Day 90: Nothing Changes on New Year's Day

This is not an end, but a beginning. I'm afraid that my PCP journey is going to have to end in a rather anticlimactic fashion. No fireworks, no celebrations, no indulgences (except maybe for taking a few days off from gym/workout duty). I signed up for the PCP to accomplish a few things. Of course I wanted to lose weight, get stronger, and look better. However, the main thing I wanted to achieve was mental focus and clarity. I'm happy to say that I have lost weight, gotten stronger, and look better. However, unfortunately, my main goal has not been met. I still have "foggy brain" much more often than I would like. This is, of course, not the PCP's fault. I have other things going on in my body that I have yet to fully understand that are causing this compromised mental state. I was hoping that the increased exercise/activity and bulletproof diet that the PCP brings would help me achieve this, but I have come to the realization that the problems run deeper.
"So", you're probably wondering, "what kind of problems are we talking about here"? Well, there are several. I have mental issues going on that may or may not be ADD related. I also have gastro-intestinal issues that range from mild to not-so-mild. Overall they have been mild enough so that I've never truly pursued a solution, and thus they remain. I also have pretty lousy posture. Although these three things may seem completely unrelated, I think they may be connected. I've started seeing a chiropractor, who is going to help me with the posture issues (which will also hopefully indirectly help my bum knee, which he says is getting further stressed because of the way I hold my hips). He says that bad posture can in fact be a major cause of gastrointestinal issues such as what I have (constant gas, bloating, general abdominal discomfort, etc). Consequently (and pardon me if I butcher this - clearly this is an oversimplification), if you're having issues with your digestion, and thus your brain isn't getting all the nutrients it's supposed to be getting, you can eat the healthiest diet in the world and still have all kinds of trouble, mental health wise. Food sensitivities can also cause both the G-I issues and the mental issues, so that's yet another thing I'm exploring.
I saw a new doctor yesterday and gave him the run down of all this stuff to see if he could put anything together. He said that the first thing I should do is go on the "elimination diet" for a few months. So, just as soon as I get off the PCP diet, I have to immediately jump into something even MORE strict (no dairy. no wheat. no tomatoes or potatoes. no shellfish. NO COFFEE (although he said I could have green tea, thank God). Of course no fried or processed crap. and that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more "nos" that I'm forgetting). It is with a certain amount of irony that I notice that several of the things I'm not supposed to eat on this diet are CORNERSTONES of the PCP (mainly milk, yogurt and cheese). So could it be that the PCP diet actually made me feel WORSE? Of course, I don't really know if I'm actually allergic to dairy. The idea is to eliminate all of these foods and then introduce them back into the diet one at a time and see when and where the problems re-appear (assuming that they went away in the first place). So...we'll see how it goes. I'm not super excited about the diet, but I am super excited about the possibility of feeling better, so I'm willing to give it a whirl.
As if all this weren't enough, I'm also going back to school. Just a few classes here and there, nothing major. I'm going to be taking one marketing class and one yoga class, and possibly something else. Today was my first day of both classes, and so far I like the yoga class a lot. It's far from ideal, in that there's about 30 people in a big-ass room and depending on where you are in the room, you may not even be able to see the teacher...but it's a start. I have the feeling that I'm going to continue on with it. Just today's beginner session, while it certainly wasn't anything I couldn't handle, did show me that while I'm fairly strong in some ways, if I added yoga to my repertoire, it could make me WAAAY stronger...and I like that.
So...have I arrived at the place I wanted to be when I first started the PCP journey? Well, unfortunately, no, I'm not. Am I in "Peak Condition"? Well, probably not. Obviously Peak Condition is a relative thing, but even so, I know I could still be in better shape and stronger than I am now, no question about it. However, like I said at the beginning of the post, this is not an end, this is a beginning. I think that the PCP was instrumental in helping me really clarify my desire to feel as good as possible, mentally and physically, as often as possible. While the PCP in and of itself did not allow me to achieve that goal, it definitely set me on the path that will, with any luck, get me there eventually.
Oh...and I'll upload some pics in the next few days. Need to charge the battery for the camera.