OK. So today (and by today I mean 3 days ago) we got our start in beautiful Girona. Our goal was to head east to the coast, to the small town of Llanca, though with a brief stopover in Figueres for lunch. Total ride ended up being 42 miles, though that doesn't count ups and downs.
Overall the day was pretty straightforward. Lots of hills to climb and fly down. Dan got a flat in his rear tire... did I mention we only have a hand pump, so we can't get our PSI higher than like 60, even though the tubes should be at like 110. So we're a bit prone to flats... esp flying downhill at 30 mph (which still freaks me out given that's how I broke my collarbone; I try to go slower but with the extra weight in the panniers that makes it tough).
Highlights of the trip include a crashed beer truck (beer all over the road!), a motorcycle wipe-out (the woman looked more or less ok, tho definitely needed to be seen at a hospital), and hail and rain. Oh yeah, and a plethora of lot lizards (hookers). They were all young, tan, hot, and hanging out in random rural locations on the side of the road. And they were all wearing white. Looking back, I wish I'd gotten my picture with one. Had I paid one, it would probably have been the cleanest 5 euros she'd earn that day.
Lunch in Figueres was alright... I had sangria and the patatas bravas were the best we've had on the trip. The town itself wasn't anything special. Leaving Figueres was when it started raining and hailing... that kinda sucked since we had hills to cross to Llanca. But it didn't last long, and it made the vistas look freaking gorgeous. Some day when I can find a USB port I'll upload the pics to prove it.
We got to Llanca in the late afternoon... not a very exciting town, by any means. We've decided it's a weekend resort town for the locals... which means Mondays are dead days. We found a random 3-star hotel to stay in, that had a very institutional look and feel to it. I'm talking 60s green tile kind of feel. In fact, it was borderline creepy, to the point that we dubbed it the death hostel, and blocked the door with the chair and bungeed shut the closet door in case that's how they were going to come in to murder us.
We grabbed dinner at this place right on the Med... the food was ok... we had the town's speciality of anchovies... I tried one and it was predictably nasty, tho Dan loved it. We also got a bunch of whole shrimp, which Dan taught me to dismember and eat. Blecccch. We then tried to find this Pirate bar we'd seen earlier (Llanca used to be plagued by pirates... what a world), but it was closed. :( So instead we hung out at the square in front of the cathedral and drank sangria and beer, and debated global politics, economic policy, and various erudite topics. I had a half liter of sangria that I swear was more brandy than wine. It was awesome, but I was so trashed at the end... I've got video of me trying to break into our death hostel room that fans of my drunkeness will love.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
CEBToD: Girona
I needed a separate post for Girona because it´s one of the best cities I´ve been to in the world. This place is BEAUTIFUL... lots of great pedestrian walks, lots of hills, a city wall... it´s old, and well-preserved, and just super-fun to explore. Dan and I spent hours wandering around the city, and the ruins of the Roman fort, and took a thousand pix that I´ll post whenever the USB thing gets working.
We had a great meal of Basque tapas, including monkfish (lobster-like, ugly-ass bottom-feeder), patatas bravas, some cod, and some chorizo. Jamon... I swear to god I´ll be eating it 3 times/day in this country. I had a glass of super-fermented cider... and I´m being generous calling it a glass, because it was like a third of a glass... we guessed because it was so fermented (though not that strong with alcohol).
Anyways... enjoy the pics whenever I get them posted. =D
We had a great meal of Basque tapas, including monkfish (lobster-like, ugly-ass bottom-feeder), patatas bravas, some cod, and some chorizo. Jamon... I swear to god I´ll be eating it 3 times/day in this country. I had a glass of super-fermented cider... and I´m being generous calling it a glass, because it was like a third of a glass... we guessed because it was so fermented (though not that strong with alcohol).
Anyways... enjoy the pics whenever I get them posted. =D
CEBToD: Day 1
Hoo boy. What a day. I think I speak for my entire body (and nerves) when I say: biking is haaaaaaaaaard.
