August 17

Now that I found a solution to my problem the first thing I started was to briefly cover the program, but only going over the basics of what is expected and how this can benefit me.  The diet solution program to put it simply is not a diet at all, but a program based on making healthier choices in your life. 

There's no doubt that I have made some bad choices regarding my health and the foods that I eat.  I guess I'm guilty of the fact based on some of my past food choices, especially after rediscovering a lot of the healthier foods that are outlined in the program. 

Anyway, I officially started with my fat loss journey on July 3, 2011.  I know, what a day to start, right before the biggest barbeque day of the year.  In any event, the time was right for me and it wasn't going to help putting it off another day.

The first thing I started with and one of the hardest things to cut out of my daily meal plans was sodas.  Having a soda during the day was something that I really took for granted and really never even thought of as being harmful to my physical health.  Trust me, it was more than just one soda per day.  When I was working at the bar everyone would drink sodas all day long, especially since the tap water tasted like something out of a pond.  But even when I wasn't working at the bar, reaching for a soda was just a natural habit. 

However, taking the first step in eliminating something that has a high caloric value as well as a high sugar content was easy.  Let's put it this way, it was easy for the first couple days, but after that I started having withdrawals and headaches which I'm sure were associated with  not having sodas rushing through my system.  There was also a period of two weeks in which  my stress level was extremely high.  If anyone even asked me a question I would immediately snap at them for no reason.  The good news is that during the third week of July I completely got over the urge of having to drink sodas.  It's been seven weeks now and I don't even think of having soft drinks, in fact, I enjoy drinking water now more than ever.

The only other liquid that I drink besides water is apple juice.  Yes, there are other liquid refreshments that you can drink, but for now I am holding fast to these two.

The next food item that I had to eliminate from my diet and one that was considered sacred to me and my family was rice.  I have traveled the world over and no matter where I went I always asked for rice.  Some people might think that is nothing unusual, but wait till I explain it a little more in detail.  Having a strong Hawaiian culture from my father's side of the family, rice is more than just a staple food, it is a ritual.  Unfortunately, I ended up taking it further as rice was part of every meal for me.

You see, I didn't just eat rice for dinner or lunch, I had rice with everything.  Our rice cooker worked overtime and many times I wondered how that cooker has lasted so long.  In our house, as soon as the rice pot was empty another one was put on.  Rice for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack again.  I could literally eat rice with anything and with any meal, it didn't matter what it was, whether it was sweet or salty flavored I had rice with it.

It hasn't been an easy adjustment these last seven weeks and there are still some things I continue to eat that are not part of my healthy meal plan.  However, I can honestly say that most of these foods are minor in comparison to cutting out the sodas and rice from my palate.  I'm slowly working on building a healthy meal plan for myself and eventually the other foods that I need to eliminate from my diet will be gone.