I continued working on my Twitter paper today, all day, and was pleased by evening that I’d managed to get so much of it done, despite being hungry from initiating a juice feast (well, more of a fast in my case. I just can’t be bothered to do all that juicing!) When you write a paper, I guess once you have read a certain amount and have a clear idea of what you want to convey, you can make the words just fly off the keyboard.

Actually hunger didn’t hit me until later in the day, after the dog took me on yet another run, this one even longer and more vigorous than yesterday. Yet today I refused the call to eat good old Italian, even while watching my roommates consume their huge plates of home-cooked pasta with loads of veggies (cooked, mind). It didn’t bother me, actually, as I honestly felt satiated (yes!) and not guilty (yes, yes! mental progress, too!) from yesterday’s “slip.”

In any case, the intense hunger I felt after being run by the dog (yes, this phrasing is truly more appropriate), although warranted by having not eaten anything, got me thinking about an article I’d read in TIME magazine a week or so ago. The cover showed a happy woman jogging away on the treadmill visualizing a cupcake (never one of my personal temptations, it must be said), and the article inside explained why most people cannot loose weight through exercise alone. The reason is simply that exercise increases our hunger, and however much willpower a person has, hunger always wins. Of course, the article did not advise exercise cessation, but rather said that we should focus on our food for real results. So, THAT’s why I ate the pizza yesterday, after all the exercise! (haha)

Umm, that would not explain today, however. Well, yes, it could partly explain my extreme hunger, but why did I not give in and eat something tasty and naughty today? Well, it could be because nothing was offered. (It was in yesterday’s case.) Seriously though, I think the reason was simply that I was mindful all day of my food consumption (or lack of it, rather, today); I made a decision to eat (not eat) a certain way throughout the whole day, and I stuck to it. Easy peasy. And I think this, perhaps, is the key to changing our eating habits, or any habit in fact: conscious mindfulness and concrete decisions and affirmations. It is, in fact, how I quit smoking. I started by telling myself every day, “I do not smoke anymore, and am so happy because of it.” If the temptation grabbed me, I would shake it loose, telling myself, “You’re doing so well. You feel so good, both mentally and physically, because you’re refusing that cigarette.” Yep, everything IS indeed in our heads.

Today I had:

juiced apples with water and psyllium husk powder X 4
green powder and water X 3

I’m writing this post after the fact, since I was distracted by a paper I started writing on Twitter. Suddenly I got an idea for a paper, and just had to start while it was all in my head. Unfortunately, I forgot to shop for food as I was so preoccupied. I consumed everything left in the fridge (somehow made some tasty tidbits) but then after a huge workout doing up and down park stairs with the dog, my roommate was in the middle of ordering pizza and asked me if I wanted anything. Ohhh boy….

So yep, I had and enjoyed a small, cheese-free pizza for the second time this month. Sure, I could have done worse, and yes, it was absolutely delicious. The fact remains, however, that I mostly cooked food today. Oh well.

Today I ate:

green smoothie
sauerkraut, zucchini, and natto nori rolls (actually quite amazing!)
Salvatore’s garlic tomato pizza

It’s been a lazy Sunday for the residents of 5-401 in Hachioji. The day consisted of sleeping in, green smoothies and a yummy raw brunch (in which even non raw roomies partook), dog-walking, TV, a movie (What Happened in VEGAS), reading, and blogging. Nope, I did no work today, and even managed to enjoy some time outside as the humidity seems to be backing off a tad.

Today I ate:

green smoothie
lemon juice with honey
banana ice cream with cacao and walnuts
nori rolls with tahini, spinach, zucchini, and ….sauerkraut!
natto
chestnuts
OJ (w/ a dash of vodka)

I did indeed have a few chestnuts today, but otherwise I ate pretty raw. I sat most of the day in front of the computer again, though, troubleshooting this and that. I do love computers and all the goodies that come with them. They do suck time, though!

Today I ate:

green smoothie
banana ice cream
raisins
green salad with avocado
chestnuts
nori rolled cucumber, spinach, zucchini, and curried carrot paste
red wine

Today I spent pretty much the whole day investigating a new web hosting possibility. There were a lot of free how to videos that sucked up my time, the rest of which was taken doing some work prep for school and DAZAI translation project (Good Lord! Will it ever finish? Yes, actually, I think it has now… The re-editing was very time-consuming, as missed mistakes were found!)

Today I ate:

green smoothie
watermelon
natto
chestnuts
green salad with avocado and walnuts
red wine
sea salted corn ships (finally the bag is empty; I wish my roommates had finished it off earier!)

After meeting to work with my colleague at Tully’s to finish off our film translation, I headed into Shibuya today, to the Pink Cow, to watch a presentation by an acquaintance who runs a great online service called TokyoTopia. The Pink Cow has lots of yummy vegan food, but alas, it’s cooked, and yes, I ate it! She gave us regular blogging folk some ideas on improving our sites. Much needed by yours truly, as I doubt that many people check out my sites on a regular basis.

Today I ate:

leftover green smoothie (yuk- much better fresh!)
watermelon
pumpkin (cooked) with hot raw miso soup (so so)
coffee at Tully’s with soy milk (naughty!)
green salad
vegen meal (tried to limit myself to mostly raw pickings) at the Pink Cow

Walking the dog today, Yukiko and I were attacked by a couple of high-on-sugar pre-teens who were keen to take control of Leo. Yukiko handed over the leash in hopes that they’d take the dog for a run, but a) Leo was going nowhere without Yukiko and b) we both forgot how rough kids can be with animals. It’s hard to tell a kid that isn’t yours how to behave. It requiring a foreign language on my part while Yukiko bought food didn’t help matters. I was hoping to have a peaceful walk with Yukiko and introduce her around the mall before I headed into a cafe to do some computer work, but the kids did not leave, so our plans had to change somewhat. Yukiko and Leo went home (kids in toe) and I went right to work, so to speak.

Today I had:

green smoothie
papaya
natto
coffee
green salad
tomato sauce and zucchini noodles
raw chocolate
cinnamon almond date balls