We started out in the morning with a delicious breakfast of lots of jamon. Dear god, the Spaniards love their jamon!!! Both Dan and I woke up in the middle of the night and had a hard time sleeping after that, so we got like an effective 6 hrs of sleep. So we were a little exhausted, but excited to get going. We ended up leaving our bike boxes, the handlebar bag I´d bought, and a bunch of random crap in the room, in an effort to lighten our loads. Poor hotel staff... and poor Dan´s credit card for the charges they´ll likely slap him. ehhehehe.
We loaded up the bikes with the panniers and trunk bag... OMG were they awkward to ride. There´s so much weight on the back (30 lbs or more) that the front wobbles like crazy when you´re going less than 10 mph. eeeep. But we got moving, and once we were moving you didn´t really notice the weight.
We got out of Barcelona pretty easily (though not without some false turns into dead-ends or randome construction sites), and then rode on the shoulder of a coastal highway for about 30 miles. That part was great... it was pretty, the cars were great about not hitting us, some guy´s engine exploded in front of us at one point, and we kept hydrated and fed. Then we turned inland, headed for our day´s destination at Ginoa.
So. The entire day was 65 miles. That´s a metric century, and ties for the longest ride I´ve ever done. The first 30 miles were fine, and I could have re-done that part pretty easily. Except that´s not what we did... instead we got to do rolling hills for the next 10-15 miles. I have a hard time climbing hills, esp when I´m not trained up for them, and generally not well'rested, and am carrying an additional 35 lbs around my bike. Oh, and it was all along a highway where the speed limit was 100 kph. And there was construction at points, which ate the shoulder. I won´t belabor the point, but let´s just say I was really worn out, cranky, and just generally nervous that the wind or my weakening body would cause me to swerve into the highway and be killed by some random Peugeot. That didnt´happen, thankfully, but I´m really hoping that sort of road won´t be the standard for the rest of the trip.
¿Did I mention Dan and I named our bikes? (haha spanish question marks!) His is named Puig, which is a word all over Catalunya tho we have no idea what it means. Mine´s named Brett Favre (pronounced Fav-ruh, like the French would). Brett´s been treating me real well... he´s a good ride.
So anyways, we finally got to Ginoa around 4ish. Once I can upload my pics and video, I´ll paste one in here explaining my special move when we got here. Let´s just say I did end up injuring myself, in a totally idiotic way.
We started out in the morning with a delicious breakfast of lots of jamon. Dear god, the Spaniards love their jamon!!! Both Dan and I woke up in the middle of the night and had a hard time sleeping after that, so we got like an effective 6 hrs of sleep. So we were a little exhausted, but excited to get going. We ended up leaving our bike boxes, the handlebar bag I´d bought, and a bunch of random crap in the room, in an effort to lighten our loads. Poor hotel staff... and poor Dan´s credit card for the charges they´ll likely slap him. ehhehehe.
We loaded up the bikes with the panniers and trunk bag... OMG were they awkward to ride. There´s so much weight on the back (30 lbs or more) that the front wobbles like crazy when you´re going less than 10 mph. eeeep. But we got moving, and once we were moving you didn´t really notice the weight.
We got out of Barcelona pretty easily (though not without some false turns into dead-ends or randome construction sites), and then rode on the shoulder of a coastal highway for about 30 miles. That part was great... it was pretty, the cars were great about not hitting us, some guy´s engine exploded in front of us at one point, and we kept hydrated and fed. Then we turned inland, headed for our day´s destination at Ginoa.
So. The entire day was 65 miles. That´s a metric century, and ties for the longest ride I´ve ever done. The first 30 miles were fine, and I could have re-done that part pretty easily. Except that´s not what we did... instead we got to do rolling hills for the next 10-15 miles. I have a hard time climbing hills, esp when I´m not trained up for them, and generally not well'rested, and am carrying an additional 35 lbs around my bike. Oh, and it was all along a highway where the speed limit was 100 kph. And there was construction at points, which ate the shoulder. I won´t belabor the point, but let´s just say I was really worn out, cranky, and just generally nervous that the wind or my weakening body would cause me to swerve into the highway and be killed by some random Peugeot. That didnt´happen, thankfully, but I´m really hoping that sort of road won´t be the standard for the rest of the trip.
