Opening Game

Day 1 of detox!! Woke up this morning pretty energized (despite having gone to bed late with a slight case of the detox-neurosis) ready to get into the cleanse. I have been trying to wean myself off of caffeine for the last couple of days, so hot chamomile tea was actually very nice to wake up with.

Then, it started to happen . . .. I made the girls French toast with blueberries and liberal syrup and as I was serving my eldest, raised the fork with the fluffy bread dripping syrup to my mouth -- AHA! I caught myself. Very interesting. Usually I take little nibbles of the girls' food -- to taste, see if its hot, see how yummy it is, etc. I never really have focused on how many little bites and nibbles that I take with respect to their food. Mental note: need to stop doing that.

Made myself scrambled eggs with onion and black pepper. Would have loved to cover the eggs with shredded cheese and serve on a piece of toast. Instead I looked at my supplement list and managed to down 6 pills, which is just a tiny portion of the supplements I will be taking daily. I now realize I will need to get one of those pill boxes that old people use to manage their medications. A lot of supplements, all intended to boost immune system, clear out gastrointestinal tract, aid liver and kidney function and promote general overall good health.

Had an incredible session of hot yoga and really felt focused on myself and strong about the cleanse. A great way to kick off Day 1. After yoga, grabbed a bunch of raw cashew and almonds along with a green apple for a snack. Helped Sophie open her raisins and was about to toss a few into my mouth . . . mental note: stop doing that! Opened the car door to put Sophie in her car seat -- there's a spare cracker sitting in her seat -- popped that in my mouth to get it out of the way (hate to waste food). Yikes! I quickly spit it out without swallowing. Hmmm, this is a little harder than I had originally thought. I have discovered I am a human Hoover . . .

Lunch was a simple garden salad with pepper and lime juice for dressing . . . it was actually pretty good, very citrus-y. And, of course, lots of water. And more supplements. I am already off schedule with my supplements, but was told I could take a day or two to ramp them up to full strength.

Was feeling really good about the day in general . . .started to think "this no sugar thing isn't too hard". Oh, why, why, you silly silly girl, why do you invite disaster? A warm chocolaty smell started wafting through the house. What was THAT? Madeleine had brought home freshly baked brownies. Devil go away! Oh my gosh did those smell good. My nostrils did a back flip. I served the brownies to the girls with large glasses of cold milk, but managed to avoid even the teeniest morsel accidentally jumping into my mouth. Just inhaled very very deeply deeply.

Strawberries for a snack. Sauteed chicken in onion and pepper. I'm already seeing a trend here. We're supposed to eat lots of onion and garlic on this program, but since I'm out of garlic I've been indulging in onion. I'm sure the folks I took hot yoga with this morning appreciated that fact.

Overall, I have had a great first day of detox. Learned that I have a seriously unconscious habit of eating off the girls' plates and tasting all their food. Was able to stick to the program for a day. Excellent. Am looking forward to Day 2.

Detox Eve

Its 10:50pm, and since I'm usually in bed by 9:30pm (the wonder of having 3 young children) I can tell I am a little ramped up about this detox which begins tomorrow. I'm not sure whether I'm worried about failing; just because I've paid $250 and have a support group doesn't mean that I can stick with the program. No alcohol, no sugar, no salt, no carbs (at least not in the form of pasta, grains, beans, rice, etc.), no caffiene, no dairy (ok, very limited) -- it does seem a little daunting.

I really think my biggest issue will be sugar. I am already stressing about what I'm going to eat when I have a sugar low -- i.e. when I would normally eat an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, a handful of chocolate chips or take the can of whipped cream, insert it into my mouth and spray.

I mean, its fall. There are apples everywhere. Think apple crisp, apple crumble, apple pie, candied apples, apple turnovers. You get the picture. I have apple trees all over my property. The only apples I'm allowed to have are those really tart green apples. No juicy Honey Crisp, Ginger Gold, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Gala, or Braeburns. Just tart Granny Smith apples.

We can also eat berries, limes, lemons and grapefruit. I bought an entire bag of ruby red grapefruit. I bought several bags of frozen berries. I'm thinking a smoothie might get me through a particularly low day. I'm not really sure sucking on a lime or lemon will help me all that much.

Interestingly, the fact that I'm putting so much thought into this detox before it has even begun obviously tells me that I need to really assess what I eat on a daily basis. This cleanse is about overcoming those food "addictions" and taking a new look at what I'm putting in my mouth. My problem is that once the detox begins I'm afraid I won't like what I put in my mouth. I derive a LOT of pleasure from eating. Two weeks of wanting to shovel Hagen Daaz vanilla ice cream in my trap, but not being able to, does not sound like that much fun.

But I can do anything for two weeks, right?