This week involved a bit more creativity. I bought some gluten-free flours and experimented with banana quinoa-flour muffins and banana bread. Amazed to learn that 3/4 tsp. stevia = 3/4 C. sugar in a recipe, for same amount of sweetness (without the crack-like high nor addiction, however). Banana muffins were slightly overcooked (gluten-free recipes don’t take as long to cook, major bonus!) so were not delicious.

Banana bread was ALMOST good. That’s a high a compliment as I could give it. Unfortunately, without the sugar the dough is not as tasty, so any slight undercooking brings out the flavors of the flour (chick-pea flour stood out, not in a good way). Maybe coconut and rice flours would be better ideas for this bread. I am a bit of a banana bread snob and cannot tolerate odd flavors. It needed more than 2 bananas, too. But it was quite delicious as french toast the next morning, and found a Rice-Pecan gluten-free, sugar-free bread at Rainbow that was also delicious as french toast.

This diet seems to have made me more alcohol-sensitive. Went out on Valentine’s day and was highly intoxicated after just over 3 drinks. Ate half a cliff-bar powerbar in my toxic state (which I knew contained sugar but was the only food around), and proceeded to vomit it all up, so that was a blessing in disguise, at least for the diet, haha. Two drink limit from now-on. Good thing my date was cool and understanding.

Met a woman in her late forties, I’m guessing, mother of two, with beautiful skin, totally healthy, and she said she was just on her first week of gluten-free and sugar-free after the holidays. She said she feels much better, less bloated when she does that. When a beautiful person tells me what they do to stay healthy, I listen Also reference: www.rosecole.com

Anyway…

That reminds me of the most beautiful girl I had ever met. We met at a summer camp in Montana. She had perfect skin and teeth, long, lush dark hair, and was so gorgeous that boys our age would not dare approach her, so she seemed to be alone a lot. I befriended her like a little puppy dog, and one thing she said to me made an impression. I was eating a piece of candy, offered her one, and she refused. She said she only has about 5 pieces of candy a year. A YEAR. Basically, she never ate sugar. I thought that would probably be impossible for me.

So, keeping on with my beauty diet…ha

Also, I’ve been eating Omega-Three eggs and taking fish oil, and no more bumps on the backs of my arms, yay!

First time ever giving up wheat and dairy. I never considered myself to have a “problem” or addiction to these substances but I figure it won’t kill me to find out!

I accidentally had cheese yesterday on day 6. It was in a quiche. The taste of it quite threw me off. It tasted extremely strong, powerful. That was a strange experience. The taste filled up my whole mouth. I actually felt slightly ill after eating it, the taste was really overpowering to anything else in the quiche.

I’m also forced to eat more vegetables in this diet, which I can only imagine is good for me.

Bakeries are out of the question. Whenever you see something that is gluten-free, chances are it is not also sugar-free.

My athlete Isa lost 10 pounds in her first week on this diet, down from 278 to 267. She did not perform quite as well in the 20# weight throw (which requires more counter-balance control) but improved her shot put (which requires jumping ability) to a national-qualifying level for the first time in her career. She also reported having enough energy to get through her Monday classes and was actually complimented by her professor for participating in class (her ear infection is causing her to have to sit up front too, haha).

I have not been keeping track of my weight, but I imagine that I’m not gaining anything and appear to have lost a bit of fat.

The biggest thing I’m noticing is that I never feel “full”. You know, that kind of sick feeling like you can’t possibly eat another bite and you feel kind of uncomfortable. I just don’t feel that way after cutting out bread and dairy and sugar. I just feel satisfied, not yucky. That’s pretty cool.

We’ll see if I can continue to say no to pizza and ice cream for the next 5 weeks…

Princeton research vs. corn industry. HFCS is different than sugar. Do we know why yet? No. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

So, I’m really enjoying my latest experiment. I can’t remember which celebrity in which gossip magazine suggested this, but she’s a winner. Basically, the idea is to keep your teeth white/stain-free by brushing them with a dry toothbrush 3-5 times/day. I’ve always yellower-than-average teeth and have resisted any type of whitening to this point, so figure this is worth a go first.

I had to figure out a practical way to work this into my life, seeing as I’ve only always brushed my teeth exactly once per day, in the evening before bed (I hate the taste of toothpaste right after a nice meal). SO, I decided to lump it with using the restroom. Ideally, I should be using the restroom about 5 times a day so this seems like perfect timing. Plus, a sink nearby with water. Yep.