¿Did I mention Dan and I named our bikes? (haha spanish question marks!) His is named Puig, which is a word all over Catalunya tho we have no idea what it means. Mine´s named Brett Favre (pronounced Fav-ruh, like the French would). Brett´s been treating me real well... he´s a good ride.
So anyways, we finally got to Ginoa around 4ish. Once I can upload my pics and video, I´ll paste one in here explaining my special move when we got here. Let´s just say I did end up injuring myself, in a totally idiotic way.
CEBToD: Day 0
Well. It looks like I made it to Spain alright... It´s actually the beginning of Day 2, but this is the first chance I´ve had to blog since my arrival. I´ll probably just be sneaky like this over the course of the trip, where I´ll just post as if it´s the end of the day in question, even though for all you know it´s been 5 days and it just took the European internets that long to convey my messages to you´re desktops.
Aaaaaaanyways. Dan´s blogging on the trip as well... his blog is here: http://dans-eurotrip.blogspot.com. Check it out... we´ll both be uploading pics and video as we find machines that allow us access to their USB ports.
So Day 0 was pretty straightforward. I almost missed my flight out of Chicago... I slept all of an hour on Thurs night trying to close out all of my open work stuff, and I got all but 2 things finished, which I may try to tackle here in Europe. The flight to Frankfurt went well (ORD was INSANE), as did the flight to BCN. I waited around BCN for 2 hrs for Dan to show up, then finally stepped outside the baggage area to find him standing there waiting for me. He´d apparently come into a diff baggage area and tried to call my Estonian phone, which of course didn´t work. Good job, Estonia!!!
We took a cab to our hotel (cabbie was an ass about our bike boxes), then rebuilt our bikes in our tiny dorm room at the Ibis. Everything seemed ok, except my stupid rear wheel somehow came un-trued... it´s new, so I think that happened during one of the flights. Dóh!!! Oh, haha, look at how Dóh came out... silly Cataluynan keyboards.
We poked around Barcelona for the rest of the day... saw La Sagrada Familia, and walked down La Rambla... we kind of lost ourselves in the back streets, which was a lot of fun. We got some great paella on some random square from a bit of a tourist trap... but that´s ok cause we also polished off a pitcher of sangria between us... yum!!! When we ordered the full liter, the waiter raised his eyebrows, and I was like, that´s right bitch, get these crazy Americans some booze, stat!!!
We were pretty exhausted at that point... I´d slept a few hrs on the plane, but not a full 8 or anything... so we got gelato on the way back and crashed by 10 pm. A nice first day... though I was a little nervous about the actual biking. =P
Aaaaaaanyways. Dan´s blogging on the trip as well... his blog is here: http://dans-eurotrip.blogspot.com. Check it out... we´ll both be uploading pics and video as we find machines that allow us access to their USB ports.
So Day 0 was pretty straightforward. I almost missed my flight out of Chicago... I slept all of an hour on Thurs night trying to close out all of my open work stuff, and I got all but 2 things finished, which I may try to tackle here in Europe. The flight to Frankfurt went well (ORD was INSANE), as did the flight to BCN. I waited around BCN for 2 hrs for Dan to show up, then finally stepped outside the baggage area to find him standing there waiting for me. He´d apparently come into a diff baggage area and tried to call my Estonian phone, which of course didn´t work. Good job, Estonia!!!
We took a cab to our hotel (cabbie was an ass about our bike boxes), then rebuilt our bikes in our tiny dorm room at the Ibis. Everything seemed ok, except my stupid rear wheel somehow came un-trued... it´s new, so I think that happened during one of the flights. Dóh!!! Oh, haha, look at how Dóh came out... silly Cataluynan keyboards.
