and breathe together.  It also lets the students in to a more personal side to me as I will generally choose a thought or idea that I am working on in my own practice.

Patience – when ever a teacher has asked the group to set an intention for the practice, patience is a thought that has come to my mind 9 out of 10 times.  Choose an intention for your practice, today.  Something that you would like more of in your life.  That’s often what you’ll hear.  And patience is something that I’d always like more of, and I’m really not an impatient person.  I think that patience is something that is lacking a great deal in our society, in our world.  We’re consumed with immediate gratification and if we’re not willing to wait or work for it then it’s just not worth it.

A coworker of mine asked me how the challenge was going.  This coworker has been aware of the challenge since day one when I handed her the rules and regulations the moment the challenge began.  She’s very supportive, and is a bit of a health nut herself.  I told her in all honesty that it was going really well, but the first few days were VERY rough.  I was hungry all the time.  I wanted fake delicious sugar like my dog, Ren, wants to hoover the dishwasher (she acts like I never feed her).  And it was a little frustrating at times to have to plan out all of my meals – do you want a chunk of cheese with that wine?  Patience has shown its importance again!  It’s the end of day 11 of the 32 day challenge, not even half way, and I actually feel pretty great.  The patience during the bad sugar withdrawals has paid off.  Everyone saids to wait it out, it will go away, and it did.  I may have said that I wanted cake tonight, but that craving was satisfied with some pretty yummy coconut vanilla ice cream.

Today’s Total: 10

Day 10!

 

I’m not sure how I feel about their little tag line.  We definitely did hit while at our 30 minute session today….interesting.  Moving on….

Part of the challenge is to try something new, something new like adventure new, and add 10 bonus points to the day’s total.  Have friend join you that’s never done the same adventure, grab up another 10 bonus points!  It was a little bit of a challenge to find something I hadn’t done, fit it in to the schedule, and find someone else that hasn’t done that something.  Magically I was off today and one of the challenge members found a kickboxing studio that they wanted to try out.  So, one of my besties and I went with 2 other challenge members and another gym member (non-challenge participant) to 9 Round for a 30 minute cardio/kickboxing session.

It was a LOT of FUN!  In CrossFit terms it was similar to Fight Gone Bad where we went to 9 different stations for 3 minutes each.  There were two “coaches” helping us as we approached stations and also interacting with us at specific stations.  I didn’t know that punching a bag, kicking a bag, throwing right hooks and all those other fancy fight terms, would be so fun!  We all enjoyed the session noting that it was something different for each of us gym rats.

 

Today’s Total: 10 + 20 bonus adventure points.  Oh…and I took a nap….naps are awesome and a completely lost art form.  Take one, it’s worth it.

Naps. Does a body good.

Day 9

Our first entire week is completed in the challenge (our weeks are 8 days long).  A few of us are maintaining perfect scores, while others have lost a point here or there (on purpose or completely by accident) with some eating indiscretions.  My cravings were intense in the eating arena the first few days, seeming to be exceptionally ugly when I am tired or I’ve gone too long without eating.  I’m not gunna lie – I have wanted a bag of chips like it’s nobody’s business – and I may have to give up my allowable potato serving soon so that I can fulfill my tummies desire, but that tantrum that my belly sometimes throws hasn’t been too unyielding that I have felt the need to cave in.

Motivation: My Mac defines motivation as: the general desire or willingness of someone to do something; the reason or reasons on has for acting or behaving in a particular way.  Well, thank you Mac.  My initial motivation to participate in this challenge really didn’t have anything to do with winning or competition.  We don’t win any prize or collect any money for participating and challenging ourselves as set out by our rules.  A charity will nab a little cash from all of us at the end – but the only thing the participants get is what we put in it.  The potential finishers may get the satisfaction that we completed it, we tried something new, we tamed a bad habit, potentially learned a different way to eat, set a new PR (or PRs), and did this all with 17 other people (as in we didn’t do this to ourselves, we are all mostly willing participants).  Some of us will carry these new habits on, and some of us will undoubtedly revert back to our old habits immediately.  In all honesty I know that I will not eat this way forever, but it has definitely opened my eyes to what I am consuming and how much sugar is in the things I would normally eat.  The grocery store is an eye opening experience when scrutinizing every thing I put in the basket!  After the challenge I will allow myself grains (in the way of sushi and Pho!), I will allow myself dairy (remember how much I love ice cream?) and I will allow myself potatoes (in the form of mashed, baked, and chipped).

