Normal Day 121 - 116.6 Pounds

Many people are afraid that eating this way will mess up their metabolism. That was also my biggest concern when I began alternate day fasting. However, in my experience eating this way actually REPAIRS a messed up metabolism. My metabolism is working better than it did before I started alternate day fasting. Sometimes, I am shocked by the amount of calories I can consume on my eating day without gaining weight. These days, my weight is fluctuating between 115 - 120 pounds. My heaviest days are typically after consuming sodium rich foods.

My son and I went to Comic Con on Thursday. We went to the Doctor Who/Torchwood seminar. It overlapped another seminar with Keanu Reeves and we had to choose which one to attend. Keanu Reeves is really sexy, but both my son and I were more interested in listening to writers Steven Moffat and Russell T. Davies (sadly, Russell could not make it to Comic Con). Steven Moffat was hilarious and had the auditorium bubbling with laughter. In response to a request from an attendee, John Barrowman and Naoko Mori (who play Captain Jack and Toshiko in Torchwood) sang part of a duet from the musical Miss Saigon. I was caught off guard by the intensity and beauty of their voices and was quite literally brought to tears.

By the way, Keanu, if you are out there, I really do adore you and would have loved to have seen you at Comic Con; or better yet, to have attended the Doctor Who/Torchwood talk with you as a date! Maybe next time, yes? ...

Fasting Day 112 - 117.4 Pounds

I'm still here and still fasting every other day. My BMI is 21.5 -- smack in the middle of the body mass index's normal healthy range (18.5 - 24.9). When I began alternate day fasting my BMI was (almost) borderline obese. It was a terrifying experience to feel so out of control of my own body. It seemed no matter how much I cut calories, ate healthier or increased my activity that my weight continued to climb. I ran into an old boyfriend from High School who thought it was ironic that I had turned into a chubby woman. He taunted me about how mortified I was about fat people and look at me now. I explained that my fear was because both of my grandmothers were morbidly obese and I didn't want it to happen to me. I've struggled with my weight as far back as I can remember.

Hairy Bread & Soy Sauce

Unless you're Jewish or Muslim, you likely have not heard that the amino acid Cysteine (extracted from human hair) is being added to bread as a dough conditioner. Besides the 'yuck' factor, what disgusts me is that we don't have any way of knowing where this hair came from. The Cysteine manufactures claim that it comes from clean barber shop hair; however there was an undercover news report of a soy sauce manufacturer that was using filthy hair collected from hospital floors and wherever (morgues perhaps?). Used sanitary napkins, syringes, condoms and other litter had to be picked through and removed by hand before the hair was sent for processing. Hair itself can be contaminated with drugs, mercury, chemo, and whatever else a person may have been exposed to before the hair was removed. It would be impossible to track exactly where every bit of the hair came from that is being processed. They can claim it's clean, but what really goes on when nobody is looking? There is an interesting article on the OU Kosher website as to whether or not Cysteine is "kosher". I haven't been able to eat a slice of bread since I learned of this practice. I think I'll start baking my own bread. Now ... where the heck did I pack that bread maker my mom gave me a few years ago?