We poked around Barcelona for the rest of the day... saw La Sagrada Familia, and walked down La Rambla... we kind of lost ourselves in the back streets, which was a lot of fun. We got some great paella on some random square from a bit of a tourist trap... but that´s ok cause we also polished off a pitcher of sangria between us... yum!!! When we ordered the full liter, the waiter raised his eyebrows, and I was like, that´s right bitch, get these crazy Americans some booze, stat!!!
We were pretty exhausted at that point... I´d slept a few hrs on the plane, but not a full 8 or anything... so we got gelato on the way back and crashed by 10 pm. A nice first day... though I was a little nervous about the actual biking. =P
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Crazy European Bike Trip of Death: T-minus 1 day
Why oh why do I do this to myself. I have soooo much to do last minute, and it's all because I procrastinated on it for the last several months. Ok, sure, I was working 60 hr weeks on my last project, and yeah I was in school part-time then as well, and yeah I broke my collarbone 2 months ago... but still.
I'm not going to sleep tonight, I don't think. The good news is that my bike is boxed and I've got all my stuff purchased and laid out for my trip. So I can pretty much load up and head to the airport with 30 mins notice (though I need to stop at Jewel on the way to pick up toiletries and such). But between now and then I have like 40 deliverables due. Dear lord. Wish me luck. If anyone out there in reader-land can stop time, please do so on my behalf... and in a way that positively affects me. =D
Oh... I got new jeans tonight. Awesome stylish dark ones, like I've wanted for months. And I got them at REI. Why would REI sell jeans, you might ask? Good question! It turns out that they are MICROFIBER!!!!! No shit, microfiber jeans. Super comfortable and stylish to boot, and they wick away moisture exactly like denim doesn't. My lifelong quest to never wear macrofibers again is achieving fruition!!!!
I'm not going to sleep tonight, I don't think. The good news is that my bike is boxed and I've got all my stuff purchased and laid out for my trip. So I can pretty much load up and head to the airport with 30 mins notice (though I need to stop at Jewel on the way to pick up toiletries and such). But between now and then I have like 40 deliverables due. Dear lord. Wish me luck. If anyone out there in reader-land can stop time, please do so on my behalf... and in a way that positively affects me. =D
Oh... I got new jeans tonight. Awesome stylish dark ones, like I've wanted for months. And I got them at REI. Why would REI sell jeans, you might ask? Good question! It turns out that they are MICROFIBER!!!!! No shit, microfiber jeans. Super comfortable and stylish to boot, and they wick away moisture exactly like denim doesn't. My lifelong quest to never wear macrofibers again is achieving fruition!!!!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Crazy European Bike Trip of Death: Intro
So. Remember when I broke my collarbone (April 1), lo those many weeks ago (nine, to be exact). Well, if you'll recall, that was my first ride of the season, as I was preparing for what I'm calling my Crazy European Bike Trip of Death.
Were I prepared, I wouldn't be calling it the CEBToD. But the shattering of my clavicle set my training back just a smidge. So here I am, barely in good enough shape to walk to the corner drugstore, let alone bike 900 miles over 3 weeks... and I'm 3 days from my departure.
What is this trip, you ask? Ho ho, let me tell you. Or rather, let me show you. Click here to see a google map of the itinerary that my friend (and trip instigator) Dan has created. We fly into Barcelona on Sat, then on Sunday we start off for Florence, Italy. We're taking 20 days to get there, with ~3 rest days en route. Sounds easy, right? I mean, how hard can it be to bike along the French Riviera in the gorgeous month of June?
Well, France is likely going to be the easy part. The bitch will be crossing the Pyranees to get out of Spain, and crossing the Alps to get into Italy. Hannibal had elephants; alls I've got is this dinky bike. But I shall persevere... I keep telling myself that if I can survive to day 5, it'll all be ok.
