Detox Diaries #5 - #7

Well hello there.

Day #5 (Monday) - Got to work feeling proud; four days down and three more to go. After consulting with fasting/detox gurus in the office, however, I realized my little "plan" had some severe shortcomings. For starters, I should NOT have been adding milk or any dairy products to my fresh fruit smoothies. Whoops. Second, it would be okay to add light cardio or yoga to Phase #1, but after further deliberation Cece immediately vetoed that idea... being that I'm losing all this iron and all. Point taken. Finally, I probably should have been incorporating some sort of supplement into my diet as well. Well damn, I can't win for losing. All-in-all, though, Day #5 was good. I even discovered a cute little juice place called Arden's Garden (per a co-worker's recommendation). I plan to frequent this place even after the detox is over.

Day #6 (Tuesday) - This one was tricky. We had a new hire in my department, and as is customary with anything remotely exciting that happens in this department - we had to celebrate. So my boss was treating us all to lunch, which meant I had to find a place that served herbal tea and decent soup - and fast! We landed at a tasty restaurant called Noodle. While everyone around me was devouring stir fry, thai noodles with peanut sauce, gigantic salads and fresh spring roles, I was left with my peach ginger tea and miso soup. I wasn't complaining, though! I'd come this far... and I only had one more day to go.

Day #7 (Wednesday) - This was a hard one. I woke up dreadfully tired, partially because I'd been up late the night before. The New Year had inspired me to be more ambitious with Ruby, and I was in the midst of planning our year together. I had so many things I wanted to show her, teach her, expose her to... Guess I just got caught up in the euphoria of changing a person's life and subsequently lost track of the time. Ah well. I got to work and was slammed from 9am to 6pm. I left feeling just as tired as when I'd set foot on the campus. I've heard that detoxing can be draining, and I'm glad it didn't kick in for me until the last day.

Now I have graduated into Phase #2. This is the "Fruits and Veggies Only" phase. While I plan to still abstain from milk and diary products this week, I'm thinking I might want to incorporate more protein... Sooo I'm allowing beans into the diet (which is great because black beans are one of the best things that ever happened to the human race). This Sunday I'm taking Ruby to a pro basketball game and dinner at Vickery's (also an amazing restaurant). While I've looked at the menu, and determined there are things I'll be able to eat (salads, side veggie items, etc.), I'm not sure I'll be able to completely stick to the "raw or steamed" only portion of the guidelines. They have this sauteed spinach that looks incredible, so I might just have to cheat... just this one time. Don't hate me!

Finally, with next week comes an historic Inauguration... that I will be attending. Three days in DC, however, means three days of eating out. Granted, I'll be able to consume fish and will still be able to maintain a healthy diet, I'm beginning to think some serious changes will need to be made to Phase #3. So, instead of "Fruit, Veggies & Fish Only" I'm going to allow beans, eggs, whole wheat grains aaaaand I think that's it.

Pah! The beauty of creating your own diet!

In other news, my beer belly is 90% GONE. I'm so proud of myself. :-)