Only drank water in August. Hello September!

Had a Diet Mountain Dew for lunch this afternoon. That is not unusual as Mountain Dew is one of my favorite drinks. In August I decided to drink only water for the entire month. Liking to title my endeavors, I called it Agua only August.

Agua only August was more difficult and less rewarding for me than No junk food June had been. The truth is, in my wife's vocabulary, I am a drinkaholic. I am constantly drinking something. More often than not it's a soda. Because of the HFCS in most sodas, I have switched to diet. But those also have a boatload of chemicals in them. So I decided to give them up entirely for a month and drink only water.

The problem was that I often forgot to drink water and I was eating a load of fiber, so I was often bloated. I finally got into the swim of drinking only water, but it was still difficult. The hardest time was the weekend we went camping. When I was a kid, we were never allowed to drink pop. Except, I should say, on special occasions. Camping was one of those special occasions and for 4-5 weekends and 2 full weeks every summer we drank pop, and plenty of it. As a result, it seemed unnatural for me not to drink pop on the trip.

Before I get the nasty comments that I received for turning the TV off for the summer or having the whole family forgo sugar and junk food in June, let me say that the water restrictions were for me only. Amy and the kids were free to drink what they usually drink.

A little less than 1/2 way through August, Amy handed me some concoction she had made in the blender and asked me to try it. I am often sampling her wares so the request was not unusual. A few minutes later I realized that I had just drank something other than water and was very upset I had not met my goal.

Amy assured me that what she had given me was not technically a drink. It was a smoothie composed of bananas, blueberries and strawberries with no other liquid added. She said it was the equivalent of eating those fruits and should not count against me as a beverage.

Well if she was wrong, I certainly will not be the first man to be misled by his wife as far as fruit is concerned. What she said made sense to me and I "drank" several of her smoothies over the remainder of the month with out being paralyzed by guilt nor shame.

In these first few days of September, I have had 1 or 2 sodas and a few glasses of milk. The August experience has taught me that if I can knock off pop entirely for a month, that I should be able also to drink it in moderation. While it is nice to have more choices available, I am finding that I am reaching for water more now than I would have before.

Next Time: Six Word Saturday

Unbelievable (You want me to do what?).

I love blogging. I would probably blog even if there wasn't such a thing as comments. But I really like getting comments. Every once in a while (okay every other post) I get no comments. I'm cool with that. But I really like getting comments. What I don't like is getting derogatory, mean spirited comments. I haven't told my parents about my blog ,so I thought I could avoid that sort of thing. Just kidding!

The other day I received a horrible comment. I don't remember all of it because it was laced with profanity and I erased it as soon as I was able. The general idea was that I was a horrible person and the commenter wanted me to die a horrible death. So what could have caused so much anger? Did I offend someones religion? Did I make some ethnic slur or stereotype? Did I say that Lost was worse than Gilligan's Island? No. What I did was merely mention that my family and I were embarking on what we called No Junk Food June.

It seemed that the commenter was most upset that I would put my children through that. I was ruining their lives and they would end up hating me forever. Because we didn't eat sugar for a month? Because we didn't go to fast food restaurants for a month? Please!!!

Now two things I'd like to mention. One, if you read the post after the one you commented on, you would have read that my kids had plenty of sugar and junk food in June. We traveled quite a bit that month and I let the kids eat their regular diet when we were on the road. They also went to a major league baseball game, two museums which they all enjoyed and many other fun things in the month of June. Two, on this painful death thing, No Junk Food June is intended to increase my life expectancy not decrease it. I just lost a brother and while his death may not have been painful, it certainly was to those he left behind. My desire to shed some pounds, has something to do with his early demise.

My kids survived their "ordeal" quite nicely. We will probably attempt to do it again next June if I can avoid painful or any other kind of death until then. I wonder what that commenter would say if they knew our family was already in the midst of no television for the summer?

Next Time: June, July and August.

Our Last Meal

THREE THINGS THIS THURSDAY

If you read Michelle's blog you know she's had a lot on her plate lately. So she has asked me to host 3TTT for the next few weeks and I have glady agreed. It's all in my long term goal of taking over the internet.

I thought we'd go into the not so way back machine today and give you some snippets from my No Junk Food June experience: You may first want to look at my post from yesterday to get some context.

