Eat to Live - Checkpoint #1

1 week into the "Eat to Live" plan and I'm doing very well. Green smoothies for breakfast are great, and I'm having to split some with my wife and my youngest daughter, which is great. We've mixed up our greens quite a bit, and have with sweet (carrot juice, acai juice, etc.) and just water. Some are more challenging than others, but overall it's the quickest, most convenient meal of the day, even after running and working out in the morning.

Lunch is easy. Just a big salad with either chopped veggies or some chopped fruit (pears, apples, organic strawberries). I've used my normal dressing, and tried some fat-free ones as well. It's all good.

Dinner is the same. Big salad with more veggies, some black beans, some nuts and seeds, and on occasion a nice slice of whole-grain bread.

I feel great! My runs in the morning are fine, even the harder effort ones. I begin my half-marathon training program in 1 week, so there we'll really test it. I can't say that I've lost a lot of weight (like my sister and mom have), but I do feel very clean, I have zero digestion issues, I sleep better than ever, like a baby. And for me, sleep has always been tough, so I'm enjoying this restful time. And to think of it, I'm never hungry, even with just these three meals. They are very nutrition dense, even though they are fairly low calorie. That's Dr. Fuhrman's equation: H = N/C. Health = Nutrition/Calories. Which translates to "Pick the foods with the highest nutrition density per calorie". And those are ... drum roll ... fresh vegetables and fruits!

On the family front, my mom, little sister, and nephew (as well as my wife!) have joined in as well. We all feel great, better than in a long time. My wife is just completing the SF Marathon (2nd half - 13.1 mi), and she's done it without the mass carbo loading we usually do, just smoothies, salads, etc. And she's doing fine, although she just texted me, "Done. I want a beer and a hamburger!". I told her to get a beer and veggie burger. :)

Sundays will be checkpoint days on the blog, so stay tuned for more...