Detox Recap: Fiber, Family Emergencies and a Freakout-Free 30th

A HA! You thought that maybe since I haven't been blogging recently that I fell off the detox horse. Well, you'd be wrong.

Friday Feb. 26th, 2010, marked a month of being on the detox. Now nearly March 17th, and I'm still going.

Here's a quick recap of where I've been for the last month and a half:
* I left one freelance job to start another.
* My father-in-law was hospitalized for a serious infection, requiring an emergency trip to Miami. All is fine now.
* My father was hospitalized for a few days here in the city. All is fine now.
* I finally hit the big 3oth birthday.

For old Liz, just one of these things within a month would have been enough to send me straight to the combination Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins to concoct a donut sundae with 7 different ice cream flavors and bacon on top. But all four of these things happened within four weeks while I was trying to make a drastic lifestyle change. It could have been a recipe for disaster.

But it wasn't. Thanks to supportive friends and an awesome husband, I've stuck to the detox and have reaped the results. In almost two months, I've lost 21 lbs, 3" off my waist and 1" off my hips. My closet is now full of clothes that are getting too big for me...or rather, I'm getting too small for. My husband shrieks "ooo, girl you getting skinny" every time he hugs me. My grocery trips are now reserved for frozen fruit and vegetable purchases...not Tostitos and ice cream (can you tell what my downfall is?). I take at least 15 vitamins and supplements a day and I exercise as close to 7 days a week as I can. All in all, it's been a huge change from my old lifestyle and an even bigger success.

There have been "transgressions" - but those were planned in advance and under control. But I have to say, I've had no slips, no binges and no regret. I can look at something and say I want it...in the way I would want Clive Owen...but not actually go through with shoving it in my face hole. Though I have to be honest - there was one time when I was going to stay with my dad in the hospital and I wanted some chocolate munchkins in a bad way. Thankfully, Jean, Teresa, Katie, Robin and Alex ("the group) reminded me of the work I'd done. Munchkins avoided.

As happy as I am, this is just the beginning. I'm going to be doing this "detox" for the rest of my life.

Why am I still calling it a detox? The term is not descriptive of the diet; I can eat just about everything (including all the fiber you could dream of) except the big no-no's like alcohol, caffeine, dairy, wheat/gluten, sugar, salt and unsanctioned (meaning not organic and hormone-free) meat.

I'm calling it a detox because this process is detoxing me from 29 years of unhealthy living. If it took me this long to get to the point I was at, it's going to take a VERY long time to get this lifestyle change to become second nature. And I'm OK with that.

In the blogs to come, I'll continue to talk about the detox, and point you to some interesting obesity/diet/detox articles that I come across. As a journalist with some knack for spotting trends, I can tell you that I think we're on the cusp of some big diet and detox stories -- the biggest being that people are finally going to get fed up and do exactly what I just did, en masse.

Going forward, I'll probably also talk a lot more about my exercise efforts (I haven't jogged since high school, but I'm doing it now) and trends in that world, too.

And hey, look at that. I turned 30 in the middle of all this. The big motivator to make this huge change ended up being ushered in quietly - exactly how I wanted it. The next 10 years are going to be healthy and awesome.

Thanks to everyone who read this blog and supported me. It's helped IMMENSELY. If anyone thinks they can make this change without help, they're crazier than Rielle Hunter. It's much appreciated.

Day 3-7 recap

This one is going to be relatively short, as I don't have a ton of time.

The rest of the detox week went really well. I woke up with energy for the first time in my life. I was doing yoga every day for 45 minutes, and my refrigerator overflowed with vegetables I would have never purchased ever in my life.

On day 7, I developed a cold. At first I thought it might have been part of the detox, but now I'm realizing it's just a full-on virus. Blerg. I have to say I was tempted to start eating the comfort foods that I would have eaten when I was sick...crackers (gluten-free), juice, hard candies, etc. I was also very tempted to take all the cold and flu medication I had in my cabinet, but I resisted. I knew I would have been flying from the chemicals, and my symptoms weren't bad enough to undo all the hard work I'd done so far.

And then this morning, we got a call that a close family member is in the hospital many states away.

So hopefully you'll hear some more from me over the next few days, but if not you know that it's because of a family emergency.

One thing I did learn from this? You don't have to give up your lifestyle habits just because things get in the way of your plan. I'm still staying away from sugar and I'm still sticking to the detox box regardless of what is going on. And if I have to pack all my hippie powders and vitamins and take them wherever we travel, so be it!

More to come. Until then, love, luck and sugar-free lollipops to all.