I’ve been doing this 3 days now and already I think that my teeth are getting whiter. And they feel much more “clean”. Kind of smooth-feeling.

My first day I did cut up my gums quite a bit. Had to get used to the dry brush bristles. But big deal, wounds in the mouth heal 7 times faster anyway. They were perfectly fine the next day.

Side benefits: It’s making me more aware of how many times a day I’m using the restroom. I actually look forward to brushing my teeth often.

Took a picture today on day 3 and will take another picture at day 30 to see how good the improvement is. I feel like they are already 30% whiter than before I started doing this, especially the front teeth!

Side notes: I realized recently how disciplined I was as a child. I never missed a day of brushing my teeth, that I can recall, until I was in my late twenties. I also started this thing when I was probably 8 years old where I would time myself to see how long I would brush my teeth. I had heard that the average person brushes less that 30 seconds and my super-competitive nature felt challenged to brush for at least 2 minutes, so that I could be “above average” at that too That habit has persisted to this day.

I did it!!! Following up a year of writing a poem a day, I have successfully completed 365 days of no shampoo/no conditioner! Thanks to the renegade Paul Makepeace for the inspiration. I might add, much to the skepticsm of almost every person I mentioned it to who has never tried this, and the chagrin of new lovers who suspect I must be some kind of dirty hippie but can’t find the physical evidence.

These are the pictures of the shampoo/conditioner bottles that are still sitting on my shower ledge, bought in September 2010. My last day of shampooing was December 6th, 2010.

So, what are the results, you might ask? Mixed, for now.

Judging from this very recent picture of me, I’d say my hair is doing just fine! A little heavy at the roots, but healthy all the way through to the ends, and looks perfectly grease-less/dry whenever it’s curled or blow-dried.

Just in the past couple of months, however, I have noticed a bit of buildup on my scalp that comes off waxy on the hairbrush and starts to make my scalp itch. My hypothesis is that this is what happens when the hair is not brushed/scrubbed/rinsed with hot water every single day. When I skip a day, the buildup is noticable. It didn’t seem to be as much of an issue when my hair was even 2-3 inches shorter. Or, maybe it’s because it’s been colder and I’ve been wearing more hats lately.

Not only have I not been chemically stripping my hair, but I’ve been growing it out in the past year. I have a TON of hair, so I suppose it makes sense that the longer it gets, the more work it will be to distribute the oils all the way through and prevent yucky buildup.

Me in December 2010, one year ago, with brown hair:

Not sure how much longer I will continue this. My friend Kali Brothers has a great home recipe for a lavendar vinegar shampoo that I might just turn to if I can’t seem to religiously keep my scalp clear over the next couple of months.

It’s no wonder I find myself experimenting on my hair again. It’s a trait of a Leo rising astrological chart to have hair be of high importance to an individual. And by importance, I mean obsession. I am embarassed to admit that both my award-winning sixth grade science fair project (“How Strong is Your Hair?”) and literal last-minute copout high school science fair project (“How Strong is Your Hairspray?”, remember that Beth Lodahl? You should be ashamed too! Wait, aren’t you a hairstylist now?) were hair-centered. My 8th grade shop and history teacher unoffically nominated me for “best hair” for the yearbook, and during college almost-strangers remarked how my ever-changing hairstyles have bettered their lives. If that wasn’t a sign I was hair-obsessed perhaps the small patch of missing hair at the center of my scalp in the 8th grade should have been a sign, well at least it was to me! A trich was born. Friends tried throwing things at me to get me to stop picking at it (hard candy doesn’t work, Gunner!), strangers on airplanes give me unapproving head shakes, it’s a  bad habit.

I kept my hair short, pixie-short mostly, over the past 10 years. Pretty much for 2 factors: I am more efficient when I’m not obsessing over my hair. I can actually get stuff done and don’t spend hours picking at my hair for split ends or styling it, etc. Plus, my forever boyfriend liked my hair short. Thought it suited my face better or whatever. I think he might have secretly wanted me to look like a boy so he could own me, but, whatever. I’m not bitter or anything.

But, to signify an end of that relationship/era, and a return to my more feminine, longer locks, and to please a certain loverboy I fell hard for (ref. paragraph 1), I decided to grow, grow, grow my hair as l0ng as I can stand it. Mom is thrilled, so am I. I had recurring dreams of having beautiful, long, flowing hair when my hair was pixie short, guess that was a clue I really missed my long hair. It was just easier to manage short.

