Getting ready to clean

My campaign for healthier living, a leaner body, and a faster marathon time begins tomorrow with the start of an eleven-day cleanse.  I spent two hours this afternoon at a couple of different health food stores, stocking up on the likes of organic kale, quinoa flakes, and carrot juice.  I've never done a cleanse for more than three days, so this ought to be quite a challenge. 

Since I won't be able to have either caffeine or analgesics during the eleven days, I went off coffee yesterday.  (My last dose of caffeine was a nice big sugary 32-ounce Coca Cola after Sunday's marathon, purchased at a Taco Bell off the 5 freeway on the drive back to Pasadena.)  I've only had a slight headache as a result of this withdrawal, but I feel sluggish and irritable.  I've put off grading student finals until later in the week as a result.  My kids don't need to be penalized as a result of my grouchy detoxing!

I think I'm having quinoa flakes with organic cranberries for breakfast tomorrow.  I'll report.

Comments

[JM]

Wow. Good luck with that, seriously.

[Hugo]

Thanks. I'll need it.

[djw]

How does this work, exactly? What's in? What's out? How do you make the call? I've been going through a sluggish, poor-diet, a bit more alcohol than I'd like few weeks, and I'm planning to train for nothing in particular but just to get into good shape this summer, so a cleanse like this sounds pretty good, but is it absolutely necessary to give up my morning double-shot to make it work?

[Hugo]

Hey, I'm just religiously following what the homeopath suggests. Apparently, a full cleanse means no caffeine, no salt, no refined sugar, etcetera. Organic EVERYTHING. At one point, one week into the cleanse, I'll be on nothing but green vegetables for three days straight.

This isn't a long-term diet, just a way of cleaning out the system to get ready to shape up with a more moderate eating and exercise regimen.

Trust me, come father's day, I'm back on the caffeine big time.

[djw]

Well, that's good. One of my odd personality quirks is that I take other people trying to quit caffeine as a personal affront.

As for the rest of it, an excuse to spend money on cool organic greens and grains sounds pretty appealing, actually.

[Caitriona]

You know, this could be used as a starting point to eating more healthily grown/raised foods. Pastured meat products are far healthier for you than are feedlot meats. When you buy meats that say "Organic," don't assume that they are from pastured animals. There are organic feedlots out there, too. They just feed organic feed.

Sorry. Since we're in the beginning stages of getting our farm on it's feet, this is one of my soapboxes. :-) Besides, even before we began our farm, I was adamantly opposed to feedlots and to veal. (Anyone want to be shut up in a tiny little house from birth, not allowed to run and romp and use those muscles the way God intended?)