Jericho: Day 22, 493 pounds, no acids

So, I got to weigh myself last Tuesday and I was down to 496.8. Today, the scale was hovering around 492.8, then .9 - easier to just say 493. Either way it's day 22, the beginning of week 4 and I'm nearly 20 pounds down.

280 pounds to go ...

Okay, it's crazy to discount what I've done so far by comparing it to the (huge!) overall goal. But, it's hard to be too wild about what I've done when I compare it to how far I have to go. Today, Steph asked me if I was excited? I told her I would be excited when I got to 400 pounds. I'm happy with my progress so far, I'm not about to give up, but I've got a long way to go. Excitement is hard to come by.

I'm reading Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever - by Ray Kurzweil & Terry Grossman. Max and Laura purchased this book for me as encouragement after a failed diet attempt a year or so ago - if I remember correct. Ray Kurzweil should ring a bell for long time IWDC readers, I was quite impressed with his The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology and commented on it here on the site. The basic idea of Singularity is that technological progress is increasing and that we will see incredible results as the next two or three decades pass. The basic premise behind Voyage is that if we shape up our health, we'll all be around to reap the rewards of the coming technological evolutions. And, if they are right, near immortality is just around the corner - just have to live long enough for technology to do its work.

So, the book has been good so far - but it's scaring the hell out of me. Some of the information isn't new, some info is presented in a much more detailed fashion - the rest is brand new info. For example, within the first fifty pages, I was cringing. They brought up the subject of drinking cola. I immediately thought they were going to go off on the sugar - the "candy in a can" aspect or maybe the caffeine. Neither came up. They went off on the acid. Acid!

Colas, diet or regular, are far more acidic than anything we would have eaten in a natural diet. Without getting too technical, (the book does a marvelous job of being techie and then explaining in English) if one were to drink a cola and the body did nothing to neutralize the acid, the acid level in your body would be increased 1000 times and you would be instantly killed! Your body does neutralize the acid in cola, but what it uses to do that task is then not available to handle other acids your body naturally produces. These acids stack up and cause damage - such as cancer. Cancer. And we thought we were doing ourselves a favor drinking caffeine-free diet colas!

I'm nearly on page 100, and the roller coaster is just getting up to speed. I'm drinking almost no sodas or any kind and I'm about to give up just about all animal products and become a vegetarian! Me - the consummate carnivore - a rabbit food only vegi-head.

*Sips water* *Eats broccoli floret* *Sighs*

The only animal protein the book recommends is wild salmon. I had some the other night at a restaurant. Good stuff! It wasn't a steak - but in some ways it was better. I'm in the right part of the world for fresh salmon. Of course, last night I made beer-can chickens! That's right, I burned fossil fuels to char a bird with a can of cheap beer shoved up it's ass. It was excellent! I get to finish the left-overs tonight - now that's something I can get excited about!

I think the cap to my SoBe diet green tea said it best. In large green letters on the underside of the cap are the words "diets suck!" - I have the cap prominently displayed on my desk.