food food food
Inspired by my cousin, and a desire to course correct after my woefully decadent holiday food adventures, I am now starting week 3 of the Clean Program. It's not a cayenne and lemon juice thing or anything.. for the most part it's kind of a gluten-free vegan type diet, with the exception of certain animal proteins. I was skeptical when Karen first told me about it, and frankly I still am skeptical about its airy fairy claims about toxins and what not, but what really sold me on the idea was having a strict framework that will force me to include more of the good foods and exclude the bad, developing better habits in the process. Lots of fruit, vegetables, selective whole grains, protein, good fats; no dairy, eggs, coffee, booze, sugar, wheat and other refined grains, red meat.
I've made a few modifications; I now let myself have a black americano or two a day, and I don't use any weird protein powders or supplements. Also I can't handle having a fruit smoothie for dinner in the dead of winter, so I've substituted a big bowl of homemade squash and veggie soup instead.
The first 4 days or so were rough. My body rebelled. It was like SERIOUSLY what in the HELL are you doing? But by day 5 of eating mostly vegetables I turned a corner and found an equilibrium. By the end of last week I had really settled in and started to enjoy the benefits. Friday afternoon I was practically bouncing off the walls with energy, when normally I'd be sluggish. I've been finding vegan and gluten free recipes to be a great resource; those cats know how to get creative with unconventional ingredients. I even brought a GF, vegan pumpkin pie to our 2nd annual Christmas in January turkey dinner, and it was so good it changed Jessalyn's mind about pumpkin pie.
Anyways, yes, despite a couple hiccups it's been a success so far. I just hope I can keep up these good habits, and avoid the bad from coming back. Hopefully now that I've written all this down here, it'll stick to it for the long haul.
I've made a few modifications; I now let myself have a black americano or two a day, and I don't use any weird protein powders or supplements. Also I can't handle having a fruit smoothie for dinner in the dead of winter, so I've substituted a big bowl of homemade squash and veggie soup instead.
The first 4 days or so were rough. My body rebelled. It was like SERIOUSLY what in the HELL are you doing? But by day 5 of eating mostly vegetables I turned a corner and found an equilibrium. By the end of last week I had really settled in and started to enjoy the benefits. Friday afternoon I was practically bouncing off the walls with energy, when normally I'd be sluggish. I've been finding vegan and gluten free recipes to be a great resource; those cats know how to get creative with unconventional ingredients. I even brought a GF, vegan pumpkin pie to our 2nd annual Christmas in January turkey dinner, and it was so good it changed Jessalyn's mind about pumpkin pie.
Anyways, yes, despite a couple hiccups it's been a success so far. I just hope I can keep up these good habits, and avoid the bad from coming back. Hopefully now that I've written all this down here, it'll stick to it for the long haul.