Day 5 - Food Alchemy

After cooking some hash browns and eggs for my son (Oh, it smelled so good) this morning and after taking the kids to school and running some errands - I got a bit hungry!  Go figure.  Without anything other than the same ingredients I have been using for days, I was able to concoct a nice big Crab Lunch for myself.

Day 4 - Rainy Daze

On days like these, instead of getting upset that the weather is preventing me from finding food, I appreciate things that I do have - like shelter, temperature control, clothes, running hot water, internet, etc.  The Survivor Diet Challenge is mainly a food challenge but I can't help think about all of the other aspects about surviving in a remote and wild situation.  I have tried to incorporate some primitive survival skills into my challenge over the past few years but I haven't been brave enough to really try to survive outside of my home shelter.

rainy daze

Day 3 - Rough Road Ahead

Well, we've got what's shaping up to be a pretty miserable week for me indeed.  More of the same to eat - just less and less of it.  The weather is going to throw me a nice curve ball with a multi day storm coming soon.  I'm going to have to start getting creative or this challenge is going to be over before it really begins.

packed lunch for work

Day 2 - My Pee Smells Aspara-disgusting

I slept in nursing the remaining headache from yesterday.  It really took me until about 12 noon to start feeling normal again.  Headaches of this magnitude are a real bitch and when you don't take any medication to relieve the symptoms, it takes longer to get through it.  Obviously, I will not be taking medicine during the SDC.  I would normally take Mortin for headaches.  I think there may be something beneficial here - to fight through the pain of the headache and allow the body to eventually neutralize the discomfort. 

Day 1 - What a Headache! already?

Food: Asparagus, water, brown rice, honey

Unsuccessful fishing in the river with Brad and new friend Dave Hochman (beginner spearfisherman).  The stripers shouldn’t be too far from coming up into the river.  They were here this time last year so we’ll try again around the high tides to see if we can get bit.

Survivor Diet Challenge 2014

My 2014 Challenge is set to start on April 26th and end on Jun 4th - 40 days.  This will officially be my 6th year doing the challenge and it looks like I haven't learned a damn thing over the winter after 6 years!  Ha.  That's not true AT ALL.  I mean, yes, I'm still doing the SDC and yes, I still have some winter weight to lose - but each and every year I am learning new and exciting things and I like to think I'm improving my life a little bit at a time.  Maybe I'm even having an effect on others out there who read my posts but I'm not entirely sure because I don't get much in the way of feedback.  Today, however, I did see that someone else in the world at least made a partial effort to take on the challenge.  They set up a website and got all the introductory info posted but there isn't a daily account of the progress. (see here for on person's attempt to copy the SDC).

Using advice from friends, I plan to use the Survivor Diet Facebook page a bit more this year in order to drum up some attention.  I gave this a try in 2012 with limited success and then last year abandoned it all together.  I think it may offer better exposure than blogger.com so I'm going to give it another shot.  I thought about this a bit - the subject of more exposure or looking for attention - and I wondered why exactly I was interested in that?  Ultimately the SDC is for me and my health and weight and a personal quest.  I think the answer may lie in my desire to see if I can start something real that will catch on and become a "thing."  So far it hasn't but maybe if I continue to persevere and continue to demonstrate evidence that the SDC can offer benefits to people's health, perhaps it will become that thing at some point.

There has been much negative attention associated with "starvation dieting" and I think that might be what is preventing this from gaining popularity.  I have addressed this issue within several posts from previous years but there will always be the naysayers who feel like they have to weigh in.  I am going to choose not to repeatedly defend my system of the Survivor Diet other than to continue posting and presenting evidence that I have accumulated through personal experience.  I will let my results do my talking for me.

As for 2014 - I have pushed the start date a bit later with hopes to take advantage of a flourishing summer garden and possibly more fishing opportunities.  The downside to this is the knowledge that seasonal harvesting of clams and blackfish will end on April 30th for recreational fishermen.  That only gives me a few days to get what I can.  On the plus side - I don't really like clams or blackfish so I'm not going to miss them that much.  Ha.