1. 5/31/2009

Dropped my friend Marina off at the airport today. She came in from Russia for an Amway convention in Grand Rapids. I got her and some of her travelling companions to the airport so they can catch a bus. I had about a half hour to kill on my way to church, so I punched Taco Bell into the GPS and got a quick bite before service. Yes it was 10:30 in the morning, but this was my last shot at Taco Bell until July.

Tonight I took the kids to CiCis to use a coupon we got in the newspaper. Not sure if a pizza buffet counts as junk food or not. The multiple sugary sodas and desserts sure would qualify though. Indulging myself on this last day of fast food availability may not be the most prudent of decisions, we shall see.

2. 6/9/09

Dropped off Marina at the airport today. After her conference ended in Grand Rapids last week she and some other Russian tourists drove from Illinois to New York to see Niagara Falls. It must have been a National Lampoon's Vacation length stop because by Monday night she was back in Chicago where she stayed with our family. I took her to the airport where she was flying to Charleston, South Carolina to spend a few days.

She wasn't the only one doing any travelling, though. After we dropped her off at the airport, it was off to Springfield to spend a few days with our friend Matthew who is recovering from a minor surgery.

We actually have a bit of travelling we are doing this month. So I told the kids at the onset of No Junk Food that it does not pertain to them while travelling. Had a minor mishap when getting gas on the way to Springfield. I picked up a 20 oz Mountain Dew rather than it's diet equivalent. Didn't notice until I drank from the bottle a few miles down the road. Believe me if you haven't had sugary drinks for a while, you immediately know the difference! Charlie lucked out and I let him drink about 1/2 of it before throwing the rest away at our next stop which was Wendy's. Charlie and Emma had Bacon Cheeseburgers, Lucy had Chicken Nuggets, and I drank water (Amy had to work and was unable to make the trip if I hadn't mentioned this already).

When we got to Springfield, we visited with Matthew and then went swimming at our motel. We then took Matthew out for dinner at Golden Corral. I did get the buffet but drank water and did not get any desserts. Of the three temptations I had today, the temptation to hit the dessert buffet was much stronger than those to drink Mountain Dew or eat at Wendy's.

When we got back to the motel we swam for a while in their outdoor pool even though it was below 70 and raining. Tomorrow it's breakfast at Cracker Barrel then a visit with Matthew to the Lincoln Museum and then back home to the lovely Amy.

3. 6/15/09

Dropped off Marina at the airport today. We actually picked her up at 1 airport and then drove her to another. She had a great time in Charleston and flew from there on Saturday to St. Louis to visit our friends the Hendricks. She flew Southwest on Monday from St. Louis to Chicago, Southwest flies into Midway and she was flying back to Russia from O'Hare. So it was me and the kids picking her up at Midway, eating sandwiches while we waited for her luggage, and then seeing her off at O'hare. She certainly had a jam packed visit to the states and we were glad to spend sometime with her on her travels.

So that's three things for this Thursday. Before I bounce you back to Michelle, What is a trip to the Capitol of the Land of Lincoln without the man himself? The family caught up with him just outside of his Museum . . .

It's your turn now. Do you have three things that you would like to share? Recipes, ideas of what's brewing for Gilligan and company on Lost, or other random thoughts? Use Mr. Linky below and be sure to send Micheele an encouraging word and myself any creative constructive ideas as I host 3TTT for the next few weeks.

Next Time: The Wall of Glaze

No Junk Food June

As I write this it is May Thirty-first. As you read this it is probably July 1st or beyond. As I write this I am embarking on "No Junk-Food June". As you read this I have just finished it.

What, you may ask, is No Junk Food June? Simply put, I am going to cease eating at fast food resturants and cut all sugary sweets from my diet. I did it before in 2006 mostly as a cost cutting measure, but also as a means of calorie reduction. This year, as I approach my 45th birthday, and as I grieve the loss of a younger brother to ailments not helped by his obesity, I want to lose weight and not feel so out of shape when I recreate with my wife and kids.

I will not be weighing in or out but in the weeks to come you will see a chroncile of my journey. As an added bonus, Amy and I decided to have No Junk Food June as a family this year. We just had the "talk" with the kids.

You may wonder why I am blogging with a one month delay. It's not because I am afraid I will swear and that I will need the network sensors to bleep it out. While I want to share this experience here. I want it to be a completed experience, and not an interactive one.

That said, I certainly welcome your interaction now that our part of the journey has been completed.

Next Time: Our "Last" Meal