After the Holidays

It's been a long time since I posted, but I feel that the last month has really tested the sustainability of my detox.  After I finished my detox, Thanksgiving hit, quickly followed by all the Christmas festivities.  I was really proud of myself and avoided gluten and sugar mostly through Thanksgiving except for Thanksgiving itself, but by Christmas I was almost eating as I did pre-detox.  I anticipated this, and saw it as a test of the changes in my body.  Here is what I have to report.

By the end of December I had gained a couple pounds back, but quickly lost them again after two days of no gluten and sugar and then a return to about 90% gluten and sugar free.  This is exciting.  It means that my body can process toxins better than it could pre-detox.  I also notice that my body is more unhappy with me when I do have gluten and sugar.  I always had some intestinal response to junk food, but now I am a little more sensitive.  This is not a bad thing.  It helps keep me in check and reminds me that these things are hard on my system.  I still drink my shakes in the morning, and they usually help settle my stomach when I did not eat well the day before.

I wish it was easier to have days where I eat not sugar or gluten.  Now that I am not committed to the detox, it's hard for me to say no to sugar for even one day.  It would benefit me to stick more carefully to sugar free and gluten free most days.  It's just so hard to say no when I am tired and stressed, and having a bad day, and that ice cream or cookie seems like such a great pick me up.  There is totally an endorphin response.

My energy has gone down a little since stopping the detox itself.  I don't get as many nutrients and it seems that even dairy and corn slow me down a little.  I will probably do the program again to some degree again in the future because eating that clean clearly has major benefits.  Having the program forces me to stick to it 100%, and hopefully each time I do it, I will stick closer and closer to eating that way.

My habits really have changed.  I eat spaghetti squash instead of pasta.  I make more from scratch.  I skip the bread for certain sandwich meals, and I am eating less sugar than I was pre-detox.  Because it forced me to cut this stuff out of my diet I see how I can easily make adjustments.  Now I just have to keep working on my willpower.

One Week Later

It's been a good week.  I've lost about another 2 pounds which is exciting.  It means that even though I have started adding foods back into my diet, my body is still able to detox.  I didn't want to end the detox just because the 28 days were over, or just because I ran out of Arbonne products.

I'm still drinking my shakes in the morning and tea twice a day.  This week I have added in corn, high glycemic fruit and pork.  I did have a few bits of pasta, cheese, pie and alcohol.  I have had no reactions, and am still losing weight.  I am just so thrilled.  I am feeling really confident about my ability to sustain this long term.

I am also in the process of changing some of my family's habits.  Steve was inspired to add more protein to his breakfast because he was so hungry by 10am.  Now the kids are eating some in the morning too.

I've also renewed my efforts to cut back the sugar in the kids food.  I don't mind if they have the occasional piece of candy, but they don't need sugar in their bread, crackers, yogurt, and jelly.  I've limited how much sugar they add to their oatmeal in the morning and started buying the fruit snacks that have fruit and fruit juice as the first ingredients.  It's more expensive, and we are going to have to look at budget, but I'm sick of letting low prices lure me into feeding my kids junk.  I decide what is healthy for them, not some huge corporation out to make money off of my family.

Day 29-- Weight update

Lost another 2 pounds this week.  I'm interested to see what happens as I start adding foods back in.

Tonight I'm adding pork in.  Over the next couple days I'll be adding in high glycemic fruits.  I hope to add in corn by the end of this week.

The program advises that each new food be added in one at a time and that we give it a couple days, watching for change in weight, and overall feelings.  They recommend starting with peanuts, but I don't really eat peanuts.  I might pick up some all natural, sugar free peanut butter next week when I run out of almond butter.  

Dairy, and gluten of course come last because any reaction to them would mask a reaction to other less irritating foods.  Hopefully I'll be able to add them in about 2 weeks.

I'm going to keep avoiding sugar and alcohol at least until Thanksgiving.  Technically, we are discouraged from adding them in at all since they are nothing but poison to our bodies, but I hope to be able to have a little something at Thanksgiving or maybe Christmas.

Day 28-- The Beginning in the End

So I did it.  I made it 28 days without eating sugar, gluten, corn, soy , peanuts, dairy, potato, high glycemic fruits, and any number of processed ingredients.  I love a challenge.  I love proving that I can do something that appears hard.  It feeds my desire to be in control, and feeling so in control of my food intake relieved a lot of stress this last month.  I really enjoyed the process.

I want to take moment to recognize all the friends and relatives who inspired me to take this journey.  I have watched so many totally overhaul their diets and their family's diets with no outside program.  So many of you had no choice, for the sake of your health and the health of your family, but to dive headfirst into the unknown.  I admire your bravery, and sheer strength of will.  You showed me that it could be done and was worth doing, and that "diet" meant so much more than calories.

I have also learned that there is no one size fits all approach.  Each person's body has different needs and sensitivities, and what is feasible for one family isn't for another.  I am so blessed to have found a program that was what I needed at this moment, but I didn't publish this blog to convince anyone to follow in my footsteps.  I hope that this blog encourages you to pursue what you are feeling you need to for your own health, and that some of the information I shared added to your data bank.

P.S. I will be posting a over the next month or so to provide a more long term look.  I love a good "Where are they now?" episode.

Day 25-- Looking Ahead

I placed an order with Arbonne last night to get another package of chocolate shake mix and detox tea.  Here's my game plan:

1.  Continue with the shakes in the morning.  I love how they fill me up, and how easy they are to make and drink first thing.  I would have to eat a lot of eggs to get 20 grams of protein, and I get sick of eggs fast.

