The Weeks Without - Part 1: Bread

Lately I've been thinking about what it would be like to not have the things that make life so comfortable. Not just because I don't have a steady job, but maybe that's part of it, this funemployment has certainly given me more time to read up on world news and get a new perspective. But it's not just that. Here we are at Labor Day, the end of Summer is imminent, hanging over us like the wintery clouds that are currently suspended outside my window.

Seasons are changing but I am staying the same. And you know how much I hate that. There's nothing that gets to me more than realizing I've dropped into a routine; waking, living and sleeping again the same way, every day. Effectively going through the motions, allowing time to whip past me without even reaching for it.

While it's true that time flies when you're having fun, it's also true that we become numb to the passing of time when we are fully embedded in our day-to-day.

On Labor Day, the day that we celebrate the fact that the CLU (Central Labor Union) of NY didn't want to continue punching in and out without thought, I'd like to shake things up. Instead of turning my gaze outward and lamenting the political choices of foreign leaders, or the destructive nature of nature, or how nice it would be to lay on a beach somewhere instead of mowing my lawn, I'm going to spend 5 weeks truly thinking about what I, personally, am doing. Not on a grand scale, not, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" more like, "Where do you see yourself in three minutes."

Hopefully, in this process, I will cut out some of the excesses in my daily life and get closer to my real self, without the buffer I create with food, chemicals and objects.

Each week for the next four weeks, I will remove something or change something that has become ingrained in my existence. Essentially exploding the small parts of my life from the inside.

• Week 1: I will consume no bread
  
• Week 2: I will buy nothing
• Week 3: I will drink nothing but water
• Week 4: I will not throw anything away

So here goes week 1.

What will happen if I don't eat bread for seven days? Will I transcend this world and become something greater than myself? Will I just get snappy and irritable? Perhaps I'll waste away to nothing, or become strong like the spinach-pushing Popeye. Will I get an anchor tattoo?

Let's find out!

As of 9pm on Sunday, 9/5/2010, here are my measurements (weight will be added as soon as I'm near a scale):

• neck: 12"
• bicep: 11"
• bust: 36"
• waist: 30"
• hips: 37"
• thigh: 22"
• calf: 15"

No. Bread.

This is no small feat, I eat some form of bread or starchy goodness at every meal. Crackers, pita, pizza, tortillas, bread sticks and OMG CHIPS!!!! These things go with Selina like Selina goes with running. This weeks' "without" landed on my consciousness and started lightly tapping on my brain when I was sitting at the 2-7 on the South Hill stuffing my face with garlic bread and raviolli. I ate four slices of bread, then I reached over and snatched a pita bread triangle from Greg's plate. Prior to the arrival of the entree, I had even considered ordering an appetizer: french bread topped with garlic and gorgonzola cheese(!!!). As I munched on this carbohydrate-sugar-fest, I glanced around the table and noticed that there was nothing green. In fact, everything I had eaten for the entire day had been white or slightly beige.

I hate beige.

What I hate even more than beige is that although I consider myself a healthy person, I had managed to entirely dodge nutrients for a day without a second thought. How many other times have I done this? There's really no way to say. At this point I could just shrug my shoulders and say, "Whatev," but that's not me.

Bread, I quit you!