Days 11, 12, & 13 - A Big Blur

Well, we haven't exactly failed at the diet, but we haven't totally succeeded either. Our schedules have been so hectic for the past few days that we haven't had time to cook and have been relying on takeout. We've attempted to be as healthy as possible with it...maple turkey burgers with sweet potato fries instead of bacon cheeseburgers with regular fries, for example. But still. It's probably not what Martha would have wanted.

In terms of the restrictions, we gained dairy back on Thursday, eggs back on Friday, and soy back today so we're almost normal again, foodwise. This diet confirmed my single apparent food allergy (or intolerance, technically it's not an allergy according to my research). Eggs. I'm fine with eggs as ingredients in baked goods, even quiches and other dishes where eggs are the main focus. But give me a poached or boiled egg by itself and I will have a killer stomachache 2-4 hours later. This is not something I've dealt with my whole life, it developed over the past few years. And it sucks, because I love eggs! Over-easy, sunny-side up, scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, on toast...you name it, if it's an egg I want to eat it. And now I can't. Lame.

But back to the big challenge. The one major thing we're still lacking (aside from processed food, which as Martha says we should probably just keep out of our diets for good) is caffeine. And it's a huge lack. Part of the reason our schedules have been so crazy for the past few days is because we can't rely on caffeine to tame them. Because you know how the experts always say things like, "everyone needs a different amount of sleep; you should find the number of hours that's right for you"? Well it turns out that if there's no caffeine in my life, the right number of hours for me is 9. Nine!

If that doesn't seem crazy to you, here are some quick calculations to show you why it is. Let's assume there are 24 hours in a day.

9 hours of sleep +

9 hours at work +

2 hours getting ready for work/traveling to and from work (we have a 20-minute commute) +

2 hours cooking dinner, eating dinner, doing dishes, sorting the mail, feeding the animals, etc.

= 22 hours

That leaves exactly two hours of free time in which to do fun things just because I like them. Oh, and to do my second job, and clean the house, and do homework (that one's for Matt), and do any other major chores that need doing. This is not ok! I can totally see why most people only sleep 6-7 hours and then drink a ton of coffee. If you can shave two hours off your sleeping time, that doubles the amount of time left for enjoying life! So, much as I've loved getting nine hours of sleep every night for the past week...I think tomorrow we'll be buying some coffee. Hold the sugar and half n' half but give me extra caffeine, please.