40 Days of Health before Sudan

While contemplating how I can prepare myself physically for Sudan in a little over a month, I realized one of the biggest things that needed to change was my diet. I'm a pretty healthy eater for the most part, I don't eat fried food, rarely do I eat fast food, and I'm all around cautious about the type of food I eat. BUT, I do love to snack, and I love bread, did I also mention I have a giant sweet tooth?

Since the food we'll eat in Sudan is all natural, locally grown stuff, I decided I should change my eating habits before I go. Also, I've never traveled overseas before, and I don't want my body to be in withdrawl from diet cokes and sugar when I'm there. I want to be in the best health and shape possible. I lost a lot of weight due to my appendix surgery last year and kept all of it off for almost a year until this last spring. Because my schedule got all out of whack and I fell out of my regular running patterns, I put all the weight on pretty quickly late this spring. Even though I'm back to the weight I came into college with, my body was used to the lighter weight for a while and I really started to tell a difference.

When I began looking at diets to take on for this time, I knew I wanted to find something that would give me an eating pattern close to what I'll have in Sudan. I thought about a detox diet, but those are really costly, and when you're raising support to go on a trip, you think very differently about the money you spend personally. One diet I had actually learned about in an anatomy class I took in the fall was the Maker's Diet, it was developed by a man who suffered from Crone's disease and didn't react to any medicine. Instead, he developed his own diet, based of Old Testament eating principles, and ending up treating himself. Basically the diet gets rid of most processed foods, and trys to rid the body of your addictions to certain foods, mine being bread and carbs.

I've known a couple people to adapt this way of eating, and a lot of people swear by it. The plan also entails a lot of hygine rituals and a couple other things, but I haven't followed those yet. The diet is a 40 day plan, split into 3 phases. The first phase-14 days- which I started Friday, allows you to eat most protein, except pork, shell fish, and some specific types of fish. I can only have berries, cherries, lemons, and limes; no cow's milk products; no sugar; and no grains (my hard one!). I'm still allowed to have coffee (thankfully!), tea, and all the veggies I want. I thought this would be hard for me since I'm such a carb addict, but I've found it surprisingly easy. Even though I'm limited in my choices, I've been able to stay away from the cravings and temptations really easily. I don't snack nearly as much as I'm used to because I really don't have a lot to snack on. Also, since my breakfast is usually a veggie omlet or eggs, turkey bacon, and fruit, I stay satisfied for much longer. I've really enjoyed cooking fish like salmon and tilapia too. I never used to eat salmon but I know how good it is for you and now I really love it.

I'm also training for a triathalon at the end of July! My friend Courtney and I are going to do a women's triathalon here before I leave for Sudan and she leaves for grad school. The tri is short, just a 300m swim, 11 mile bike, and 2 mile run. But since it's a women's one, they give you ice foot baths and mimosas after :) I really feel like all of these things will prepare me well physically for our trip. The diet is less about the weight, and more about getting my body to a more natural state of food sources. It's sounds kind of hippie like, I know, but so far so good! If I can make it through birthday weekend at the Stewart's with all the cake and cookies here, I think I can make it a couple more weeks :)