DAY 14

Soylent Soda.

Mondays. A clean slate. A new checklist. Well, maybe you have a couple of to-do’s leftover from last week. I did. But they’re small. No biggie.

In any case, I like to use Mondays as a minor refresh for my life. A chance to start good habits and and get work done. Plus I get a nice feeling of accomplishment by rolling up my sleeves and tackling my hardest problem first. It sets my week up to be a productive one.

So naturally, this feeling of immense accomplishment needs proper rewarding. Tonight, I decided to treat myself with frothy, bubbly homemade concoction: Soylent Soda.

Really, it’s just a combination of Soylent and Perrier.

The motivational power of food amazes me. Positive reinforcement & treats were the key to training my dog Ramsay (though he still hasn’t quite figured out fetch). Kids will do almost anything for pizza and ice cream. Heck, in college I trained myself to complete writing assignments by eating a portion of a snack after competing each page.

On Jerry Seinfeld’s brilliantly mundane internet show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Tina Fey even admits that “the only reward for anything, is food.” As if winning an Emmy isn’t reward enough, she goes home and rewards herself with something she’s not supposed to eat.

With Tina, it’s hard to tell exactly how sarcastic she’s being, but I really want to believe she got home after the award show, put the Emmy on the kitchen counter, dove into the junk drawer and said, to herself:

“Good job today Tina, now you can have this Butterfinger!”

Though food is ultimately sustenance, it also seems to unlock a carnal joy inside us. It’s easy to draw the line between decadent dishes that are sensory-driven and food for nutrition’s sake (though there’s certainly overlap), but is there a point to which pleasure is enhanced due to sensory depravation?

I’ve certainly experienced intense flavor & enjoyment in my two cheat meals. Can that be attributed to the bland diet my tastebuds have become accustomed to? Yes, they were truly exceptional meals, well-prepared & homemade. But would I have enjoyed them less if they didn’t stand out as much?

Sometimes the reward is really that: something to be regarded as worthy & excellent & out of the ordinary.

Hours slept: 7.5

Meal times:
8:00AM : 12oz
12:00PM : 12oz
5:00PM : 16oz
8:00PM : Soylent Soda!

Weigh-in : 168.5lbs
Weigh-out: 169lbs