’nuff said for now. Will give another update in a couple of months!

So, I realized after re-reading the eyesight improvement guide I had been “following” for 30 days, that I had made a huge omission in the procedure.

I forgot most of the relaxation practice of the eyes, including taking 3 days off for every 4 days on.

It’s fitting that I should make this error. As I went along the experiment, I began feeling some strain as I looked into the distance without glasses/contacts. My instinct was to relax the vision rather than stain further, which seemed to produce a slightly more clear image. However, I became focused on the fact that straining meant I was somehow “exercising” the eyes and that would make them better, so I really focused more on the exercising than the relaxing drills.

Re-reading the document, more focus seems to be placed on RELAXING the eyes rather than EXERCISING the eyes, the premise being that the eyes under strain is what caused the poor vision to begin with.

This actually makes sense to me, and OF COURSE I wouldn’t focus on the relaxation piece. This reminds me of when I began taking yoga classes mid-way through college. I went into the classes with the mindset of “I”m gonna stretch farther, harder, and better than everyone in here, and withstand more pain.” What I learned over the next eight years was the importance of balancing effort with relaxation in order to produce long-lasting results and a healthy body.

Thanks to my friend Ajit for passing on this link to Sri Aurobindo’s eyesight improvement program. I am going to develop a kind of hybrid of these two and give it another go I’m especially looking forward to eyes closed solarization move!

http://www.collaboration.org/centers/bureaucentral/Departments/eye_clinic.htm

The eyes have been tested and…

NO IMPROVEMENT

Science sucks, haha. :-p

Contacts are back in today. I can see clearly now…

My 30-day experiment has unfortunately countered the claims put forth in this document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4958881/Eye-Exercises-to-Natural-Vision-Correction-FREE

Not only did I not get a 1 point vision improvement per week, I got NO points improvement in 4 weeks.

So what did I learn?

• Improving eye muscle function by doing 10-15 minutes of eye exercises per day does not seem to have any impact on the vision over 30 days
• Not wearing corrective lenses does not contribute to eyes developing stronger vision on their own over 30 days
• Sharper vision gives more details of objects, therefore more to scrutinize for an over-analytical person. I found that my self-scrutiny decreased and my confidence in public generally increased when not correcting my vision. There may be some times in the future when I will purposefully not wear my contacts/glasses for this reason.
• I am even skeptical that focusing exercises will work now, given my zero improvement overall, when many of the 30 days were done with focus exercises that caused eye watering & tension headaches.

Time to start saving for laser eye surgery

Day 28: Did my exercises.
Day 29: No exercises.
Day 30: Flopped into bed after an exhausting 16 hours of work, mostly having to have worn my old full-prescription glasses (which did give me headaches!).

Today is the big day, my eye test is at 9:30am. I will find out if these darned eye exercises actually improved my vision or not! Did my eye routine one last time this morning, for good measure.

Day 26: Pretty sure I didn’t even do my eye exercises. I meant to, while lying in bed close to midnight, but went to sleep instead. Day 26 was a Monday, a start of a new daily routine for the fall which involved more work and it threw me off my priorities.

Day 27: With all the detailed computer work, reading, and cell-phone facebook/twitter/blogging/note-taking I like to do, my eyes feel doomed. Obviously I haven’t instituted my focus breaks yet. New plan: tomorrow, set phone timer to go off every thirty minutes while on my laptop to stop and do far focus exercises.

This could be my last hope!

I am excited for this experiment to be over in 5 days. The last 4 days I’ve been holed-up sick at home, with little energy nor motivation, and I feel like I’m making backward progress.

Mostly I’ve been working and playing on my laptop for 4 days, and my eyesight seems to have gotten worse when trying to focus on distant objects. The most useful focus exercises (and most frustrating) I have found to be going to a bookstore, grocery, or, today, going to a flea market and trying to find small items when you’re not even sure they exist. This is really trying on unfocused eyes and creates a tension headache within minutes.

If I were to continue (or re-do) this experiment, I would say that one should spend at least 15-30 minutes a day in such an environment to really exercise the eyes fully. It really sucks so it probably helps. And it probably should be woven into computer time usage on top of that, like focusing on distant objects for 1 minute for every 30 minutes on the computer, or something like that.

Will I dedicate myself to doing this over the next 5 days, for the sake of science?

Ug. I’ll try. My eye appointment is on Saturday and I’d love to tell my eye doctor my eyesight has improved because I am not wearing glasses/contacts anymore!