Dan says not to worry, that I'll be fine. Did I mention that 2 summers ago he biked 5000 miles from San Fran to DC? Oh, yeah, he did. Raise your hand if you think he might be a little more prepared for this than I am. Yeah, I thought so. It's unanimous.
In reality, I'm bitching, but I'm not really serious. I am seriously nervous about getting everything together and over there, and about getting going that first day. 40 lbs of extra weight from gear, new shoes and pedals, paper airline tickets, and more... But after that I know I'll be fine, and I'll be loving the whole thing. And at the end of the bike trip I've got 3 days in Florence, and then 10 days with my friend Maria on her family's vineyard in La Rioja (including a side trip to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls)... so by the time I'm back home in SF on July 8, I'll be tan and ripped and ready to take the SF dating scene by storm. =P
Were I prepared, I wouldn't be calling it the CEBToD. But the shattering of my clavicle set my training back just a smidge. So here I am, barely in good enough shape to walk to the corner drugstore, let alone bike 900 miles over 3 weeks... and I'm 3 days from my departure.
What is this trip, you ask? Ho ho, let me tell you. Or rather, let me show you. Click here to see a google map of the itinerary that my friend (and trip instigator) Dan has created. We fly into Barcelona on Sat, then on Sunday we start off for Florence, Italy. We're taking 20 days to get there, with ~3 rest days en route. Sounds easy, right? I mean, how hard can it be to bike along the French Riviera in the gorgeous month of June?
Well, France is likely going to be the easy part. The bitch will be crossing the Pyranees to get out of Spain, and crossing the Alps to get into Italy. Hannibal had elephants; alls I've got is this dinky bike. But I shall persevere... I keep telling myself that if I can survive to day 5, it'll all be ok.
Dan says not to worry, that I'll be fine. Did I mention that 2 summers ago he biked 5000 miles from San Fran to DC? Oh, yeah, he did. Raise your hand if you think he might be a little more prepared for this than I am. Yeah, I thought so. It's unanimous.
In reality, I'm bitching, but I'm not really serious. I am seriously nervous about getting everything together and over there, and about getting going that first day. 40 lbs of extra weight from gear, new shoes and pedals, paper airline tickets, and more... But after that I know I'll be fine, and I'll be loving the whole thing. And at the end of the bike trip I've got 3 days in Florence, and then 10 days with my friend Maria on her family's vineyard in La Rioja (including a side trip to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls)... so by the time I'm back home in SF on July 8, I'll be tan and ripped and ready to take the SF dating scene by storm. =P
Sexy or Skanky?
OK, this is just too fun. Thanks to salon.com's Broadsheet for pointing this out... Time Out New York has a piece called "Sexy or Skanky", in which you can rate photos taken of random New Yorkers as to whether their summer dress is... you guessed it, sexy or skanky.
But the really great part is that you can rate women OR men!!!! Yes, there are actually some great sexy/skanky pics of men, young and old alike. I've been having fun with this for a little bit... now it's your turn!!!
But the really great part is that you can rate women OR men!!!! Yes, there are actually some great sexy/skanky pics of men, young and old alike. I've been having fun with this for a little bit... now it's your turn!!!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Holy Crap, Turtles can Breathe through their Butts!
It's true!!!! http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011116.html
Though to be fair, not all turtles can do it. Still, it's pretty insane...!!!
Though to be fair, not all turtles can do it. Still, it's pretty insane...!!!
Solar Power - dirty silicon and feed-in tariffs
Here's a really interesting article about the future of Solar. The man interviewed in the article is saying that California's doing the solar incentives all wrong. Instead of subsidies, Cali should do it via feed-in tariffs, which means that the user is paid by local utilities, say, 40 cents / kwh they produce. This would mean that a person who installs solar on their roof could reap $100s/month, and it becomes a money-making scheme for them. Capitalism kicks in, and solar is installed all over the damn place at a very fast and organic rate...!