My motivation to continue through these food cravings and athletic challenges is simply to see this challenge through.  This is a challenge for me to use my willpower to NOT eat anything I see and to not eat it in its entirety.  I’m reconditioning myself simply by seeing this to the end.  It’s creating more mindfulness around the food I eat – as I am eating it for it’s fuel points and not purely on it’s oh my god that looks delicious, I’m super tired, I worked out so I can eat that…..etc.  I know some of you have had those very thoughts.  There are also things I’d like to witness coming out of this challenge.  I’m curious if it will impact my lifting of heavy things, positively or negatively.  I’m curious if my body composition will change in any way….I would like to see more definition in the muscles I’m attempting to build.  My little pain in the ass voice in my head needs to also tell you that I’m curious if I’ve lost any weight – but I REFUSE to get on the scale (I have taken pictures though – and I may or may not post them).  I’m curious if I can make time to move my body mindfully every day, as our challenge dictates.  I’m curious if we are spending more or less money on groceries versus eating out.  I’m also curious to see if all of the participants will make it through.

If I accept a challenge it is in my nature to keep my word and see it through, no matter how big or small.  Sure, there have been challenges that I have accepted and been unable to fulfill, I am human and prone to error – but I don’t give up easily, and if I do it’s because I am not attached to the challenge or the outcome.  I am attached to this and its ultimate outcome while practicing healthy detachment so as to not beat myself up or create negative energy around any expectation of what the outcome may be.  When expectation is created, disappointment can follow, and certainly failures.  You may or may not agree with me on this point – but could you go for 8 days without your vice?  That vice be alcohol, sugar, getting on the scale, coffee, something you MUST do everyday without fail or your world would just crumble to pieces?  Can you seriously?  If you answered no, ask yourself why?

 

The negative energy and judgements that surround challenges like this astound me.  How many times do you hear these? – I could never give up alcohol.  I could never give up sugar.  I could never give up pasta, bread, potatoes…………The list goes on and on.  Why would you set your mind to do something and not see it through?  Maybe because the mind was never set in the first place.  Or why do you feel the need to get all up in my business?  (Maybe because I’m posting it all over the interwebs?  Yeah, got me there.)  Maybe it’s just me.  My guess is if the energy surrounding these types of challenges changes to that of openness and acceptance (I mean no one’s harming small children or puppies to my knowledge for Pete’s sake) then exciting and enticing drama may just in fact go away.  Novel idea, eh?

That being said – Today’s total?  A solid 10.

Day 7 MDDFC

 

nuff said

Tomorrow marks a full week completed for the Memorial Day Fitness Challenge (our weeks are 8 days, ask Beth, I don’t know why).  Today I thought I’d give you (and remind me) of the things I have learned thus far during this challenge.

1. If you don’t like to cook, you’re gunna have a bad time.  Luckily I do like to cook…love to in fact.  But what I have found that I love even more is that my wife is on this journey with me.  It means that we are in the kitchen, my domain if-you-will, a lot!  And it means that we are in there together.  Spending time grocery shopping, deciding on how to prepare a few meals (we can’t just prepare one with the amount of food we eat!), prepping the meals, doing the dishes, and putting all of the meals in to go boxes.  I love the time that we are spending together doing all of this food preparation!  If only one thing comes out of this food challenge and it’s that I strengthened the already strong bond with my wife, I’ll take it.  Cheesy or not, I’m being completely genuine in telling you that this has been my favorite part of the challenge to date.  I married her, right?  Why wouldn’t I want to spend time with her?
   

