END OF THE CLEANSE

I'm done with my 21 day cleanse. Actually I was done last week, but I have been to busy stuffing my face with food ever since. Counter-productive I know.

I weighed myself around the 17 day mark and I had lost about 3 pounds, then I promptly gained it all back this past weekend. For this I am so mad at myself. I did so excellent, eating my raw fruits and veggies and spicing things up with different types of salts and homemade sauces and then I go and ruin it all.

In my head I knew that my cleanse was over and I wasn't accountable to my friend I did it with anymore. I became accountable only to myself and I totally let myself down. But! I learned a few things along about myself and about the world of whole foods.

I learned:

• I, myself, get an awful dizziness if I go too many days without either a larger amount of protein or whole grains. I'm not sure which one it was but when I added more protein and grains the dizziness went away. If I do this cleanse again I'll make sure I up the protein powder and make sure I get in some whole grains.
• Eating whole foods take some effort, but it's worth it. There's nothing better than filling your belly with fresh strawberries. No sugar or anything, just fresh strawberries. I did best when I bought a ton of fruit and veggies and prepped everything in advance. Then when I got hungry I could go straight to the fridge and there would always be something ready for me.
• I learned that I have the willpower to not snack at night on stuff that's not good for me. It's just mind over body.
• It was so awesome that I felt so virtuous, light and healthy when I ate whole, natural foods that weren't vacuum sealed, processed or unrecognizable.

In an effort to keep this going (after my wreck of a weekend) I bought a cookbook I've actually been thinking about buying for a long time. It's really and uncookbook. Nothing is heated above 104 degrees. I have most of the tools I need to make all the recipes in this book and I now I know that I just feel better when I eat whole foods.

I became more in touch with how food comes to my grocery store and how far it travels. I researched why organic is best, even if it is more expensive. I decided I don't mind spending a bit more on good, quality, pesticide free food because really I'm investing in my health and isn't that a prized possession? I watched an excellent documentary called The Future of Food and I was surprised and shocked and it fueled my fire to plant my own garden. If you have some spare time (about 1.5 hours) please watch this film. It's so interesting.

I'm not even close to be a perfect eater. I doubt many people are. I still plan on having a package of Twizzlers at the movie theatre on occasion and I'm sure I'll make (another) batch of brownies sometime soon that are full of sugar. But I gave myself a gift of knowledge and the awareness of what's best for me and I think that's the important thing. Especially when I intend on using that knowledge to make life better.

Recently a few people I know have begun to make small changes in their diets such as eating less meats, cheeses and other things that I believe are just not good for your bodies and I'm so impressed. One family member is even transitioning to being a vegan! Once we all take a step back and really look at how we care for our only body I think the world will be a better place. People will be healthier, happier and more able to give of themselves on a large scale. Changing the way we've done things for generations is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves and to our children. We just have to have the knowledge and the want to change.

On a side note: I discovered that I don't mind raw broccoli like I thought I did. But, I still hate beets.