He also talks about how semiconductor-grade silicon isn't necessary for solar panels. Less costly, "dirty" silicon is much more easily produced, which would mean cheaper panels available in higher quantities.
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/992
He also talks about how semiconductor-grade silicon isn't necessary for solar panels. Less costly, "dirty" silicon is much more easily produced, which would mean cheaper panels available in higher quantities.
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/992
Man, I keep <3'ing Obama
Here's an interesting article about Obama and his campaigning style. I'm such a fan of him... I'd love for an Obama-Edwards or Obama-Clinton ticket... why is it that the nominated candidate doesn't populate his cabinet with the other candidates? I suppose they may have legitimate differentiations on substance, but I would think doing so would lock in all of the votes the others had garnered during the primary process...
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/30/obama?source=newsletter
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/30/obama?source=newsletter
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Housing Collapse is Worse than Fed's been saying
So every now and then I get this bug to buy a condo. And so I e-mail my friend Stefan (and my friend Matt), and they spam me with news stories and analysis and commentary on why the real estate market is total shit right now and why it would be a horrible waste of my money to buy. Even though there's this cool LEED-certified building going up a block away called Arterra. :( [Guess I'll be waiting on that one.]
The basic argument is simple. Housing prices are dropping. So if I buy, not only am I carrying 6%+ on my mortgage, but I'm losing 10% on the value of the house. So that's a 16% loss on my money, vs. ~10% if I were to invest in the stock market. Since the costs of buying (property tax, mortgage interest, etc) exceed the cost of rent, it's completely a net losing prospect.
And then Stefan forwards me this article, which states that the existing home sales aren't down just 9%, as reported by the National Association of Realtors. Oh no, it's down 22%!!!! And California's home sales are down not 24%, but 37%!!!! Holy crap. So yeah, prices will continue to plummet as long as this trend continues, until the supply and demand curves reach their new equilibrium point. When will that be? I dunno... but if Stefan figures it out he's promised to tell me, and I'll tell all of you. But not till after I close on my green apartment. =D
The basic argument is simple. Housing prices are dropping. So if I buy, not only am I carrying 6%+ on my mortgage, but I'm losing 10% on the value of the house. So that's a 16% loss on my money, vs. ~10% if I were to invest in the stock market. Since the costs of buying (property tax, mortgage interest, etc) exceed the cost of rent, it's completely a net losing prospect.
And then Stefan forwards me this article, which states that the existing home sales aren't down just 9%, as reported by the National Association of Realtors. Oh no, it's down 22%!!!! And California's home sales are down not 24%, but 37%!!!! Holy crap. So yeah, prices will continue to plummet as long as this trend continues, until the supply and demand curves reach their new equilibrium point. When will that be? I dunno... but if Stefan figures it out he's promised to tell me, and I'll tell all of you. But not till after I close on my green apartment. =D
Friday, May 25, 2007
Most Creative Homeless Guy
I just saw a guy at the Caltrain station holding a sign that said:
"Family kidnapped by ninjas. Need $$ for karate lessons."
I gave him all the money I had.
"Family kidnapped by ninjas. Need $$ for karate lessons."
I gave him all the money I had.
My Dad's going Vegan
I totally forgot to mention this... my dad's decided to try going vegan! It came as kind of a shock to me... I guess I figured that vegan was such an outsider diet that the only vegans I would know would be ones I'd met in SF. I suppose that was a rather silly bias for me of all people to have, huh.
My dad's doing it for health reasons, not necessarily moral ones... he wants to fight his diabetes, cholesterol, that sort of thing. It seems like a wise move... and a bold one. I'll be really interested to see how difficult it is to avoid animal products. Being a vegetarian is pretty easy... being a full vegan is a fair amount of work. As for me, I really don't think I could live a life without eggs and dairy... I mean seriously, no ice cream?! I'd rather die!!!!!!!!!!!!
