Another Day....

I got back onto track with the diet yesterday.

Some lessons realised on this not very fine Monday morning:

1. Never count on doing 'loads' of laundry on your day off. It's currently raining. I have sheets getting wetter and wetter on my balcony, a load of wet washing in my machine and a pile on the floor.

2. I really DO have a problem with alcohol. I may have mentioned before I sometimes get 3 or 4 day headaches after drinking. Well, I have one now, that I had yesterday too. This is the first time I've had a headache in a month. Funnily, Saturday was the first time I'd drunk any alcohol in a month. And I didn't actually have that much anyway.

3. The intentions part and the motivational parts of my brain are very separate and cannot communicate with each other, ie the 'I will do x' and the 'but I can't really be bothered' parts.
Is this just me?

The lovely Sigsy asked what I'm actually eating in a day. Well, today is a non-work day and for breakfast I've had a cup of (filtered) hot water with fresh lemon squeezed into it, and a BIG smoothy (did I mention I LOVE my Braun handblender) with the flesh I managed to extract from a small mango, an orange, a banana, a really juicy ripe persimmon and half an avocado. OIISSSHHHHIIIIIII, ne?!

Lunch will be a smallish salad of some kind, when I can be bothered to eat again.

In the evening, I might make some humous and chop up some veggies.

If I want to snack I have a fridge full of lovely vegetables, a big bowl of fruit on my table and another big bowl with various bags of nuts, seeds and dried fruits.

On an average work day, I'll arrive at work and have a banana and a satsuma and a 500ml carton of 100% veggie juice, probably followed by a cup of boiled water, if I have time. If I have a morning break between lessons, I'll have a 500ml carton of pure fruit juice - apple or whatever. Lunch is a packed lunch of scrummy vegetables. Maybe I'll throw in a handful of olives or some nuts and quite possibly an avocado. The rest is whatever I could be bothered to chop in the morning. It's normally quite a noisy job crunching through it all.

I'll usually follow that with a couple of pieces of fruit. And more boiled water.

If I have to go somewhere after work I'll have some nuts or dried fruit and maybe a small carton of veggie juice.

Supper - I'm generally not that hungry for supper anymore. I might have another salad or maybe just a handful of dried fruit and nuts. Sometimes I'll soak couscous or quinoa and make a salad with them.

And that's it. I eat when I'm hungry and I never eat for the sake of it.

I DO need to start getting a regular exercise routine sorted though. I bought the required 'indoor shoes' for the local gym - ie they require trainers that have never been worn outside. (This is Japan. They do things differently here. Just cos something is different doesn't mean it's wrong. Ahem.)

And there are some yoga classes a couple of stations from here that I'm going to start going to as well. As long as it's not raining or I'm feeling too lazy! Seriously, once I actually start the routine will be easy to follow.

And it's STILL raining!

Okay, what I actually ate the rest of the day after breakfast:

Lunch - I wasn't in a salad mood, so I had some dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

Snack - a satsuma

Evening - again, I wasn't in a salad mood so I made another smoothie: two oranges, a tomato, some lettuce, some cabbage, some currants and filtered water to make it a bit more liquid. And it tastes GOOD! Really! (But hey, I've always liked combining foods other people might find a little strange).

I also find I don't need to drink as much water as before as I'm getting so much more from the food I'm eating. Well, apart from when I'm at work and standing in a heated classroom.

Another thing I really like is the amount of garbage I'm throwing out is SO much less than before thanks to not having all the bloody packaging everything comes in in Japan. IF I had a garden, I'd bury the skins and food waste, but I don't. Shame really. Still, a serious cutdown of garbage is another good that's coming from this. It really drives me nuts just how wasteful the society is here with regards to overpackaging things.

I mean, in shops, if I refuse a bag for something I've just bought, they always look at my like I'm slightly mad, before handing over the unbagged good. Oh well. Thing IS - if you listen to my students talk, you'd believe the environment was number one priority for everyone here. I guess it's fashionable to talk about it, but not so fashionable to actually do anything about it.

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P.S. I'm thrilled. I just booked a flight from Bangok to Chiang Mai for £18! (1,180 baht) including taxes on a special festive deal.

As determined as I was to not plan my trip to Laos, there's a few people who'll be around Bangkok and Laos at the same time so I need a vague idea of where I'll be when. The beauty of email though, is nothing has to be set in stone to meet up with people.

Anyway, I'm flying into Bangkok late on December 20th, and heading up to Chiang Mai early on December 22nd.

I haven't 'planned' any further yet. I'm dithering about whether I want to hang out in Chiang Mai, as I really liked it there last year, and maybe visit the Elephant Conservation Park again, or whether I should save the time and head to Laos as quickly as I can. As it is, I plan to overland (over water?) it slowly so maybe I don't really have much time to hang out in Chiang Mai this trip. oo dilemma, dilemma!

I've just got excited about the trip again though. I mean, I NEED to book a winter trip each year to get me through the cold months leading up to it but because I book so early I tend to not get excited once the initial thrill of booking the flight wears off. But anyhoo, I'm rambling and I've got to iron some shirts for this week. Boo, hiss!