Last Friday, I had a long drive back from my speaking engagement in Many Farms, Arizona. As always I listened to a variety of podcasts including a few episodes of Freakonomics. Their Save Me From Myself episode really caught my ear, particularly the segment highlighting Adam Scott and his Cold Turkey Diaries, a YouTube series detailing his quest to quit 42 things for 30 days.
The idea really intrigued me. In my 32 years, I’ve developed bad habits. In my eating. In my day to day productivity.
So I posted a message about this on my facebook profile and one of my friends posted me in a slightly different direction. She and her husband spent the month of January doing the Paleo diet, basically a diet designed to go back to eating habits of hunter-gatherer days. Why now? The major arguments in favor? It eliminates processed food from the diet and is also 100% gluten free.
I ordered some books and started reading online, and I’ve decided to do a hybrid of both for the next 40 days.
For many, today marks the beginning of Lent.
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t done much with Lent since I was in middle school, but I thought I’d focus this challenge during this year. Hopefully, by giving up some things, I’ll be able to better focus on the more important aspects of my life.
So here goes…
For the next 40 days, I will:
- Follow the Paleo diet to the best I physically can* (*I have a few days of speaking where I’ll have to buy things on the road and can’t entirely control the way a salad dressing is prepared or the meal served on my red eye flight). This means no dairy, no bread, no candy, no cookies, no popcorn, no alcohol (one exception for the wine tasting night of my Alumni chapter on April 5th.)…
- Only play video games when my fiancé requests to play them. (I’ve given her the percentage completion totals of my games so she can see if I’ve cheated and played more)
- Only watch television with my fiancé or via iTunes during my long flights (exceptions are allowed this weekend so I can catch up to the current episode she has watched)
- Limit my facebook time to no more than 1 hour a day. I need to get on facebook a bit to post links to blogs like this and do some interaction with family and friends (my cousins have a rule that no one can quit facebook as it is our primary method of keeping in touch during our busy lives)
The time I’d normally waste watching tv, playing video games, or checking facebook will be replaced with reading, writing, cooking (the Paleo diet will require a little bit more prep), exercise, and social time with family and friends.
I’m hoping this will allow me to better serve you through these blog entries, through better presentations, and through general better health.
I’ll post once a week with a quick update on how all of this is going.
What can you GIVE UP or DO for the next 40 days?