I've heard some of my friends talk about the detox programs. No dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine, etc. Sounds horrible, but I'm considering giving a four day detox a try. For the most part I'm dragging myself around in the morning, and I just don't feel the skip in my step during my daily runs. Just more dragging myself around.
The Nixon family recently has a whole new load of magazines delivered to the house as we supported Hannah's magazine drive this fall. One of the articles that sparked my interest in detoxing was a 28 day plan from Martha Stewart's body and soul magazine. I'm not sure about all 28 days of the plan, but I might be able to stick our the initial four day detoxing plan (and then resume my sinful habits!)
During my 4 day detox, I'll be sticking to liquid meals for breakfast and dinner consisiting of fruit smoothies for breakfast and soups for dinner. I'm allowed a solid meal at lunch which suggests low fat protiens (fish/chicken) and lots of veggies. One of my concerns is will this provide me with enough energy for my training? I'm going to start next Monday, and Jack has us running a fairly low-mileage week - long run at the end of the week is only 10-12 miles. Thursday will be my last day of detoxing, and I'm guessing that I'll have a difficult time finding something to eat/drink at Crossroads after "doing the thursday" 9 mile run. Perhaps my detoxing program will be 3.5 days!
After the fours days I'll begin making smarter choices regarding food, but allowing myself moderate intake on the sinful stuff (cheese, wine, coffee). Unfortunately the cleaning diet SERIOUSLY conflicts with my latest obsession with the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks! Tonight on the menu I'm making her Penne with 5 cheeses that looks incredible (a recipe she adapted from the chefs at the amazing restaurant, Al Forno, in Providence). There isn't a single ingredient in the recipe that will be part of my detox week. Let's just say I'll be gently easing myself into this detox mode. Hey, at least I'm drinking green tea right now!
An another article that grabbed was about Elizabeth Gilbert's (Eat, Pray and Love) new memoir - Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage. On one level these self-help magazines and books make me a bit gaggy. I overdid that kind of reading years ago. I found Elizabeth a bit high maintenance, self-absorbed and often completely irrational in Eat, Pray and Love, although I do enjoy her writing. And thank goodness she didn't have any children during her "journey of self-discovery"! It appears she's grown up a bit based on what I read in the article. "I bring an enormous sense of self-accountability to this (new) marraige. The way I was with my ex-husband, and all the men in my life, was that whoever was next to me at a specific moment was credited or blamed with whatever was going on with me. If I was happy, then that person was terrific. If I was unhappy, that person was a jerk." Gotta love self-awareness and emotional maturity! I might just pick it up and give Elizabeth a second chance.
"People - their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations -there I am the expert"
All the dinners were liquid...in the form of soup. Lentil soup was served up on Monday and Tuesday, followed up with a butternut squash/apple soup on Wednesday and today. Both these recipes were quite delicious and surprisingly filling. However, I was always hungry later in the night and went to bed early finding it easier to be asleep and avoid the temptation to snack. And let's not forget about the cups and cups of pomegranate green tea (in my Jane Austen mug, of course).
It was an interesting experiment for 4 days. Moving forward I'll stick with the general plan, but allow myself dairy, cheese and the necessary whole grain carbs I'll need for training, along with a few other necessarily evils (coffee, white wine) on occasion. After all, we don't want to be too obsessive about this healthy thing!