   this girl…wins my heart every day

2. I have an addiction to the scale, and that was the one thing that I gave up for this challenge.  I guarantee this is a learned behavior – the source of which I am not entirely sure.  Day 4 and 5 I wanted to get on the scale some kinda bad – like drooling at the thought.  No one would have to know except me, I wouldn’t have to tell anyone.  However, having that guilt just sitting there, knowing what I had done???….I’d have admitted my sins to the challenge police and lost not only points but integrity.  I was able to get over the thought of the scale for those two days, I know it will come back and hopefully it will only get easier to deal with that issue.  What does the number on the scale have to do with ANYTHING?  Exactly…nothing.
3. I have yet to feel so grossly full that I immediately want to take a nap after eating.  That can be counted as a bonus, right?!  I feel satisfied after eating and have found it impossible to over eat.
4. I really miss dairy.  Yogurt and ice cream in particular.  I don’t need much, but I would like more than I’m getting currently.  The wife, #bruteyogi, and I eat as raw a dairy we can get, and even make our own raw milk yogurt.
5. Mindfulness – #bruteyogi and I really do consider our food, it’s source, it’s implications and/or consequences (if there are any) almost every time we eat.  This challenge has taught me how to do that even more!  Unfortunately #bruteyogi got stuck on an old conditioning mindset and grabbed a fake sugary mint, consuming it before she noticed what was happening.  Fail….under normal circumstances this wouldn’t have mattered – but under challenge rules…no sugar.
6. Adaptation – I must find a way to move mindfully every day during the challenge to get a point for exercise.  Today for instance I was supposed to be lifting after work and ended up having a much longer work day than anticipated.  Instead of lifting, which would have worn me out after a LONG day already, I opted to roll out the yoga mat and put in a few poses with dogs and the washing machine as my music.

Today’s Points: 10 – keeping up that track record, I’m motivated to see this thing through! (And I’m not going to lie…as I sit here and type this I seriously want a big ass bowl of ice cream.)

Day 6 MDDFC

 

Jogging with Pipyn

I think I finally got this eating thing under control – almost took a week to realize that I HAVE to eat just before I get hungry or right at that first little tinge of a grumble.  Oh, and eat often, WAY more often than I was used to and I thought I at a lot before…..

Last night #bruteyogi put all of the food in to one of those iPhone apps to see where she was at with her macronutrients (something I have a difficult time calculating) and caloric intake for the day.  We average around 2,000 calories a day it seems, which is what I more-or-less thought.  I don’t like those fitness apps in general – I don’t think they accurately calculate the type of workouts we do, but they seem to do a decent job in the food calculating department.

The big win for the day was going on a field trip to a local restaurant and not freaking out over the menu.  We went to eat with one of our besties at a local seafood joint and quickly realized that there really wasn’t a ton of options that were legal for our challenge.  However, being that it was a seafood establishment with a raw bar it was easy to order a pound of shrimp, a dozen clams, a dozen oysters and a salad – we just couldn’t have the drawn butter (which I don’t like anyway) or the cocktail sauce (which I do love).  We went hard core and had straight horseradish (something in my pre-90%paleo lifestyle that I would have NEVER done).  We pounded the food down like we’d not eaten in 36 hours, and likely could’ve eaten more.  Thankfully the mother-in-law, Big D, is a phenomenal baker and supporter of our crazy habits that she made us paleo – challenge legal – donuts!  WOW!  It was so nice to have dessert waiting for us when we got home from dinner.

DONUTS!

The first week’s challenge (in addition to the challenge itself) is to create a three course meal that’s challenge legal and share it with someone else for bonus points.  We created pulled pork (from the farm of course!), coleslaw, and a giant fruit salad.  Our dinner guests, via doggie bags, were Big D and one of our besties (the same one we met for dinner).  That helped us nab 20 extra points for the week!  We’ll need all the points we can get since we won’t be able to take advantage of the 30 bonus points on Memorial Day weekend (see the first post if you’re lost).

Three Course Paleo Feast!

It was a beautiful day in Virginia Beach, a perfect day for an outside activity.  Our exercise for the day included a 4 mile run/walk in the nearby First Landing State Park with one of our dogs, Pipyn.  If we’re going to run I’d much rather choose to run on soft ground than asphalt any day, and this park is perfect for a jog.  We were not the only ones that thought that today, either.  The park was packed with runners, bikers, walkers, families and their dogs.  We even ran into a fellow CrossFitter!

We’re almost done with the first week!  I’ll be posting my overall thoughts of the first week in the next post or two – I’ve learned so much already.  Time to grab those sleep points.

Today’s Total: 10 + 20 extra bonus points added to the week for challenge dining!  No lost points for #bruteyogi and I thus far!

Special side note to my readers: I sometimes don’t proof read these posts before posting them, and I’m a pretty horrible speller – deal with it…it obviously doesn’t bother me….

 

Day 5 MDDFC

 

No, I don’t dispatch calls – ok, well, I kind of do.  I sometimes save lives of little people and direct mini intensive care units to go retrieve them…but I also coordinate the transfers of these sick kiddos from places that aren’t equipped to take care of them to the hospital that I work for because that’s what we do, 24 hours a day.

