Brrrrr!!!!

Today it's 13 sodding degrees. I'm going into hibernation mode. Expect to see me out and about again sometime in April. Okay, I'm kidding but I do find the cold weather such a demotivator for everything. Everything apart from spending time in my PJ's under my duvet. I spend a lot of time like this in winter. Maybe I was a bear in a previous life, or something.

Of course, the other problem with the colder weather is what to wear every day when you have to deal with the sauna that is the crush hour on the trains. I mean it's bad enough having to remove a cardigan and scarf so you don't sweat to death, let alone trying to figure out what to do with a coat when you can barely move your arms. Horrible.

My enjoyment of the crush hour is definitely not improving. It's the unbearability of all that body contact first thing in the morning with complete strangers. Or if it's not body contact then it's someone's bag in your back. Horrible, horrible. And on the rare occasion you actually get a seat, it feels like winning the lottery....

Actually, the other day on the train there was a girl, of about 12-years old, standing up, holding a strap... and sleeping. It was kind of interesting to watch. Especially when she lost her grip and fell on top of a sleeping salaryman. They both kind of looked at each other, resumed their previous positions, and went back to sleep. I was amused.

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I'm spending this month detoxing. Since I've been in Japan I've been shoving so much crap into my body. So, I've decided it's time to do something about it and that means starting with a detox. I'm having no caffeine or alcohol for a month and I'm only eating raw food (fruit, vegetables with some raw fresh every couple of days). Already I'm feeling better after I eat. Well, maybe a little bit gassy, but not as blimpy as I tended to feel after eating.

Of course I'll lose weight doing this, and I'm not so naive as to not realise when I go back to normal diet some of the weight will go back on again but it's also about clearing up my skin and shrinking my stomach and then starting on a proper healthy diet, getting more energy, doing exercise, and so on.

Anyway, I've been doing this for a week, and I'm actually enjoying it!

UPDATE: I've been thinking that I'm going to keep this up for the foreseeable future. People that have known me long enough may remember when I went totally dairy and yeast free for about nine months... and felt fantastic? Well, the dairy and yeast intolerances that provoked that diet went away and so I slowly reintroduced them to my diet, then more and more ... and even though I never really went back onto bread before I came to Japan the problem was that IN Japan I was eating a lot of bread and food on the run.

For the first time, my fridge is full (in the land of shared housing - ie England) I used to fantasise about having my own fridge (ie - more than one shelf in a shared fridge in a shared house) and yet here, in Japan, it has remained almost empty for much of the time.

Making lunch before I go to work, even at 6.30am takes only minutes and it's nice not having to trawl the conbeni looking for something interesting to eat.

I'll restart booze and green tea after a month - in moderation. But I really can't think of any reason to go back to cooked food. I mean in restaurants I should be able to find a few options, and if not, then occasionally slipping won't kill me. This first month, though, I AM being stict.

It's all a bit confusing though. I mean, if I want to buy nuts - how on earth do I know if they are cooked or not? (IF it's on the labelling, I certainly can't understand it - anyone know the kanji for 'this is okay for you to eat as it's raw'?!)