About what I expected

So you have heard of "cleanses" or "detox diets" I'm sure. They usually involve uses of sometime of laxative and eating nothing but grapefruit juice and lettuce for 10 days. They are supposed to clean your body of toxins and restore life and vitality. From what I've heard they aren't really healthy for you at all, you get a severe case of the runs and grumps and your left weak and tired by the end of it. Well that sounds fun...ha!

I read something in a magazine though that got me thinking I should do a "cleanse" of sorts though. So this last 10 days I've been cutting out all processed foods, anything with preservatives, all white flours and refined sugars, all dairy (which I don't eat anyway right now, usually...) and all red meat. I tried to really limit butter and salt and used mostly olive oil when I added fat at all. I've eaten a lot of fruits and veggies, lots of chicken and rice, some eggs, beans that type of thing.

Well dang it all, you wouldn't believe the difference it has made. I have lost 4 or 5 pounds. I have been less distracted and able to focus more. Amazingly my house is cleaner and you can see more of the floor in my bedroom than you have been able to in months. My friend told me my skin was "glowing" and I feel really pretty good. I kind of hate it when you ask questions that you don't really want the answers to. It's like the whole dairy thing with Maren. Dang it all I didn't want it to WORK when I cut out the dairy, but it did.

Of course I knew it WOULD work - this whole nutrition thing. But I guess I didn't expect to see such a pronounced difference. It's like with the weight loss. Twice in the last year and a half I have trained for a triathlon for 5 or 6 weeks at a time. I was working out three times a week at least and lost maybe a pound or two the whole time. And here I was able to loose two or three times that amount it less than half the time just by limiting my calorie intake and eating healthier. Do you have any idea what this means???? It means I have to change my eating habits for good if I want to improve my health and well being. Not only has it helped with physical health (I mean who doesn't want to loose weight!), but apparently I'm more focused and in a positive frame of mind when I eat better too. ((((Sigh)))))

I mean it is good. But there are things that are a little sad. First of all, when I'm eating like this it can be a little difficult to keep my calories up to where they need to be. I've tried to keep them around 1600 a day, which is pretty moderate for someone my size, but you have to remember I'm also nursing Maren still, so I have to be careful not to go TOO low. But it was kind of hard. Whole grains and veggies just don't pack the calorie punch that crackers and canned chili do. There were a few days where I had to sneak a few cookies in at the end of the day just to get my calories up for the day. (You can see I'm not very good at keeping inner commitments sometimes... ha ha!)

There's also this kind of persistent hunger you have to get used to. It's not bad, not like my stomach is growling or anything. But most days I was a little hungry for most of the day. And food just isn't nearly as fun anymore. I mean, you can still make really good stuff with lots of goodies from the garden. But as yummy as that type of food is...it doesn't elicit the same type of excitement for me as say cheese enchiladas or carmel popcorn. And it's hard to focus on the yummy aspect of it when your dissecting your dinner for the purpose of making sure each calories is recorded in your LiveStrong.com food journal. And when you do sneak a big bowl of popcorn...it tends to just make you sick instead of happy. And you break out the next day.

So here's the verdict. I think you should try it. You might just like it. I will continue it I think, but won't feel guilty about cheating a little and having a steak for date night or something. It is a little addictive...this weight loss thing. I think the first 5 pounds is probably the easiest. I have about 10-15 more to get to my ideal goal. It's quite satisfying though to see actually progress, so the drawbacks are worth it I think.

AAAND....I think I need to try something like this with Tyler. Oh boy...If you don't know Tyler is...well he's just Tyler. But about every other minute of our life I think he might have serious issues. He is one passionate, dramatic little boy. But I've wondered for a long time if improved nutrition for him might not really help improve his behavior. We do eat better than a lot of people I think. I try really hard at the daycare to do fresh, homemade stuff. But we have our share of crackers, mac and cheese and the occasional chicken nugget. And so one of these days I'm going to gear up and go head to head with the monster and see if it doesn't help him out a little also.

Wish me luck on that one please...