Pictures and Words

Hello! My name is Peter C. Hayward, and for the month of February, I am only eating foods that are white. I hope I do not die! 

The exact same weight as the last three days. Looks like this is going to be my finishing weight for February!

Graph:

Oh god...it's flatlining!

Today has been an extremely lazy day. I slept for about 8 or 9 hours, and then had another long nap this afternoon.

Both of my housemates had pizza tonight. I am counting down not only the days until this experiment is over, but the hours and the minutes as well. In five days time, I am going to be at the pancake manor, ordering food. In five days and 31 minutes time, I am going to be eating my apple bavarian crepes. In five days and roughly one hour’s time, I will have finished my crepes, and quite possibly my steak as well. In five days and one hour and maybe ten minute’s time, I might be on my knees, throwing up into the toilet.

I don’t think that’s what is going to happen, but it’s definitely a possibility. Want to see for yourself, first-hand? Come along to the “End of 28 Days, 28 Dollars Celebration”, at the Pancake Manor, on February the 28th, at 11:30pm! (Facebook event.) I’ll be there, carrying this penguin (for ease of recognition): 

If you can find neither me or my penguin, you may have gone to the wrong pancake manor.

I finished off my bread today. Tomorrow, if I get a chance, I’m going to go down and grab some more.

I work this out every two days, but having rice at the beginning of the day instead of the end means that I don’t nap all day and then write all night.

Someone asked me the other day how I’d been coping without sugar. Obviously I haven’t been able to afford chocolate, or pure sugar, or any of the other treats that we normally identify with sugar, but white bread is packed full of it, and apparently my soy sauce has a bit of sugar in it as well. The apple that I had on Day 10 was probably full of “natural sugar”.

I’ve mostly been missing meat, tea, and spaghetti bolognaise.

When I started this project, I was fairly certain that I wouldn’t learn much from it. I already appreciated food; I tried to enjoy every mouthful, I delighted in eating, all of that. The experiment wasn’t a self-improvement exercise, it wasn’t intended to make me realise how much I took food for granted…the aim, pure and simple, was to see what happened, because I was interested. See how I’d cope, see how much it would affect my brain.

(a lot, by the way, much more than I ever imagined. It takes all of my mental energy to put these posts together, and about three times as long as it should. I’m always feeling grumpy, and I haven’t been able to put together a script for weeks now. I have to think long and hard to come up with a funny line in everyday conversation, and I’ve been snappy and hazy for a while now.)

I don’t think, after this month, that I’m ever going to look at food the same way again. Every aspect of food, from the smell to the price to the texture to the  nutritional value to (obviously) the taste will have a completely new meaning to me. I have learned about proteins and fats and all of the omegas, and the difference between Low-GI and High-GI foods. The smell of food was not something that I used to notice, except for extreme cases (when milk was off; the smell of garlic permeating everything nearby) and the variety of tastes and textures that come with different foods is something that I’m amazed at how much I’ve missed.

Especially texture. Rice and bread have different textures, but there are so many more out there – the smooth meltiness of chocolate, the crispiness of wafers, the variety that come with a steak…even the simple chip.

But more than anything, I’m going to be aware of the price of food. I don’t think it will particularly affect my buying habits – if it’s an extra dollar to add cheese to a burger, I’m not going to stop myself because it’s a day’s worth of food – but I’ll definitely notice every cent that I spend on food.

I’ve also become a lot more aware of a lot of the culture around food – I was doing an advertisement for an Italian Nursing Home, and after we’d finished shooting for the day, the Italian lady in charge offered us a meal. My fellow crew members accepted gratefully, and I was left saying “No, no, I can’t.”

It felt a bit ridiculous explaining the project, so I just claimed that I had some allergies. I’ve also used “I’m on a specialised diet” as an excuse when I’m not in the mood to explain exactly what’s happening.

I attend a number of different social events each week – a number of them in pubs. I’ve never before noticed how generous everyone I know is; I’ve had to turn down almost as much food as I’ve eaten this month.

My point is that it was a little naive of me to predict that I wouldn’t learn anything this month. It’s been ridiculously educational, not only the numerous links that people have emailed me, but observations about what food means to my body, the people I know, and culture in general. It’s been a good month.

Fuck am I going to be glad when it’s over.

Tomorrow: Daily update!

(total money spent so far – $24.46. Remainder – $3.54 – enough for three loaves of bread, with 27 cents left over!)

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