Detox: Day 1

Well, we survived our first day. I really like how this plan eases you into the actual detox. Other plans were cold turkey on all things "toxic," which can really make it difficult to keep going.

I had planned blueberry oatmeal for breakfast, but due to the "prowler" yesterday I never made it to the store for blueberries.

So, whole wheat pancakes and eggs. *gasp* I can hear you Detox Junkies now screaming--Eggs?! Wheat?! Sugar?! Let me again remind you that this plan EASES you into the detox. So, today was no meat, no caffeine, no carbonated beverages, no alcohol, replace white sugar with sugar substitutes. We did have 1/4 cup of sugar in the pancakes, but I'm not going for a gold medal in detox here.

Lunch was delayed due to childbirth classes. When I had a break I gulped down some Naked Green Juice, southwest black bean and corn soup, and an AMAZING salad--Strawberry, Orange, and Fennel Salad--that we found on wholeliving.com. That was delicious! Dinner was also delayed. We had church tonight, which meant trying to avoid the large table of goodies set out to tempt people into conversing. So, we came a couple minutes late, and left as quickly as possible. We came home to rice, beans, peas, more salad, and a hot cup of tea.

Matt also made a fantastic sweet potato hummus that made me all kinds of happy. It will be the best snack throughout the week. (Recipe is also on wholeliving.com)

My biggest accomplishment today (food wise): No chocolate. I'm multi-tasking this detox to also focus my cravings inward and into prayer. Sort of like a fast. I'm seeking out God, His wisdom, His comfort, His desires for my life during this time of cleansing. So, around 3 ish, when I always crave chocolate, you'll find me in prayer instead.

Challenges

1. When we looked over our grocery list we realized it was going to be expensive. Our limited budget meant we needed to get creative. We cut a lot of the recipes we found online, and decided that we'd make beans, vegetables, and rice into an art form.
2. One of our other goals for 2010 is still live more sustainably, eating local, in-season & from our own garden. Obviously, being that it's the middle of winter our garden isn't producing, and most vegetables and fruits at the store are being shipped from other places. This was disheartening for both of us, and we almost rescheduled the detox. I knew that if we rescheduled we may not ever really get moving on our goals. So, we did yet another revision of the list to somehow make it work--definitely had to make compromises on both sides (palatable detox recipes and finding foods that are more sustainable). I'm happy though that we're doing this now, not just for momentum's sake, but also to prepare us to eat what we can grow or get locally later this year.
3. The kids aren't technically detoxing with us, but we want them to try the various new foods we're eating. The hummus was definitely not a hit with them. However, they are thrilled with the "simple" dinner we enjoyed. Eden gobbled up every bite and asked for more. I did include grilled chicken on their plates.
4. Tiredness. Oy. As if I wasn't tired already. I can tell that I'm going to be zonked this week. By 8:30 p.m. I was falling asleep on the couch.

That's pretty much it for today. Matt complained of terrible heart burn, but a papaya enzyme seemed to clear that up. We've both have lots of gas--thanks to all the extra fiber, but that's to be expected. (TMI?)

Tomorrow includes more foods to eliminate, but we're already finding new recipes. We're also planning a family trip to the natural and organic grocery stores.