Unexpected effects of diet and exercise

Everybody talks about the benefits of improved diet and exercise: more energy, greater self-confidence, better health, better anxiety management - the list goes on and on. 6 weeks into my regimen, I've been fortunate enough to experience all of those benefits so far.

However.....

There are other things happening to my body, mind and experience of life in general that I most definitely did not anticipate.....

1. Time management

I started the year by trying to commit to a manageable goal: work out every day for two months. I would start on 1/1/11 and continue every day through 2/28/11 and re-assess things then. The goal, of course, would be that it would have become such a habit by the end of February, I wouldn't have to re-assess, and I can tell you that it's very much become a habit and when I don't exercise, I just don't feel "right". But something I didn't consider was the actual time to exercise. I've been trying to do at least 60 minutes on the treadmill each day, so right there, that's 1/16th of my waking hours. Add to that the times I'm feeling good enough to go beyond 60 minutes, plus the warmup/cool down time, plus the time to shower afterwards and it becomes a significant amount of time. I've had to really focus my time in order to keep my life in balance. I experienced some incredible moments of clarity just by taking the time to think about how I want to schedule my day/week/month.

2. Dreams

I never remember my dreams - never. But lately, I've not only been able to remember them, I can recall incredible amounts of detail. Not sure if there's a medical/scientific reason behind this, but it's only been happening for a few weeks.

3. Taste Buds

I would have never believed this if someone else told me, but I swear it is 100% true: once you get processed food out of your diet, your taste buds "reset" (for lack of a better word). Healthier foods suddenly explode with flavor while the processed stuff tastes - what's the word I'm looking for - inauthentic. I was going to say artificial, but that's redundant, isn't it?

4. Ear wax

I suddenly have none - I am at a loss to explain this.

5. "Found" music

Putting the iPod on shuffle has let me find so many great songs I've either forgotten about or never heard because I purchased an album and never listened to it all of the way through. A couple of songs I've "discovered":

Up In The Sky - Oasis

High Time We Went - Joe Cocker

Mr. Sea - Johnny Nash

Comfort You - Van Morrison

I Want to Know - The Mavericks

You'll Be Comin' Down - Bruce Springsteen

Watermelon In Easter Hay - Frank Zappa

High 5 (Rock The Catskills) - Beck

6. Body temperature

I've always been hot. My mother says that even as a baby, she wold pick me up out of the crib and I'd be soaked. I haven't hit the 10% weight loss mark yet but even now my body regulates itself much more "normally" - I'm actually cold at night whereas before I would sleep on top of the covers even in the dead of winter.

7. Amount of sleep

I exercise in the morning and there's been a couple of nights where, for whatever reason, I would toss and turn and get less than 8 hours sleep. Not just a little less, but sometimes only 5 or 6 hours. Normally, I'd be "dead" the day following a night like that, but even with that little amount, I've been able to hop out of bed and do my morning routine *and* be productive at work without resorting to caffeine.

8. Shin splints

I got 'em - no fun.

9. Loss of regularity

Before this I was as regular as an atomic clock. Do *not* schedule me for a 930am meeting, if you know what I mean. Since 1/1, I'm all over the place (whoops - bad metaphor).

10. Focus

My job requires focus for not only long periods of time, but the ability to regain focus once it's been taken away from me. My "focus stamina" seems to be the same, but my ability to re-focus has been sharpened to an incredible degree.