#35-36: No more soda or artificially sweetened beverages

I became a Diet Cokehead back in college. As a non-coffee drinker, it has become my standard caffeine fix. I have no problem throwing back a can first thing in the morning if I need a jump-start to my day. The crazy thing is, when I first started drinking diet pop, I didn't even like the taste--it was metallic and chemical-ish and weird to me--but I forced myself to get used to it until I grew to tolerate, then even enjoy it. Oh, the things a silly young girl will do to avoid empty calories.

I've seen enough reports out there to know that diet pop is not good for me--the fake sugar can cause our bodies to crave real sugar, giving us the urge to binge later in the day. Not to mention who knows what those lab-created additives are doing; if I drink too much diet pop I end up with a splitting headache. That cannot mean anything good.

While giving up pop, it made sense to also include #35 which is to avoid any artifically sweetened or sugar-filled beverages and stick to 100% fruit juice. I don't drink too much of that stuff except when I am really hung over and craving a truckload of Vitamin Water, but I do enjoy freshly squeezed juice. It also seemed like a good idea because when I eventually find myself fiending for pop at the vending machine, I will not be able to turn to other crap that's not good for me either. So now it's just me and my trusty Nalgene water bottle, a drawerful of green tea, and some serious self control on those hungover mornings.

# 37 - 41: Stop Eating Like Crap

I'm combining all of these steps together because I feel like they all go hand in hand. This is already something I've been doing the last few weeks, and I think this is a great way to keep the ball rolling and maybe get some support/motivation from others.

The frustrating part about it is that I know how to eat well. I've been doing it for years. I recently ended a 3-year stint as a vegetarian, mainly because it was getting harder and harder with my schedule and I lost my resolve. Weaksauce, I know. Nothing makes me happier than a gorgeous Sunday morning at the farmer's market loading my bag with way too many fruits and vegetables that I've never even heard of or will be able to eat in a week before the next market.

But over the last year or so, work, reverse-commuting, skating, singing and grad school have made it almost impossible (in my warped mind, at least) to fit in cooking and food management and still have time with friends and fit in some sleep in there too. Overall, I have always been terrible at self care. And I've started to pay for it in terms of energy level and waist size.

But grad school is over, my commute has gone from over an hour each way to 10 min, and my motivation to get back in shape and be a better skater has finally brought me back around to the kitchen and I couldn't be happier about it.

I think part of the tricky part is not only getting back in the kitchen, but being inspired about it. And also trying to find what works best as a lean yet appropriate diet for one who likes to fancy herself now as an "aspiring athlete". The last few weeks a lot of my inspiration has come from Poppy Spock's blog (she's amazing!), and it's been a great start so far.

So, here goes nothing! Hope some of you will help keep me motivated and honest!

#61. Use Retinol - Taking It On The Road

I successfully remembered to pack my tube of retinol for my ECDX trip, and Zombea nicely reminded me to put it on. I was also nicely reminded that one of my great vanities is looking a lot younger than I am, when Uni asked how old I was again and I said that I'd be forty four in August and the hipster boy who was roadtripping with us musingly said, My dad is forty six...

#61. Use Retinol - Removing Bottlenecks

So if I'm going to wear sunscreen every day, I guess I should actually go to the store and buy a new bottle of moisturizer with sunscreen to replace the bottle than ran out about three weeks ago. Achieving escape velocity from my house requires an unbelievable amount of energy, really it's something of a measure of how much I love skating. And I guess, publicly committing to something dumb.

#61. Use Retinol

For the next 100 days, I'm going to actually put the retinol cream that's in the tube in my bathroom on my face. Yeah. This is going to end world hunger. And it's not even on the list. That's how I roll.

Then I have to be good about sunscreen, don't I. So also I will actually put on sunscreen every day. That's a good thing to do, Kurt Vonnegut said so. Yes, I know it wasn't Kurt Vonnegut.

How This Got Started