Yesterday I mentioned that I would let you in on my sleeping habits and environment.  Once I took the position at the hospital, it became apparent that in order to function on the many night shifts I’d be working I was going to have to figure out how to sleep.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked over night before when I used to run rescue (that’s what we call working on the streets, or working in the field, or working on an ambulance as a medic), and I’m sure I did it all wrong.  On an ambulance you can actually cat nap, whether at a station or mobile posting behind your local Kroger (we’ve found some super interesting spots to hide our load diesel box to catch a few zzzz’s), in a hospital that doesn’t seem to be common practice.  There is no sleeping on a stretcher tucked away on a unit that’s empty, or folding yourself in to a ball on a captain’s chair to rejuvenate thy self.  Company policy is that you get canned on the spot if you’re caught, I know someone who had just that happen and haven’t seen her since.  So, if I’m going to work under the darkness of night, I must actually make my body think it’s daylight.  And the reverse of that is that I must figure out how to sleep when it’s bright and beautiful outside.  It has taken some experimenting, some googling, some informal polling of coworkers and physicians, and it still isn’t perfect…but it works.

Why night shift you ask?  Well, as most of us zombie employees will tell you, the night shift is AWESOME and it would be even AWESOME’er if it was during the day, but then it wouldn’t be night shift, would it?  There’s a TON less drama, less administrative staff, a lot more teamwork to get shit done, more financial incentive, less traffic, and it’s just more fun because all the cool people work at night.  However, it sucks.  I lost any sense of a social life when I was working full time nights, my memory was slowly drifting away, my body hated me, I got super bitchy on the third night in a row (and sometimes the first) and I felt like I the only thing going on in the world was at the hospital because that’s the only time I was conscious.  My wife said that it was similar to me going out of town for four days, only I was home and she couldn’t be for fear of waking me.  I still work nights, just not as many (which some would say is worse on the system)…and I am thankful that I am able to experience life outside of the ED again.  Oh, hello wife, I’ve missed you!

Let’s talk about sleep, baby….Here’s what has been the best for me, and it may help you, or maybe you have some suggestions?

