Day 2: What? No stimulants?

Hello fellow health seekers!

Today was a great day.  It started off a bit challenging because I had no stimulants.  Over the last couple of years I've been relying on stimulating foods in the morning to "pick me up."  This includes black and green tea, yerba mate, cacao, and on rare occasions, the king of stimulants, coffee.

If you want to read more about the effect of coffee on your health, read my blog here.  Caffeine is a stimulant.  It does not give us real energy, but shocks the body into fight or flight mode.  Of course, there are benefits to teas like green tea and yerba mate, but their caffeine is different than coffee and has less negative effects on the body.  One of my goals in the 90-day challenge, though, is to experience what real energy feels like from excellent health.  I want to create this health by giving my adrenals a chance to recover and heal.  So, I'm giving up all stimulating foods for the next 90 days.  

Here's a quick summary of what I accomplished today:

Food:

For breakfast, I had a smoothie: 16 ounces of purified water, 1 tbsp of hemp seeds, 1 tsp of flax seeds, 2 tbsp of Sun Warrior vegan protein powder, 1 tsp of maca and 1/2 cup of mixed frozen berries.  All organic. Blended into a delicious, creamy shake. 

For a snack, I had a couple pieces of fruit: one plum, one peach and a rambutan.  

For lunch, I had a big salad with lots of greens, radishes, celery, fennel, tomato and a raw ginger/sesame vinaigrette.  

For my afternoon snack, I had a piece of frozen durian (OMG!) and a few olives. 

I did make a quick pre-workout drink which was just water blended with a bit of maca, shilajit, and carob powder.  I did this for the quick-burning carbs and mineral replenishment.

For dinner, I had red quinoa mixed with garlic, ginger, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini.  I added a little sea salt and some Amarillo pepper from Peru.  Delicious and satisfying.  

Oh, and I had an avocado right after I got home from working out.  Remember that sweating makes you lose potassium and avocados are a better source of potassium than a banana.

Workout:

After work, I went straight to the gym.  I hopped on the elliptical machine and warmed up for about 20 minutes.  Then I did intervals of 30 seconds at max capacity followed by one and a half minutes at normal speed.  After 20 minutes of this I got off and sat in the dry sauna for 20 minutes.  Then, I headed for the beach and took a twenty minute swim in the cool ocean.  

Stay tuned for more healthy days.  Be healthy!

Mystic Merman