The one day detox

Tuesday:

My clean eating plan went really well yesterday, I ate within my guidelines with fruit for snacks and salmon for dinner. But today, not so good. Maybe because I started the day with butter on my toast? I didn't have morning tea and was starving at lunchtime, my planned chicken and vegetable stir fry seemed too labour-intensive and bland (even though I love it when I have it, it isn't really bland at all) and I ended up having some reheated leftover pepperoni pizza. Then I had a mini Magnum (premium ice cream covered in chocolate) in the afternoon. So basically no vitamins have passed my lips today.

I also haven't been exercising much lately, for nearly two weeks I really haven't done more than short walks. I am trying hard to get some work finished by the end of this week so I can have a break before Christmas (BTW I was wrong about the kids finishing this week, they still have another week after that, but my husband has taken next week off). I know that busyness is no excuse, I have the same 24 hours a day as everyone else and a lot less to do than some. But still, I do struggle to fit in more than a couple of things a day, while the kids are at school. I can do grocery shopping plus editing work, or exercise plus housework, or review a book plus have tea with a friend ... I can't fit it all in. To do my goal of a couple of hours of exercise a day I would have to give up some TV in the evening, or sleep, or playing with my iPhone, or reading other people's blogs or something vital like that. At the moment Christmas planning and shopping has taken up a lot of time too.

Still working on becoming a better me.

picture of pizza by roccospizza

Tender feet and pre-Christms detox

Sunday:

I really need to toughen up my feet a bit. The problem is that I always wear proper supportive shoes with socks; generally I wear my crosstrainers, running shoes or walking shoes -- the only other shoes I regularly wear are only slightly less sporty. No heels, no sandals, never barefoot. As a result my feet are as soft and smooth as a baby's. I have certainly never needed one of those grater things that scrape dried skin off. But on the down side, they can't take much abuse. A long walk, or even a short walk in the heat, costs me a few layers of skin. So I have a campaign this summer to get a bit hardier. I spent a few hours this weekend barefoot, mostly inside on soft carpet but a little bit on grass. I plan to buy some sandals this year, and wear them for short periods at first to get used to the horrible discomfort of the rubbing. By the end of summer I'll be able to stride boldly over hot coals!

I managed to get in a short walk yesterday morning and another one this evening as the roast was cooking, but we spent most of the weekend driving to Sydney to see family and then back again. And eating. On the way home, after our second on-the-road McDonald's in two days, I resolved to do some kind of detox. There are five more work/school days before we are all on holidays a week before Christmas, and I am banning junk for those five days. I had a bit of trouble decided exactly what my detox would involve, but as my diabetes dietitian has advised me to eat a certain number of carbs per meal I have decided not to cut out all processed food; I will keep in bread and pasta. But no junk. My definition of junk includes chips, chocolate, biscuits, cake, deep-fried anything, butter, alcohol, cream, lollies. Pretty much anything from a jar or packet, laden with sugar and/or salt and/or preservatives. I will still have a small amount of low-GI fruit sugar in my tea; I am still slowly working on reducing that. Lots of fruit and vegetables and lean meat. I've found a surprisingly nice low-fat cheese, and I already use low-fat milk.

This is not a particularly drastic detox, in fact it is just a healthy diet that I should be eating the majority of the time anyway. I've been slumping into bad habits lately, yet with Christmas two weeks away I am not ready to commit to a "forever" kind of change. For now, I am committing to five days. I think it is achievable, although there are already some hurdles lined up. I'll let you know how I go.

picture of bare feet by smallestbones (not my feet)

What makes me happy

Thursday:

I decided two days of detoxing was enough. And ate quite a few of my Christmas treats -- little fun-size packs of things Santa put in my stocking. Yummy.

I dropped nearly a kg (2 pounds) in the two days I ate so carefully. Strangely, this kind of depressed me. Partly because I know it was really just water weight or whatever they call it which will probably go straight back on as soon as I start eating normally again, but mainly because I feel like that lifestyle is so unsustainable. Is that how thin people have to eat all the time? Do you get used to it?

