Emiko: Day 90, A Peek Back At Day 1

OH MY GOSH IT'S DAY 90!!! I cannot believe that this Project is officially over. Congratulations Tim, Amy, Nate, and Adrian and meee! BIG big thanks to Patrick and Chen for guiding us along through the process. WOW!

Patrick had mentioned once in an email, "Tell yourself that after your 90 days you can eat all the stuff you want for the rest of your life.  But not now.  (The magic is of course that after 90 days you have little inclination to eat all the stuff you want)." At the time I felt like this was a lie, because at the time all I could think about was how much I craved all the yummy food I used to eat.

Today Adrian and I decided to celebrate by eating out for lunch and dinner, and overall it was really tasty. We shared a turkey sandwich and spinach salad for lunch. The sandwich was awesome, and the salad would have been too if it weren't drenched in vinaigrette. For dinner we had curry and naan, and even a little ice cream for dessert (left-over from our first PCP indulgence). We went kind of crazy, but it is nice to have that freedom. But we also know now that many prepared meals are not as healthy as they should be, and don't agree with our stomachs anymore. We decided to eat out only every so often, and to get quality meals when we do. Mostly we will probably be eating what we have been eating, but without weighing it all on the kitchen scale. Well, maybe sometimes :)

Our special assignment for our last day was to go back to square one, and go through an old work-out routine from the first couple of weeks. I decided to go back to Day 1. I did 688 jump-ropes just like my first night. I also did 5x20 squats, 4x8 push-ups, and 4x15 crunches. The jump-ropes and crunches both felt pretty good, and gave me the same burn that they do nowadays as they are incorporated in our current work-outs. But the push-ups were SO EASY! Doing them on the floor – as opposed to elevating our feet like we do now – made the movement feel wimpy. I used to really struggle to do push-ups, especially at the beginning. Getting through them with such ease tonight was a little way of showing myself how far I've come.

Like Adrian, I plan to write a little more and to post some photos of my new muscles! But that will probably be in a couple days, I need to recover from all that curry...!

Emiko: Day 50, Ooey Gooey Guilty Nachos

Yesterday Adrian and I had indulgence #2. This time we were allowed a bigger indulgence, more like a small meal. Something that we really wanted. Before I knew about this, I had planned to use my normal allowance of carbs during lunch time and make a grilled peanutbutter sandwich with honey and banana slices. But then Adrian mentioned that he wanted Mexican food, and I remembered how much I loved the nachos they make at El Burrito Express in San Francisco.

El Burrito Express is the main Mexican restaurant my family used to go to when I was growing up. The nachos are simple: homemade tortilla chips, refried beans, lots of melty cheese, and some cool guacamole on top. We would always order big burritos individually, and have a plate of nachos to share as an appetizer. This 'sharing' was often a lie. Usually my mom and I would eat most of the nachos on the car ride home.

I was really excited about eating these nachos, especially because I just miss cheese in general. I have had almost no cheese since beginning the PCP. Upon receiving my order of nachos, I was surprised at just how much cheese there was. Had they always been this cheesy? The amount of cheddar on those nachos was a little gross, but my mouth watered anyway and I dug in. I felt guilty from the beginning, which made it less enjoyable. I couldn't really eat it all at once, but finished them by the end of the evening. Initially, I felt fine except for a some heaviness in my belly and a slight drowsiness. Later, after more nachos, I felt even more heavy but still had some energy to practice Parkour with Adrian. I did get a little gas, though. When finally finishing the nachos, I reflected on my past.

A few years ago when I was still living at home, I could eat a whole plate of these by myself and feel happy. Now, I can still enjoy their taste but in retrospect they didn't seem worth it. I can see why these indulgences are important. They are like little PCP experiments. Like Nate says, they are mostly "for the sake of science." We learn through each experience how a certain kind of food will affect our bodies.

By the end of yesterday evening, I was feeling pretty bloated. When I woke up the next morning it was the same, and I've been bloated all day. The bloatedness and the mild gas stayed with me. The gas may also be because of addition egg whites in my new diet. I felt uncomfortable a lot of the time. Thinking about nachos now, I'm not tempted at all. Perhaps the peanutbutter sammich would have been better. Well, I'll 'experiment' with that one next time.

Adrian: Day 50, Quesadilla fun

We went to San Francisco yesterday and ended up getting Mexican food for our indulgences. I ordered a grilled chicken quesadilla at Gordo's. They make my all-time favorite quesadillas. Flaky, creamy, oily, tender-chicken goodness. Emiko got Nachos with guacamole, beans, cheese and sour cream from El Burrito Express.

The quesadilla was delicious and I had a warm, happy, sedated feeling while eating it. I didn't feel full afterward, but 20 minutes later my stomach felt heavy and I was nauseous for a couple minutes. It was great, but I don't feel like I'm missing much by not eating there regularly anymore. It was like going to an amusement park. Exciting, but overstimulating and a little sickening.