2.  Continue with detox tea in the morning and evening for the next week or so.  Drinking the tea helps me wake up a little in the morning, and gives me something to drink when I wind down at night.  Plus, I noticed I lost more weight the weeks that I drank the detox tea twice a day than the weeks I didn't.  I haven't stopped losing weight yet, so I think I still have more toxins to get rid of.  If the tea is helping.  I want to keep it up.  It's pretty expensive for tea though, so I'm going to look for a milk thistle tea in a grocery store.  It won't be as pure as the Arbonne version, but maybe it will still work.  I can go back to the Arbonne version if it doesn't.


3. I am excited to be eating real food for lunch again.  I have been missing it.  I have already planned lentils and guacamole for next week with gluten-free, corn-free chips.  I hope to keep my lunches detox friendly for as much as possible.

4.  I also plan on keeping out the more toxic foods from dinner whenever possible and only adding in the things I really miss.  This week I will be making a minestrone soup recipe I love.  I will be leaving out the pasta, but I might add a little parmesan cheese.  I never really like the pasta anyway.  This detox has helped me realize all the stuff I don't need to eat to enjoy the meal.

4.  I still have a bunch of fit chews and will continue to eat them with almonds as snacks.  They really balance my blood sugar and the almonds keep me full.  It's such an easy option when I'm running around with the kids.

I planto stick to the detox requirements 95% for the next couple weeks because I don't think my body is done cleaning out the toxins.  After that I plan on continuing to limit gluten, and sugar especially.  I'll have to wait and see if any of the other "no" foods cause a reaction when I reintroduce them.

I do hope to add dairy back into my diet.  I've been trying to find a good substitute for Calcium.  I know that I am at risk for osteoporosis because of family history, and the detox diet did not cover than nutrient enough.  Coconut milk and almond milk are decent substitutes, but they are expensive  Milk is still the most efficient option.

This diet also does not account for vitamin D.  I can tell from my fertility charts that I need to start taking my vitamin D supplements again.

Day 24-- Cheater Cheater

I'm watching "Hungry for Change" as I write this.  It's on Netflix and currently streaming free on fmtv.com.  It's blowing my mind a little even though I have heard much of it before.  One of the biggest messages is the addictive nature of our processed food, sugar being a major culprits.

Two days ago, I made a pumpkin pie because we were having friends over.  I accidentally put in too much pumpkin and therefore it was not as sweet as usual.  Because of this, my middle son left most of his on his plate.  I hated to see this pie that I had made thrown out, so I took a small taste.  Not only did it taste good, but I felt, for the first time in almost a month, a serious craving.  Immediately, my mouth started salivating, and it was begging for more.  I had another taste.  The feeling intensified.

After three weeks of healthy eating however, my brain was not totally on board with this craving, so I was able to analyze what was going on and stop myself.  I was cooking dinner for that night on the stove and pulled out a mushroom I had been sauteing and ate that.  Because I had been cooking it with olive oil, onions and red peppers it was sweet.  It stopped the craving.  So crazy.

It struck me how eating sugar makes it hard for me to stay in control, but eating clean gives me that control back.  I love being in control.  I am totally a control freak, so it floors me how much control I was giving over to sugary foods and the companies that produce them.

I'm so grateful that this detox fit my lifestyle because I couldn't have made the switch by myself.  The thought of redoing my whole diet on my own made me want to lay on the floor and cry.  Just putting dinner on the table every night is a monumental challenge.  Most nights I am this close to just being like, "Forget it!  Find your own food!"  This process has made it doable for me.  The next step will be to expand it to my family.

Note to self:  Chia seeds, aloe vera, parsley, and cilantro are good cleansing foods.

Day 22-- The final stretch

I don't want this to be over.

Part of the reason is because I love the routine.  I love not having to think about whether I'm eating the right thing or not.  It has really reduced the stress in my life.

But even more so, I am really scared that I am only a month away from being right back where I started.

I guess the biggest fear is the weight.  I lost another 3 pounds this week bringing my total to 7 pounds which is exactly where I want to be at this point.  But I know any weight loss, especially one so small, is precarious.  Is it water loss?  When I stop doing the detox tea and two shakes a day, will it all come back?

Because I do plan on continuing most of the eating habits I have established these last 28 days, but it is not financially possible for me to continue every aspect.  I hope to find a way to continue to drink a shake in the morning, because it is exactly what I want when I wake up-- something easy to digest and drink, and a little sweet.  It fills me up and gives me enough energy to get me through the first few hours of my day when I can be most productive.  It's double what I would pay on oatmeal and berries in the morning, but it keeps me full longer so I'm not tempted at 10 am to have coffee and a doughnut.

I am also afraid that I will give ground a little at a time.  Part of what has made this detox so easy for me it that it isn't a forever thing.  I have hope that I will be able to add all of these foods back into my diet in varying degrees so that on occasion, I can have that piece of chocolate cake.  But it's so easy for every day to become an occasion.

I believe that the process of this detox, however, has helped form my mental process in these situations.  Last night we had friends over and they brought beer.  Normally I would have had a beer or two even if I was trying to cut back, because it feels special.  And I want an excuse to drink the awesome beer they brought over.  But because I have invested time and money into this process and experienced such valuable results, I stuck to the program.  I didn't even have a sip.  And the world did not end.  It wasn't even that awkward.  The night was still really fun, and I felt good about myself at the end of the night instead of guilty and overly tired because of the alcohol.

That is the main reason I am doing this blog.  I need to read it.  I need to go back and remind myself how I'm feeling now.