My dad's doing it for health reasons, not necessarily moral ones... he wants to fight his diabetes, cholesterol, that sort of thing. It seems like a wise move... and a bold one. I'll be really interested to see how difficult it is to avoid animal products. Being a vegetarian is pretty easy... being a full vegan is a fair amount of work. As for me, I really don't think I could live a life without eggs and dairy... I mean seriously, no ice cream?! I'd rather die!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
No such thing as too much
My friend Lindsay just sent me this e-mail... I'm just going to quote her directly. I just want to officially state that I don't think you can do that too much, Josef. Though I suppose that's down to personal preference.
"I work with an Austrian man named Josef. He likes to use American idioms... but sometimes misses the mark.
Today he was really belaboring a point in a meeting, and stopped mid-sentence to apologize to everyone... "...and I'm sorry to be tea bagging so much."
Wow... wrong on so so many levels."
"I work with an Austrian man named Josef. He likes to use American idioms... but sometimes misses the mark.
Today he was really belaboring a point in a meeting, and stopped mid-sentence to apologize to everyone... "...and I'm sorry to be tea bagging so much."
Wow... wrong on so so many levels."
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Master Cleanse: CNN weighs in
So CNN published this online article about the Master Cleanse, and it was largely critical. For example, they say "you never want to be too far from a toilet", which is true if you're doing the saltwater flush, but not true otherwise. And the saltwater flush only causes issues for like an hour.
Also, I'm not sure that I agree with the argument that any weight you lose you'll gain right back. That didn't happen to me. I probably lost 5-10 lbs, but I definitely changed my eating habits due to the fast. For example, I eat like 3-5 servings of raw veggies every day now as a snack, and get even more than that in my other food. I've also been snacking on a mix of plain yogurt, maple syrup, and grape nuts. And I've taken to eating lots of hard-boiled eggs. I guess my point is that the fast triggered me to take [more] control of my diet, and as a result I've been much healthier.
I still plan to do the Cleanse every 6 months or so. CNN didn't refute the MC's claims that it helps rest and reset the digestive system (which I experienced). Nor does it refute the skin-cleansing aspect (which I also experienced, and am still pretty zit-free from). And they don't even discuss the empowerment you gain from fasting, which is pretty substantial. Nor do they talk about how it changes your relationship to food; once you realize that you can survive 10+ days without it, suddenly an afternoon hunger seems almost quaint.
And lastly, there's something innately sustainable about regular fasting. Could you imagine if the entire US fasted 30 days a year? That'd reduce our food consumption by almost 10%...! Which would reduce the energy used for production and transportation, not to mention the reductions in water use and fertilizer, etc etc etc. Not that the whole US would ever do it... but hey, if we each do our part... eventually it all adds up, right? Right? =D
Also, I'm not sure that I agree with the argument that any weight you lose you'll gain right back. That didn't happen to me. I probably lost 5-10 lbs, but I definitely changed my eating habits due to the fast. For example, I eat like 3-5 servings of raw veggies every day now as a snack, and get even more than that in my other food. I've also been snacking on a mix of plain yogurt, maple syrup, and grape nuts. And I've taken to eating lots of hard-boiled eggs. I guess my point is that the fast triggered me to take [more] control of my diet, and as a result I've been much healthier.
I still plan to do the Cleanse every 6 months or so. CNN didn't refute the MC's claims that it helps rest and reset the digestive system (which I experienced). Nor does it refute the skin-cleansing aspect (which I also experienced, and am still pretty zit-free from). And they don't even discuss the empowerment you gain from fasting, which is pretty substantial. Nor do they talk about how it changes your relationship to food; once you realize that you can survive 10+ days without it, suddenly an afternoon hunger seems almost quaint.
And lastly, there's something innately sustainable about regular fasting. Could you imagine if the entire US fasted 30 days a year? That'd reduce our food consumption by almost 10%...! Which would reduce the energy used for production and transportation, not to mention the reductions in water use and fertilizer, etc etc etc. Not that the whole US would ever do it... but hey, if we each do our part... eventually it all adds up, right? Right? =D
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