Reboot day 6- The International diet

6 days into the Reboot and feeling great. For those of you just joining the blog, I have embarked on a 3 week JOOS Reboot and have agreed to document my experience here on the JOOS Blog.

A little under a week ago, my wife, Jess and I committed to drinking 2 JOOS' per day and eliminating Meat, Wheat (gluten), Dairy, Refined Sugars, Processed Foods, Artificial Sweeteners and Caffeine (Jess went cold turkey on the coffee..I have been weening myself) from our diets. Today, on day six, we are both feeling GREAT...good energy level- especially in the AM and sustained throughout the day (including a workout). I have learned that I need to consume additional food on days that I exercise as I was getting light-headed after I workout. Mentally, I have a solid degree of clarity due, most likely, to the foods I am eating (and more likely, not eating) but also to the fact that there is an added degree of mindfulness applied to my food choices. I have enjoyed putting together our "big" meal of the day as I have been forced to utilize new ingredients and leverage multiple spice combinations to create delicious and nutritious feasts. Interestingly enough, if I think back on the meals that we have had since the Reboot started, almost all of them have been influenced by the cuisine from cultures outside of America. Mexican (Beans, Rice, Salsa & Guac), Thai (Green curry vegetables), Italian (Rice Pasta with Eggplant, portabella mushrooms & Garlic in a San Marzano and basil sauce) and Indian (Potato and garbanzo bean curry) flavors have been on call as I have struggled to find a solid American meal (Burger & Fries??) that satisfies the parameters of the Reboot. I find this quite interesting as I believe it speaks to a much larger issue in our culture around the sourcing, quality and cost of the "typical" American diet.