Detox Day 5: Why It's So Hard to Eat Clean

Day 5 with no sugar, caffeine, grains, alcohol, animal products, or processed food*

It hasn't really been as hard as I thought it would be, once I got over the hump**

I actually do feel awesome***


* Truth: I did break down and buy some packaged all-natural guacamole and some natural sweet potato chips. And I used some pre-cooked lentils in a package from Trader Joe's. Sure, I could have made those things, but...

** ...it is really really REALLY HARD to cook every single thing you eat. To chop, prepare, cook, and clean up for everything that you consume. The restrictions haven't been as hard for me as the cooking has been. I needed some crunch. It turns out that pretty much everything in the menu plan for the first week is roughly the texture of baby food, especially in the leftovers format that I thought would help me out by preparing big batches and saving it for a future lunch or dinner. All that tasty-but-mushy food put me over the edge. I bought the sweet potato chips, and the guac to go with them. No regrets.

***I really do feel awesome, overall, if you don't count the fact that I am hungry all day, and my stomach growls a bit at night. This is primarily due to the fact that I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE ANY MORE THINGS TO EAT. Being a little hungry is good for me. It's a pretty rare occurrence. I feel a little hungry, and a whole lot of Better. Better sleep, better skin, better joints. I feel lighter and less tense than I have in a very long time. I've slept soundly the last 2 nights in a row, which is pretty rare for me. I think I've also been more productive at work. An unexpected side benefit.

Aside from the cooking, cleaning, and mild pangs of hunger, the only real downside I can see to eating this way long term is that it is an awkward pain in the neck if you ever like to eat with people other than yourself. I've been invited out to eat or drink a couple of times this week, and both times I've had to meander around this pretentious-sounding "I'm doing a detox" crap. And today I'm taking my office team out for fancy cupcakes to celebrate our fantastic intern's last day, and I'll be sipping a lemon water while the ladies relish their pillowy clouds of chocolate and magic. So that sucks.

The randomest lunch ever, while my co-workers enjoy a free buffet at an event.

Once this whole detox deal has wrapped, my task is to find a way to have more balance and more discipline (and more cupcakes) within a (mostly) clean shopping list. Health is crucial, but food can be a communal, celebratory key to a joyful life. Especially when there is room for the occasional latte or frosting-topped confection.