Monday, July 30, 2012

Food and Money


On August 1 I begin experiments around Food and Money. 

Is it possible to reverse Hashimoto’s Disease (food)?

What are the essential, absolutely necessary reasons to spend money?

Wednesday morning I start the Whole30 program 
This involves eliminating known allergens and suspect allergens (dairy, caffeine, sugar in its many forms, grains and legumes, etc.) and reintroducing them one at a time after August.

I eliminated grains and legumes in August 2010 and most dairy in 2011 so the first difficulty involves giving up my morning cuppa (14 ounces) with heavy cream.  That will get better after a few days.

The real challenge is planning and cooking ahead to make certain I have lunches and dinners.  Breakfast is easy—poached eggs and bacon, ham or leftover meat from dinner. 

Money is trickier.  This month calls for true austerity in order to find out what is really necessary in the budget.  It’s so easy to bullshit myself that for 31 days I must be firm and question every expenditure.

If I were among the millions of people in this country who lost jobs, homes, and more, what would I consider a necessary expense?

I’ve had mixed reactions from the friends I told about this experiment.  Some are excited, “You are doing an inquiry!”  One friend thinks I’m punishing myself.  At least one person took it personally and was hurt.

A friend with whom I have dinner and a long visit monthly immediately agreed to a walk instead.  I’ll already be downtown so I don’t need to drive to meet her.  We shall have our long visit while walking instead of eating.

I learned in the last few years that I require accountability to accomplish my goals, so I will write about these two endeavors on my blog every single day during the month of August.