DAY 02

Is this... healthy?

Getting out of bed today was painful. Yes, I did a small workout last night. Yes, it was the first real exercise I’ve done in more than a few weeks. Yes, I have the occasional multi-snooze morning. Somehow this felt different.

Maybe it’s just a dose of self-imposed psychology. My own experiment playing cruel mental tricks on me.

But how can I not feel some resistance? Whether real or imagined, healthy or detrimental, my body is transitioning from a whole-food diet to a Soylent-only diet. There will be some effects. Maybe this is just a minor shockwave of adjustment.

I consulted with my friend Ander Wilson, a nutrition professor. Her immediate reaction to the project was one of concern.

“Why would you put your body through that?”

She explained something that I never considered: my digestive tract is actually a muscle, and like every other muscle in my body, it will atrophy without exercise. “It needs bulk,” were her exact words.

I’m not sure what the side-effects of an atrophied digestive tract are, and quite honestly, I’m too afraid to Google them. She also mentioned increase risk of colon cancer due to a similar lack of “normalcy,” and a word of warning about how my body might react to the weekly cheat meals.

My surgeon father had similar reactions, mentioning conditions like lipolysis, ketosis, and other jargon I didn’t want to look up for fear of a bout of WebMD-induced hypochondria.

It’s not that I think I’m immune to serious medical conditions. I could be horribly wrong, but I think that 30 days is too short for this lifestyle change to take major effect — positive or negative — on my health.

I dislike the subjectivity of the word “healthy.”

But I like to think that I live a healthy lifestyle. I try to maintain good eating and exercise habits. During a typical week, I estimate cooking 14+ meals — mostly recipes inspired by Tim Ferriss’s “food as fuel” mentality from his book The Four Hour Body. I also have a penchant for Thug Kitchen’s vegan recipes.

I exercise regularly, though admittedly to a minimum level of intensity. I use the stairs instead of the elevator and enjoy bike rides with my lab-mix (he pulls me so this doesn’t really count).

Will this project derail my health? Or will my body adjust to Rob’s proposed diet of the future? I do admit to feeling a little out-of-sorts today, but I’m going to attribute that to the transition.

Wake time: 8:00 AM
Sleep time: 11:00 PM

Meal times:
8:30AM : 16oz
1:00PM : 16oz
8:00PM : 16oz
10:00PM : 6oz