As far as I can remember, I have lost weight only a couple of times in my life (the rest has been a slow and steady increase). Just before my wedding, nearly ten years ago, my mum paid for me to go on SureSlim; a low calorie, no junk food, very low-carb diet with weekly one-on-one chats with a counsellor. I stuck to it reasonably closely for quite a few weeks, lost 5 kg (11 pounds), and was tired and cranky and miserable the entire time. Tim vowed never to let me go on that kind of diet again.

Then just before I turned 40 I lost about 2.5 kg in two weeks. I got up at 5.45 am every morning in the freezing dark in the middle of winter to go to the gym, doing intensive exercise like BodyStep, and restricted my calories. Then I hurt my shoulder.

These last couple of days I have lost weight by cutting out just about every food I like. Do I want to live like that?

What I really want out of life is to be happy. So what makes me happy? I think that being thinner would make me happier: healthier, more attractive, fit into nice clothes, more energy etc. But chocolate also makes me happy. And twisties. And KFC. I feel good when I eat fatty/salty food. "Occasional treat" is not at all the same as "whenever I want" (not that I eat junk food whenever I want anyway! But clearly I eat enough to keep me at this weight). So I have to give up a lot of happy to gain another kind of happy. Sometimes it feels worth it. Other times, not so much.

Brown rice and vegetables

Wednesday:

The healthy eating thing is going pretty well. I am at the end of day two. I did have one little hiccup but mostly I have been eating very healthily: lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, brown rice and quinoa instead of white rice or pasta, small amounts of meat and dairy and olive oil, almonds, vegetable soup -- nothing processed, no salt, no sugar, no refined carbohydrates. I do feel good, both physically and mentally, but I have been craving sugar/carbs/fat and this afternoon I caved in and had a piece of raspberry marshmallow slice left over from Christmas. Definitely not on my "healthy food" list. It did quell the cravings though!

I did consider just giving up and eating more junk, but I resisted that. Back on the wagon. Come on, people, how hard can three days be?

Surprisingly, I haven't been craving salt. I have used things like lemon juice, garlic and chilli powder to flavour meals. I expected to really miss my salt, but the only thing I found I really wanted it on was a corn-on-the-cob. It was totally boring with no butter or salt.

Exercise-wise, Tim's new Kinnect was set up quite late yesterday so I only ended up doing 15 minutes of dance and had not gone to the gym. Today, though, I have both danced and done the Adventures game which is fun and really physical. Tim & I are planning another go of that once we have digested our dinner.

I have been trying to drink more (water with a squeeze of lemon juice) but it makes me need to pee so often! It is ridiculous. Today I have had three glasses of water and two mugs of clear soup, which is not really that much liquid, yet I have been to the bathroom at least every hour. Maybe more often. Usually I only have two or three glasses a day, so maybe my body has a lot of salt to flush out. Most days I am not thirsty at all, but oddly the more I drink the thirstier I get.

I feel that this is a good ending to the year and much better than pigging out then starting again on 1 Jan.

photo by babe_kl

Christmas and detoxing

Tuesday:

We just spent three days revelling in the gastronomic debauchery that is Christmas. Had a lovely time with family and food, but it is time to turn the page.

I have made a committment to only eating healthy food for the next three days. That is; lots of plant-based food and a small amount meat, dairy and (good) fat. Nothing packaged or processed, no salt or sugar. I've felt pretty yuck after all the junk of the past few days so I just feel I need to let my body recover. I feel much better already after an apple for breakfast, garden salad with some pepitas and a little cheese for lunch, and a big fruit salad in the afternoon. It isn't many calories, but I haven't really been hungry for more. Lots of fat reserves to draw on! I have been craving junk a little bit though; I still have treats left. I have put them away where I don't see them. Tonight I will have more vegetables with quinoa and a small steak.

Christmas was on Sunday so I didn't weigh in, on Saturday I was 79.2 kg, this morning I was 79.7 kg.

photo by tuchodi