If you look at titles, this one probably seems odd- it’s an old indie band I listened to for a while. I’ll get to that in a second.

I’ve made it halfway through the second week of my diet and have discovered that I have very hobbitish qualities. Every time I sit down to have a meal, I do alright. Very yummy, filling and all those good meal-like things. The issue I’m having is that just as I put everything away, store all the goodies. I’m hungry again. Breakfast… 2nd breakfast! Whee!

Which brings me back to the Starflyer reference. The only album of theirs I actually have is called “Can’t Stop Eating”, which is currently my motto. From what I can figure (and from discussing this with a few others), basically my metabolism is asserting itself in the absences of certain foods.

The diet has been keeping me off of starches and complex sugars – which isn’t bad. But what those heavier foods do is give my body something to chew on. By eating only lighter foods for the past week or so, my body processes everything lickety-split and wants more. Instantly. Exercising ridiculously only exacerbates the problem. In fact, I screwed up my sleep schedule pretty bad by napping for several hours a day during the first week: exercise – sleep -eat – sleep – wake up – exercise -sleep – etc… It was pretty boring, let me tell you.

Everything else seems to be going great. I have to cook more, so I’m getting more used to making that part of my daily habits. The energy levels are higher, all that jazz. I’m just hungry all the time.

The second phase of the diet doesn’t add in all that many heavier foods, but there are some. I don’t think I’ve ever looked forward to potatoes and bananas so much before.

Anyway, I just ate dinner about 30 minutes ago, so I’m hungry again. Time to go raid the fridge for some more berries.

It might be apparent from the series of health-related posts from the last year or so that I’ve been really struggling with a lot of diet issues. Fixing these started with switching to a gluten-free diet, which was a huge factor.

However, I’ve been struggling with flagging energy levels and a few other issues even with the gluten-free diet. From what gluten-free friends and family have told me, the first year is a rough one. Your digestive system takes at least 6 months to repair itself from the gluten-poisoning – a mark I passed a few months ago.

The tough spot now is that most of the semi-healthy eating habits I’d developed over the years aren’t compatible with my new diet. Add the fact that over the last few years I’ve really upped my physical conditioning means that I need a lot more healthy food intake than previously.

Enter the latest effort. I’m trying a health diet called the Maker’s Diet. It goes through three phases meant to purge your system of toxins and re-balance insulin and pH levels. Also, it tries to instill good eating habits while the diet is in effect. The eating habits are the big draw for me. Getting rid of toxins – great. Finding ways to get my energy levels back up to normal – much better.

So, off I go. I’m starting to feel the detox effects – which bite. Hungry all the time because I’m trying to fit a health diet into an active dancer’s work habits. When the book mentioned exercise it had a grand total of 30 minutes a day. It also considered meditative breathing exercises as… well, exercise. Don’t think several hours of conditioning, rehearsals and performances count as meditative breathing.

Anyway. Should be all better in another week or so when the next phase kicks in. I can eat a couple more things then!