A little bit later, we went to an elementary school near my parent's house and we practiced some parkour moves on the playground. I was able to scale a 9 foot wall, it was pretty sweet.

We spent the night over at my parent's house and we didn't have an internet connection, so we couldn't post an entry. There was a party of sorts going on at the house, and we were a little regretful that we had to eat egg whites while everyone else was getting their grub on, but the mexican food was worth it. Everyone asked questions about the PCP, but I got nervous trying to explain and the answers didn't quite come out right. Now I understand why Patrick sent us that PCP-quiz...

Adrian & Emiko: Day 26, Indulgence Time!

Before we describe the delectable indulgence we had today, we're going to briefly summarize just what it is that we've been eating for these past 26 days, for those of you who are just now tuning into the wonderful world of PCP.

Basically, we started the project by cutting all our food intake by 50%, and surprisingly, we found that we weren't hungry after eating only half of what we usually eat. For the next phase of the project, we were given very specific diets, which were very high in vegetables, fruit and hard-boiled eggs. For those naysayers out there who think that we aren't living by restricting ourselves to a strict diet regimen, you are mostly wrong. Actually, since starting this project, we've learned how to improvise a variety of new, homemade dishes. Whereas we used to just make sandwiches and eat out most of the time. But we do get a sort of break from the diet once a month or so, and this week was the first such opportunity to indulge.

Lately, we have been craving both chocolate & ice cream, but we've been unable to decide which to have for our indulgence. We have a couple pints of Haagen-Dazs ice cream (purchased prior to PCP) which have been taunting us whenever we open the freezer. One flavor in particular has been teasing us seductively - Vanilla Honey Bee. Adrian describes the taste as 'creamy delight'. The problem is, the temperature around here has suddenly dropped by about 40 degrees, so ice cream hasn't been as attractive.

So Adrian came up with the idea to combine chocolate and ice cream! We bought a brownie from the bakery at the corner of our street, nuked it for 30 seconds in the microwave, and split the then warm and gooey square in half. As a bonus, the frosting on the brownie melted to a liquid, and acted as a hot fudge. We topped it with 1/2 cup of ice cream each and voila! Brownie sundae delight.

It looked really freaking delicious.

The first few bites were awesome, and we both felt really happy with our choice of indulgence. But after a minute, our throats began to burn because the brownie frosting was so incredibly sweet. That took the fun out of the brownie part, although the Vanilla Honey Bee stayed delicious the whole way through.

The sugar definitely affected us though, Emiko got aura (usually the first stage in migraine headaches, which she used to get often) and Adrian got really hyper and giggly. He even faked a sugar-induced heart-attack which involved kicking off his shoes and attempting to revive his heart by massaging his chest.

Emiko: Day 25, A Day in the Life Of My Tummy

Tonight my coworker Lauren said that she wondered what a PCP diet looks like compared to hers or a more average diet, and I realized that I have not posted anything about my daily eats in a while. Also, in the past I have used grams to explain my portions, but here I will try to make it a little more understandable for those who don't weigh all of their meals on a scale!

So, here we are! Today's Food:

Breakfast:
-A full bowl of whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk
-A medium-sized plate of broccoli (with a portion about as big as my hand if I held it over the plate)
-1 whole hard-boiled egg (side-note: Ma, those special-colored eggs are DELICIOUS)

Morning Snack:
-1/3 of a nectarine

Lunch:
-1 home-made (by my lovely BF & BFF Adrian!) turkey patty made with lean turkey, NF yogurt, green onions, cayenne pepper, whole-wheat bread and garlic.
-1 whole-wheat tortilla
-1/2 of an avocado
-3/4 of a tomato

Afternoon Snack:
-Tiny bowl of granola with a little LF milk
-Should have had some fruit (as much as morning snack) but forgot! Woops.

Dinner:
-16oz smoothie made with 1 banana, 3/4 of an apple, a dash of milk and some ice.

Evening Snack:
-1 hard-boiled egg (white only) sprinked with pepper
-A handful of broccoli


So, I think you will see that I truly am eating a lot of food, but that it is very low in fat, consists of almost no sugar (except the granola, and maybe a smidge of honey in the cereal), or empty calories. Carbohydrates are almost always something whole-wheat or whole-grain. We eat lots of stuff that comes right from the earth or from animals, such as fruit, eggs, veggies, beans, milk, meat, etc.

So there you have it! A random daily run-down of what goes into my body. Maybe I'll make more of an effort to post what I am eating every now and again.


Also, I still haven't decided what to indulge in this week! Patrick told us that we can have something non-PCP, as long as it is in moderation (equal to or less than 400 calories), but I don't know what I want yet! I am thinking it will be chocolatey, but I'd really like some suggestions if you've got any (go CRAZY...I wanna hear it!).

Thanks all! Can't wait to hear what you suggest. Good night.