Friday, November 1, 2013

Make it count.

As I get older, long-term health is on my mind, and I try to make the right choices to get a best-odds chance of living well for decades to come. I've been a vegetarian for almost six years, and I do love fruits and vegetables. You'd think being a vegetarian would translate to being pretty healthy, but I also happen to love sweets. and soft, white bread. and craft beer. which is hardly ever "light."

So, inevitably, my clothes get tighter until I reach the point of saying "enough." I reached one such point recently, and decided to renew some clean, healthy eating with a juice fast. I've done a juice fast before, and felt really terrific during and after, so it was an easy decision to go this route again. The plan: to drink only fruit & vegetable juices for two weeks -- renew, reboot, detox, cleanse, call it what you want -- and then get back to a healthier diet without all the processed junk. 

A week ago, I loaded up my Trader Joe's cart with fresh, organic produce, got my juicer out of the basement, and started drinking my meals. (Word to the wise: the green juices are easier to drink out of plastic cups rather than glasses, so you don't notice the color as much.) 

The last time I did a juice fast, the first couple days were the hardest. This time it really wasn't all that difficult until day 5, when hunger and grumpiness started getting the best of me. I went to bed early, simply to get the day over with. Day 6, yesterday, wasn't much better. I made dinner for the family, including tater tots. There were tots left over, and I so badly wanted to pop one in my mouth. I stood and looked at them. Smelled them. And then, in a moment of steely resolve, grabbed the cooled tots and threw them in the sink, where I doused them with water. Am I so disciplined, or what??

This morning, Day 7, I got up, had my morning grapefruit-kale-plum-carrot juice, chased unapologetically by a Reese's peanut butter cup left over from Halloween. I've spent the rest of the day back on track, in a surprisingly good mood, with my cheating heart appeased. 

Super glad I cheated with a Reese's instead of a tater tot.

No comments: