Six Month Challenge

For those in the know, I participate in six month challenges. Every six months I pick an area of my life that I'd like to improve and go at it. All of 2008 was spent trying to get into shape. While I didn't exactly succeed, I think I've laid the foundation and the good habits are there. That means I'll end the beefcake challenge. I'll still try to get beefcake, but won't document it as much. I know some of you love the shirtless photos. Heh. Never fear because I'll take them once a month just to help me keep track, but I've got a new challenge. It doesn't have a catchy name yet, but I think it'll be the whole food challenge. I got The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan for Christmas this year and I've plowed through a few chapters. I was already concerned about from where my food comes and this book reinforces those concerns. I try to buy organically as much as possible and natural otherwise. I would go vegetarian, but I like meat too much.

In the next six months, I will try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, enriched wheat flour and every other processed food. That means I won't eat anything unless the ingredients are simple or the food is homemade. This challenge is going to be tough and I might have to make exceptions when I go out to eat, but I think I can do it. It'll be good for my health as well since Americans ingest too many chemicals. I'm a decent chef so I can make a lot of my own food. I'll have Fridays off and I'll use that day to hit up the natural meat market in Mountain View. It'll cost more, but I'll probably scale back on meat and eat more salads since I can get fresh lettuce every week at the farmer's market. Six months is a long time for me to photodocument my food, but I'll keep track of what I eat and take pictures of the tasty stuff. I think my few readers appreciate food pictures more than the beefcake ones.

If anyone has some good recipes for simple foods, pass them along. I've got plenty of kitchen gadgets so I'll make a lot of my own. I can make my own pasta so that should help. I've got a bread machine too. It seems like Friday will be my cooking day. Sweet. I'm looking forward to this six month challenge. I'll work hard to make sure I have a good variety of food that is tasty.