I’ve been having a food epiphany. New things are happening in my brain.

Somebody asked about Eat Stop Eat. I didn’t do any fasting during my 6 weeks of Red Carpet Ready. That's totally not what the program is about. On the contrary, the nutrition recommendations are pretty Zone-like with an emphasis on small frequent meals and not getting too hungry. But reading and trying ESE a few months ago definitely gave me a new perspective on nutrition, meal timing, and my kooky fixation with food. Brad Pilon talks about “obsessive compulsive eating." Well, I could have been the OCE poster child with my clock-watching, software-tracking, freak monkey food journaling. I used to think about food every waking moment. If I missed lunch or I didn’t ingest 20g of protein every 2 hours, I just knew I was going to lose muscle, wreck my metabolism, turn to flab, and possibly trigger an apocalypse.

After I read some research on intermittent fasting and gave it a try (only out of morbid curiosity) I realized that what happens if you don’t eat for 24 hours is… nothing. No muscle loss or metabolism wreckage, no fire and brimstone, no horsemen or frogs falling from the sky. You feel weirdly energetic and you create a big calorie deficit. And as long as you’re strength training, you stay quite buff, thank you.

Still, the two programs don't exactly compliment each other. I think you'd want to be lifting heavier than RCR if you fast. But fasting taught me to really enjoy and appreciate eating, and to be more open-minded and willing to try different approaches. So, when I read the nutrition portion of Red Carpet Ready, I was more relaxed about food in general. I didn’t come unscrewed over the smaller serving suggestions or the fact that RCR doesn’t have you choking down giant amounts of protein at every feeding. I really LOVE that it lets you have a bowl of high-fiber cereal for breakfast, and that you can make a perfectly acceptable snack out of yogurt and berries, or a piece of cheese and a pear. You don’t need to gag down a chewy metallic protein bar or a bunch of bland cottage cheese to “balance” things.

A typical day of eating was: 

Pre-workout shake with a banana or frozen berries.

Bowl of cereal with soy milk, raisins and flaxseeds 

Hickory chicken with barbecue sauce, plus broccoli and carrots dipped in honey mustard dressing, plus a couple of cantaloupe wedges 

Piece of cheese and a pear

Turkey burger with cheese and ketchup (no bun), corn on the cob, salad

Celery and peanut butter

So, it’s probably not a ton of calories (I didn't count), but it was plenty satisfying. I wasn’t hungry. I wasn’t bored. I didn’t feel deprived.

Another weird thing that has happened to me lately is that my formerly insane free meals have become sane. The "food as entertainment and reward" thing is is kind of fizzling for me. That rascal Eckhart Tolle and his Zen-like emphasis on mindfulness and presence may have taken some of the thrill out of numbing myself with M&Ms. I still eat food that I love and I still swoon, but when I want a treat, I'll have a single-serving Ben & Jerry's ice cream instead of a pint. I'll eat a couple of Taco Bell tacos (150 cals each) instead of a thousand-calorie spread. I'll get a plain hamburger and small fries instead of a double bacon cheese whompin' jumbo fries combo meal. I'll eat five or six Hershey's Kisses instead of 127 of them. It's weird! I don't know if it's permanent or if it's some kind of phase I'm going through. Might be "maturity" I think they call it. :-P

This week I bought the new Body for Life books. I got Strength for Life by Bill's brother, Shawn Phillips, which is a guide to week 13 and beyond, and Champion's Body for Life by Art Carey, which is supposed to be the updated guide to Body for Life. Since BFL is about 10 years old, it's time for an update. I'm scared though! Who knows what they've done to it. I'm eager to check out both books and I'll be sure to review. Has anybody read them yet? Any thoughts?