Well, that was interesting...

Yesterday I finished up my 10-day "cleanse." What is a cleanse you ask? Well, it's basically a period when I go on a very restrictive diet in the hopes of cleansing my body of toxins and boosting my immune system. I heard about this idea from my buddy AZ, who does a "cleanse" about twice per year. For a period of 10 days, you are basically eating vegan, but I call it "hyper-vegan" because you are supposed to focus solely on natural, organic fruits and vegetables and stay away from any processed foods. So, for the past 10 days I haven't had any coffee, I've only drank water and herbal tea, I've learned to appreciate Sundance Natural Foods, and I've taken a ton (220 in 10 days) of herbal pills and supplements to aid in the cleansing process.

On the whole, it wasn't really that bad. Of course, there were a few times when I was really tempted to break, like when the whole family was enjoying Dairy Queen on our drive back from the coast or when Missi's dad made some amazing steaks for us this past weekend and I couldnt' touch them, but on the whole I ate pretty well. I certainly feel healthier, and I probably lost some weight too, although I didn't weigh myself before starting so I can't be sure.

So how is my diet changing now that I'm off this cleanse? For today it's not really changing at all. I'm still munching on carrot sticks for snack and having a vegan sandwich for lunch. Tomorrow night, however, we're having a few friends over and I am looking forward to having some lasagne with Italian sausage and cheese.

All in all, it was a positive experience and I'll probably do it again. One thing I learned was how difficult it is to eat this way if you are not preparing the food yourself. Almost all restaurants have vegetarian options, but almost NONE have vegan options, so that made it slightly difficult at times. Missi ate quite a few of the meals with me this time, but next time we'll coordinate and do the whole 10 days together.




P.S. I know I've put up several entries today with pretty generic photos, but I'll try to get some recent pics of the fam up later this week.