IF Update

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted about my IF experience, and that's mainly because I was not fasting due to a couple of physical problems. I've had lower back pain bad enough to cause sharp, shooting pains anytime I took a moderately deep breath, and even though the acute pain subsided, it's still a nagging problem. Additionally, I've somehow managed to end up with tennis elbow which is being even more stubborn than my back. What's more...I did not remember hurting myself. Because I couldn't seem to get better, I decided to quit everything I had changed to see if I could find relief. That meant no more Yoga and no more fasting and less intense strength training.

While my back improved with the above changes, it has still been giving me problems. That's when it occurred to me that I had also started drinking aspartame through Diet Dr. Pepper and Optimum Protein Powder. A controversial study by Dr. H.J. Roberts in the 90's implied a relationship between joint pain and aspartame consumption. Even though it sounds ridiculous, I decided to quit aspartame to see what it would do, if anything. After less than a week, I can say that pain in my back has improved but not completely disappeard. Pain in my arm comes and goes depending on my activity level. This isn't very good evidence that aspartame was to blame, but the study in question cited anywhere from 7 - 60 days for symptoms to subside after aspartame consumption ceases. To be on the safe side, I'm going to steer clear of it and stick to water, milk, or juice. I prefer not to consume caffeine anyway so this is a good way to kick that habit as well.

Anyway, on Monday, I fasted and worked out for the first time in quite a while. My back nagged me a bit, but my arm felt better. Today, I decided to consume some Naked Juice for breakfast and will skip lunch before having a heavy protein meal tonight.

As of this morning, I was 187 lbs and 14.4% body fat.

Calorie-Free Evil

Even while I sit here writing this with 20 feet and a refrigerator door separating us, I can still hear them calling me. Is it the corn syrup? The caffeine? The aspartame? I'll never know for sure, but they tempt me with their sugarless-wiles and break my anti-soda resolve time and again. Clearly, they're a tool of satan...evil incarnate. Certainly lesser imps and demons like Dr. Pepper, Coke, and (dare I say) Pepsi taste better, but they don't hold a candle to downing 12 ounces of absolutely useless fluid with a horrible after-taste.

What is this forbidden fruit you say...this tool of Satan? Diet Dr. Pepper.

My wife has been communing with the serpent for the better part of her life. Her soul has long since been lost to the Diet DP. Like Adam, I find myself tempted. Unfortunately when I partake, I don't become aware of my wife and I being naked. We've been married too long for that (right honey? :->). Now, where was I? Let's see...wife naked...what was I talking about? Oh, yeah...

In my most recent weakness when I gave into temptation and was elevated to that higher, caffeine-laced plain of existence, all manner of joint pain brought me crashing down. In a state of agony, I turned to the Internet, the one true voice in the web of lies (*cough*). In it, the eternally truthful ones state that one study shows Aspartame to have caused joint pain in 10% of users with 100% experiencing relief upon stopping its use and the same experiencing recurrence on starting again. Could it be that simple?

I prayed to Water and asked him to forgive my foolish ways and flush this poison from my system. And while my joint pain has not left completely, it is enough for me to see Aspartame in its true form...red and scaly with a bifurcated tail carrying a pitch fork.

So long Diet DP, low calorie protein powder, and all manner of sweeteners. I'd rather drink Tab.

Disclaimer: No I'm not drunk...just goofing around.