You guys,
I haven’t drank in 18 days and now I’m re-evaluating all my poor life decisions.
Starting with my diet.
The ratio of real food to processed food plummeted when my son was born two years ago. Taking care of my body became less of a priority as I focused on babies and writing. It started slow and then all of a sudden I was eating anything in a wrapper.
Dr. Casey Means is the co-founder of Levels, a startup that helps you see how food affects your metabolic health. In a recent podcast she explained that if you switch to whole foods for just a few months, your brain will change:
“Your gut will literally produce by-products that make you like the food more. ... It's an investment in changing the reward circuitry in your brain, your satiety and hunger hormones, your microbiome, to actually have you genuinely love the food.”
I wasn’t ready to throw out all the snacks in the house so I decided to start small, with my coffee. I typically drink it with Oatly. I love the stuff. It makes my coffee delicious and I’ve lied to myself that it’s healthy when it’s actually filled with canola oil. AND it recently had a recall “because of the potential for microbial contamination.”
I’m not sure exactly what that means but I know it isn’t good.
So Sam bought us this nifty machine that makes non-dairy milk and I gotta tell ya, this cashew milk made with cashews, water, and pink himalayan sea salt is delicious. I feel really good about myself when I drink it.
Then for lunch I eat a Chik-Fil-A spicy chicken sandwich followed by a fun-size Halloween bag of Reese's pieces. And later, ice cream after dinner.
But I eat the ice cream around 7pm now instead of 9pm.
So, progress.
A Fun Experiment
For the record, I’m drinking this weekend.
It’s my father-in-law’s 70th birthday. We’re going to New York City. We’re getting dressed up. My FIL, a wine collector, is bringing his best wines to the restaurant.
Even though my relationship with alcohol is changing, the thought of cutting it out completely FOREVER feels scary and extreme. I like approaching my relationship to it with curiosity. It feels kind of fun.
This weekend will be a test. Will I enjoy drinking? Will I feel horrible afterwards? Will Sam and I return home and decide that life is better without alcohol?
We shall see!
Book Rec
Polina Marinova Pompliano is the author of one of my favorite newsletters, The Profile.
And she just wrote a book.
Not only did she write a book, Polina wrote it during the first eight months of her daughter’s life.
She wrote a whole book while caring for an infant. Can you even imagine?! I spent the first eight months of my son’s life surviving and complaining and crying. And now with two kids, I’m always throwing myself a pity party about how there’s not enough time in the day.
Polina is an inspiration to moms everywhere. You can be a mom AND write a book (or do whatever it is that feeds your creative soul, but I’m gunning for the book).
Pre-order Polina’s book here!
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Until next week,
Charlie