Me Too You

An unsigned gift

I am sitting here drinking a Diet Dr Pepper, something I really did not think I would be doing just one week post-cleanse. It is a slippery slope, getting back to “reality” and “normal” eating/drinking after really restricting yourself. I’m not so proud of myself just now. But I do love me some Diet Dr Pepper every now and then. Hey, at least I’m not eating Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles along with it, right?

I felt great on the cleanse, which consisted of a “pre-cleanse” period for about 5 days (during which I got rid of the wine, caffeine, second helpings and chocolate binges, and added more green smoothies to my lifestyle) and then a “full-on-cleanse” period for 5 solid days. I post-cleansed for 3-4 days….and I suppose I feel like I’m still sort of in the “post-cleanse” period.

During the pre-cleanse, one of the things I did was to take an afternoon to clean my kitchen. I listened to Cate’s 1-hour audio on “The Simple Kitchen” (a free workshop that she does – I highly recommend it) while I cleaned. I felt like I was already in a good place, having done some of my “pre” work. I had shopped for the fresh veggies and herbs I would need for the cleanse – asking “Where in the ginger root? How about mung beans?” in Whole Foods. Hearing Cate’s voice while I threw out leftover taco meat and wiped down the shelves of my refrigerator solidified things for me and helped me to see my kitchen as a…well, simple and central place.

This was not just about what I would be eating during the cleanse, but also about how the kitchen is the CENTER of my house and of my family. This is true for me more and more. I used to be just in and out of the kitchen, never really spending time there. This, despite my kitchen being literally in the center of my house (we have a “great room” concept, so there is no closing the door to the kitchen or avoiding it – it is there all the time). But I was not really present in kitchen before just several months ago.

On Saturday morning, I called my sister. One of the drawbacks of Robin living so far away is that she is 4 and a half hours ahead of me timezone-wise. In this case, however, I used this to my advantage. I was just getting up, but she had been up for hours and had already done the first item on the to-do list for the cleanse – the salt water flush. She and her husband had both done it, with good results – the results being that the heaviness of the sea salt completely cleans you out. I turned on my kettle and sat down with a mug of sea salt water. Um…ew. But it wasn’t terrible. It also did not work for me. What?! Later in the day, I reported my lack of results to Robin. It took us a while to figure out that I hadn’t used enough salt. Oh, fantastic, I get to do it again! This time, I only had to drink half a gallon of the nasty stuff and voila.

In the afternoon, I dusted off my juicer – literally, it had been sitting on top of my dryer for at least 2 years and was caked with dust – and Jeff and I figured out how to make Green Lemonade. Pretty tasty (sweet apple, celery, kale, ginger root and lemon – the lemon is key, by the way)! Ok, I could do this.

Ingredients for Green Lemonade

I feel like I need to do a quick aside here…. Let me just say that I am not a fan of boxes and herbs that you buy in the health food store as cleanses. This cleanse that Robin and I did through Yogahealer was a “Living Foods” cleanse. We mostly drank juices and hot peppermint tea. We had some soups and salads as well. We did not take any “supplements” – just add tons of fruits and veggies. Guided by Cate Stillman at Yogahealer (Cate was one of my yoga teachers over the summer at an amazing workshop we attended), it was challenging for sure, but very supported. The online forums that Cate moderates as part of the cleanse were key. Key. I could NOT have done this by myself, even with Robin. I needed this community.

That being said, I do feel a bit lost now. Even with the post-cleanse recipes and all I have learned (and continue to learn) about what the best things to eat for me are, I am SO tempted by Starbucks cranberry-orange scones and Tootsie Rolls (damn you, cool fall weather and Halloween!). I am continuing to drink my Green Lemonade on many mornings (ok, I’ve had it only twice in the past week…), but find the culture of treats and junk around us incredibly alluring. I want to have a healthy relationship with food and feel ok about indulging in moderation. Is this possible in today’s society of convenience and packaged foods? I know, an unanswerable question. I suppose we all have temptation, right?

I am cooking mainly out of two cookbooks right now – one is the Kripalu Cookbook (Kripalu is a yoga retreat center in Massachusetts that Robin went to last summer and we have made many yummy recipes from this book and online recipe center – largely vegan and vegetarian, very accessible in terms of healthy eating) and the other is The Earthbound Cook, which is a selection that the bloggers at From Left to Write are reading for November. It is my hope that I can find a good balance and to take the things I learned with me to the “real” world. For instance, The Earthbound Cook talks about how to do sprouting, something I learned in the Yogahealer cleanse – I love seeing this stuff as more “mainstream.” I guess my whole goal is to ENJOY the healthy food I’m cooking and eating and to learn more about how my family can eat and cook less packaged/more living. And I think I’m in a good place to do that.

Thanks to all for the support during this cleanse. Among other awesomeness, I came home one day to find the lovely rose and lavender arrangement and unsigned note from a friend (pictured at the top of this post). Thank you to whoever left it! (Actually, I DID figure it out – this nice person is very nice to me and others all the time – she inspires me to be a better friend. Thanks )

If you want to do a cleanse of your own, do a Living Foods cleanse with Cate from Yogahealer, as opposed to out of a box. All right, I’ll dump out the rest of the Diet Dr Pepper and have some tea now…