Detox Rundown

Here's how detox week went: Not well. I started Monday morning. Monday and Tuesday were great. I did cheat a little on Monday (as previously stated) but not entirely on purpose. Tuesday was a pretty much perfect day. By Wednesday I gave in to the great chocolate monster. Thursday was more chocolate and by Friday I'd totally given up and went to lunch at Red Robin with Grandma and the kids (although, in my defense, I passed up a milkshake, nachos and a burger and had a salad and a few fries with a glass of water instead). Today I had cheese in my hot cereal, milk with lunch, and tacos for dinner - and plenty of chocolate. That'll teach me to try to detox during one of the most stressful weeks of my entire winter. I am planning to try again in the spring when my schedule will have me out of the house more and when I'm naturally more inclined to eat lots of fruits and veggies.

Here's what went right, however: I did eat a TON of veggies. Like enormous piles of carrots and snow peas with my hummus for lunch, big bowls of mixed veggies for snacks, lots of peanut-butter-apples for breakfast, etc. And because I was eating fruits and veggies, so did the kids. And even though I gave up on detox week before it was over, I was feeling so much better after even just a few short days that I've been making much healthier choices on a regular basis in an effort to avoid post-detox tummy ache. For instance, the burger-for-salad swap on Friday. Or saying no to pancakes this morning in favor of multi-grain hot cereal and a grapefruit (oh yum!). I even lost a couple of pounds and I feel a whole lot slimmer and more energetic even if I don't look it. So, while it's really hard to eat clean all the time, I'm definitely reminded of the benefits of making healthier choices more often than not. I needed to remind myself that treats are just that - treats, not the foundation of my diet (as I'd been pretending they could be for months).

I'm trying to think of this past week not as a failure but as a valuable educational experience that will hopefully keep motivating me for a long time to come. And maybe the next time I'll make it just a little longer - we shall see :)