GOMAD

Last summer, a friend turned my attention to something called the "GOMAD" Diet. The acronym refers to a "gallon of milk a day," as opposed to losing one's sanity. There may not be much of a difference after you've been on the plan a week. That's a lot of milk on a daily basis. One or two cups is my norm.

Turns out the GOMAD Diet is used by people looking to pack on weight quickly. I don't need help in that department... but it got me interested in the subject of drinking a gallon of milk in one sitting.

It's been done before. Obviously. I just wanted to find something different to do that week in July.

My kitchen scale said the full gallon weighed roughly 8.8 lbs. It's liquid, so I knew it would be far easier than doing the same in solids.

Extrapolating from the label, a gallon of nonfat milk packs quite the nutritional punch:

1440 calories
208 g of carbohydrates
144 g of protein
and a whole lotta calcium.

Well, six minutes later I felt quite heavy. Then about thiry minutes later I felt empty. And absolutely starving. Weirdness.

It was so cold! That's what I get for drinking it right out of the fridge. I actually suffered "brain freeze" at a couple of different moments and needed to stop.

One thing's for sure - no GOMAD for me.

No GOMISM either!

Let's Drink to That!

This may be a blog about eating challenges, but I can't resist mentioning my favorite drink: coffee.

I could drink it by the carafe, and on a couple occasions I have! Those were mostly slow days at work, when someone made too much coffee in the morning and I really didn't have much to do but sit down and drink it.

As for drinking contests, I haven't really heard of any. The IFOCE doesn't arrange them. I certainly don't condone them,  since there have been incidents of people dying while consuming too much fluid. There's that nasty business of messing up your body's electrolyte balance with too much water - which can be lethal.

It's not uncommon for a couple of guys to set up a spontaneous drinking contest, but I don't care for those either. I love the taste of coffee. I don't see any point in tossing it down the gullet, especially when it's hot. My personal record for coffee consumption is about 15 cups in one day. That occurred during a very stressful time in my life. Obviously I don't have any issue with handling caffeine. I've never known what the "jitters" are all about. These days, for health reasons, I've cut back to my typical 2-3 cups.

Favorites of mine are dark roast, and those flavored coffees with cinnamon or chocolate flavors. I never use creamer or milk.. Those interfere with the pure coffee experience.

My favorite moment to drink coffee is in the morning. I love it when it's barely cool enough to sip, but still scalding hot. It reminds me of the old medieval punishment of drinking boiling lead, and I can only imagine how hellish that must have felt. I'm not pushing it - I've burned my tongue on coffee before, and I hated that sensation. I can't imagine what it's like to feel your esophagus melting.

Besides, I'll need my esophagus in good working order to continue taking on eating challenges.