1. Reverse the schedule in it’s entirety – I was skeptical at first, but it’s actually true.  The more you make nights the habit, the better off the sleep will be during the day.  Rumor is, it will NEVER be ideal – like sleeping at night – but it will get as close to it as possible.
2. Wear sunglasses as soon as I leave the building.  And I leave them on as long as possible, looking like a rockstar or like I have a killer hangover if I go anywhere other than home.  Those orange/amber glasses you may have heard about…yep, those help too.  Trick the brain, you gotta.
3. DO NOT drink/consume caffeine after the halfway mark of the shift.  So if my shift is 7:00pm-7:00am I won’t drink caffeine after 1:00am.
4. Eat!  If I go to bed hungry in the morning, then I’ll wake up in the middle of the day (my night) hungry.  Horrible, since now my sleep pattern has been shattered in to little pieces.  Enter grumpapatomus.
5. Exercise.  I am not one to exercise after work, I’m better before work – which means it’s an afternoon or early evening workout on those days.  However, if I didn’t sleep well or I have a batch of night shifts in a row, I will forego the intense workout for more sleep.  An intense workout will just create additional stress on the body (increased cortisol) creating a huge cascade affect that you can google about in your spare time.  Basically it just does not do a body good…so I don’t do it.
6. Walk the dogs.  For the love of god, why do they need to serenade me why I’m sleeping?  They don’t pull that shit at night!  If they’re exercised they are happy and relaxed and look forward to a nap.  Also, see #2.  Super pimp.
7. Supplements.  After countless hours of research and experimentation this is what has worked for me.  Vitamin D: 2,000IUs.  Go figure, my vitamin D levels were on the low end of normal.  Shocker.  But, most of ours are…not because we don’t get enough light but because our food we ingest doesn’t either.  ZMA, which is 30mg of zinc, 450mg of magnesium, and 15mg of B-6.  This is to help with recovery from my workouts, also to help rebuild and maintain a healthy system overall while I sleep.  (Side note, #bruteyogi says it has really helped her with restless leg!  Bonus!)  I also take Vitamin C: 2.25g which is a decent hit, but when the immune system fails everything else fails along with it.  And to help maintain energy I also take a Vitamin B complex, only when I wake up (take that shit before bed and bye bye sleep!).  Fish Oil: a combined total of 3,000+mg of DHA and EPA daily….it’s just good for you….do it.  And last, but not least, a digestive enzyme with every meal.  I eat a fairly high protein, high fat, high caloric diet and this enzyme has helped me a TON to keep everything flowing well through the ole digestive tract if you catch my drift.  Of course – this works for me, and may not work for everyone…don’t go and nag to me that you went and fucked up your body because you didn’t listen to it or your doctor.  I exclusively take the purest form of any of these supplements that I can, liquid or powder preferred and nothing added that doesn’t need to be there.
8. Sleep enhancements.  I’ve tried tons.  Recently I’ve learned that those fun ones you get from the doctor – Ambien, Lunesta, etc – just render the body unconscious.  I used to take Ambien and was able to sleep 5 hours, max.  Then I tried Lunesta – and didn’t get the hangover that other drugs gave me, so I stuck with that one for a while.  And I noticed something, I would get 5 hours of solid clean sleep, or so I thought, and felt somewhat rested.  So after listening to these two podcasts with Dr Kirk Parsley, I decided to forego the chemical enhancements for a supplement. Here’s the links to the podcasts:  The Paleo Solution and Barbell Shrugged – do yourself and listen to them….AWESOME!  Now I can get away with melatonin before bed and feel more rested than with the expensive drugs, and I’m not putting nasty ass chemicals in my body.  My body is already working hard enough with this wacky schedule, why make it work harder?
9. Shower.  Clean off the 12+ hours of work to sleep clean!  Especially when I’m in the ER, I shower all of the coodies of the sicky face kiddos off of me – it has absolutely kept me healthier and more importantly my wife.  The first year I worked at the hospital I think we were sick more than we were healthy….it sucked, plain and simple.
10. Sleep environment.  Be comfortable!  Even though I am ready to fall flat on my face after a night shift I make sure my environment is just so each and every time.  Call it obsessive, but ask me if I sleep?  Yeah, thought so.  I make the room as dark as possible to mimic a nighttime environment, color/light blocking curtains, eye mask (this is personal preference thing, find one that works for you), use a large box fan to block any noise from the non third shifters in the neighborhood, sleep in a cool room – your temp drops as you are getting ready to sleep naturally, so I mimic that as much as possible and since I’m a hot box naturally despite freezing my ass of before I go to bed, keeping it cool is a priority.
11. Sleep training.  I stay in bed for the length of time I need to even if I wake up before I’m scheduled.  So, if I’m supposed to stay in bed until 5:00pm, I may end up laying there for a little while if I’ve woken up.  Doing this sleep training I have taught myself to sleep longer and I can now sleep at almost any time.  I also do my best to stick to a bed time that gets me as close to 8 hours of sleep as possible.
12. Have an awesome partner in crime/spouse/wife.  I’ve done this before her and my record of sleep vs not sleep was not great.  With her I have less worry, and while I hate having an opposing schedule at times I know that she’s supporting my odd sleeping habits and taking care of the world while I’m sleeping.

Today’s Menu:

12:45am

• almost the entire cilantro ginger chicken breast….I thought I was hungrier that I was
• whole avocado
• Chai tea (I love that stuff)

5:15am

• yummy coconut cream parfait – a few spoonfuls post mobilization (see below)
• handful of plantain chips

8:00am

• 2 pieces of no sugar added bacon (and it does actually taste delicious!)
• 2 eggs
• 4oz raw milk (not only do I love it, but it’s supposed to help with sleep)

12:30pm

• sweet potato hash with sausage and peppers
• 1 twin egg on top

3:00pm

• handful of almonds

6:00pm

• farm chicken breast baked with fresh veggies in coconut oil
• we ate dinner outside on our porch, that was a real treat!

9:00pm (post cooking frenzy)

• big ass bowl of fresh fruit salad (blueberries, strawberries, bananas, pineapple)

*Side note: other than a little bit too long between lunch and dinner, today is the first day I really feel satiated…I think the sugar withdrawals are finally calming themselves.

Movement/Exercise/Mobilization while in the box:

Foam rolled EVERYTHING for about 30min.  Then listen to Diners, Drive Ins, And Dives while doing Aadil’s beginning hip series, opening my shoulders with a lacrosse ball, and some other random stretches and mobilizing.  My wife would’ve been proud.  All in total it was about 75min of mobility and rolling around on the floor in the box.  I wish I could make time for this type of mobility everyday!

Sleep:

I did manage to get a solid 3.5 hours of sleep this morning after work and felt great when I woke up.  Usually I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck about five times, so I feel like I earned my sleep points!

Today’s Total: 15 (5 bonus points for having 4 perfect days in a row!)