DETOX: Day 17 -- and I'm Still On It

Ah, the emotional roller coaster! I recently received a not-so nice email from an anonymous person (have no clue who it was -- tried to reply and got some error message saying the address doesn't exist) that basically said the following: "So, I see you've fallen off the detox wagon. It was just a matter of time. Better luck next year . . . hah!"

Right? What'supwiththat? And if you, person, are reading this post . . . seriously, I deal extremely well with (constructive) criticism. I was a writing major for goodness sake! There were days when all I heard were things like: "I don't get it" (referring to a short story I wrote), "this makes no sense" (referring to some kind of reference in an essay), and etc. You can just identify yourself next time and maybe the whole exchange can be more productive for both of us.

ANYWAY, I wasn't going to dignify the person/email with a public response. But since I couldn't write back . . . and then I realized I haven't actually written anything about the "detox" in a while (one week), I thought I'd post. The reason I haven't written about it in a while is simply because I'm eating pretty much the same stuff I've already posted. Didn't want to bore you all with only slight modifications of the energy chunks and healthy crackers :)

(And if you're just joining us, read about where it all began: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Day 10.)

• I've kept off those 3 pounds I reported losing in the last post. Might even be closer to four at this point. All this despite eating some (homemade) pizza, cookies, and garlic knots, etc. over the weekend. (recipes to come...)
• The only processed food I've consumed since this all began? Some Peanut Butter Bumpers cereal, wheat pasta, Lesser Evil Black and White Kettle Corn, soy milk, and -- actually -- I think that's it. I've been making pretty much everything from scratch (or just eating whole fruits/veggies/grains) . . . which I think is pretty cool.
• I've been drinking enough water throughout the day. I used to have no problem with this one, but got lazy. My tea consumption has definitely helped (yay! Celestial Seasonings!). My skin is a tad more radiant. And I must be flushing out more toxins this way.
• I'm not craving certain foods I was once addicted to. Nutella? Not really -- at least not the store-bought variety. White ciabatta bread? Not so much. PIZZA?! Ok. Yes. I've been craving pizza, but not the super-cheesy, white bread kind we usually order for pick-up. We made our own wheat-flax crust and topped the pie with a ton of veggies last Friday. It was delish! As well, this isn't to say I don't eat sweets. As you've seen, I most certainly, certainly do. But I control what goes into them from start to finish. And I've been using more natural sweeteners.
• My dairy intake is dramatically lower. I imagine this is the area that is helping me lose weight. I used to eat cheese with most every meal. Now I just eat it on weekends. Tons less saturated fat running through my system. Gotta love that.
• I find myself eating less. Not on purpose, but I'm just fuller from the more nutrient-packed, lower-in-sugar foods we're making.
  
  

I haven't yet posted what we've been eating for dinner. It's not incredibly exciting, but still worth sharing. Most nights: steamed broccoli with brown rice in a sesame-soy sauce. To make the dish is easy. Just prepare brown rice according to the package's directions. Then steam broccoli either on your stove top or in your microwave (I like to leave ours a bit crunchy). Mix together equal amounts of sesame oil and low-sodium soy sauce (we use two tablespoons of each for a meal for two). Toss the broccoli in the sauce . . . serve over the rice . . . and enjoy!

This is a typical day in my eating:

• Wake: Huge mug of Red Zinger tea with 1/2 lemon squeezed into it
• Breakfast: hefty Powerhouse smoothie
• 10AM Snack: Two energy chunks
• 11:30 Lunch #1: Healthy crackers with 1/4 cup homemade hummus
• 1:30 Lunch #2: Two brown rice cakes topped with 1 entire avocado, mashed
• 3PM Snack: Apple or other fruit, sometimes two
• Dinner: Broccoli with brown rice (no portion control, I eat how much I need) and occasionally a beer.
• Dessert: Two (vegan) cookies or so :)
• Lots of herbal tea and water throughout the day.
• Weekends are a different story for a different day!

So that's the detox update. I know some of you are doing your own healthy eating thing right now. Any tips and/or motivation to share with the rest of us? I've heard it takes two weeks to keep up a good habit, and I think I've reached that point with this whole "detox" thing. So, from now on, I won't refer to it as a detox. It's just how I eat. I'm sure I won't be perfect 100% of the time. But that's OK.

One of my secrets to success is to allow myself wiggle room on weekends. Have a beer or two. Go out to eat. What I've found is . . . even when I've gone out to eat, I tend to eat half of what I used to (and can enjoy the other half later). My tastes are changing. I don't just eat mindlessly because I'm making most of my food with higher-quality ingredients and want to savor the flavor. I'd love to hear what the rest of you are doing!

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