ok...i'm writing just to keep track. i know most of you aren't interested, but i'm hoping that this will help, and i'll see my progress...

saturday/day 1 - yesterday was EXTREMELY difficult. i woke up and started my regimine (sp?). we went to the mall and ate there. the girls chick-fil-a french fries looked SO good. but i didn't have any. then they each got a snack that was full of sugary and cinnamon goodness. i went to yankee candle and bought a christmas cookie candle. so, as i'm typing, my room smells like sugar cookies. i went to the supermarket and things that i never wanted before looked good! lol.

anyway, last night was really bad because i started going through withdrawl. (had to be caffiene and sugar withdrawl.) anyway, i was hot (damn near feverish), i had a headache, and i was in the bed before 8p. tiny fixed my snack (i guess they could see i was going through it) and she brought it up and shared it with me. she was surprised at how sweet it was (fresh bananas and strawberries) and she was like "oh, i get it, it sweet but healthy!" then i think i went to sleeo and was sleeping on and off all night.

Sunday/day 2 - i woke up with the WORST headache around 4am. i finally broke down and took a mortin and went back to sleep. when i was at the salon, all i could think about was a LARGE, HOT COFFEE. ugh. we came home, i ate lunch (alyssa tried my multi-grain toast and loved it), and i took a nap. i think that i'm through the worst of it. i've never drank so much water in my life and i'm sure that i will hate salads and salmon by weeks end. i'm waiting for that 'clearer thinking' to smack me in the face. tomorrow will be hard because stress makes me crave pepsi and i have to deal with my clients tomorrow. ugh.

I am proud of you and kinda wishing that I had started with you...

I like this detox diary.

More details - whats for breakfast, lunch and dinner? (I know you mentioned salmon and salads)

*The cool thing is that the children are getting turned on to healthier eating too.

monday/day 3 - ok. it was easier. no headaches. but, i started 'cleansing' so i was in and out of the bathroom all day.

i had juice and toast for breakfast, wheat thins and an apple for snack. i was worried going into work because i normally drive in with a coffee in one hand and and the other on the wheel. i survived. lunch sucked because i left my salad dressing in the car, but i got mcguyver with it and sprinkled lemon juice & pepper over my salmon and salad. (i don't recommend it.) my friends started to take bets on when i would snap (my sugar and pepsi addiction is well-known.) lol. little do they know...

anyway, i got to thinking: i'm not doing this to lose weight, so why am i following the strictest of diets? especially if i'll be back to my old alcohol guzzling, sugar packet swallowing, pepsi can hoarding self come saturday? this is a conversation i had with myself from about 3pm - 5:45pm. this whole thing began to seem like a bad idea. i heard everyone that said that i didn't need to do it tell me 'i told you so'. and granted i didn't NEED to do it, i wanted to do it. to push myself towards a healthier lifestyle. (like wendy would say - you gotta go hard or go home.)

if i wasn't a stubborn woman of my word and full of stupid pride - i would have picked up a pint of haagen das coffee ice cream when i went to the store to buy more fruit and veggies and fish. but i didn't. i just decided to allow regular pasta and white rice in my diet. (damn that brown rice.) so, for dinner i had blackened shrimp in a garlic butter sauce over fettucinne with broccoli in it. it was good.

in all, i think the hard part has passed. the good thing is i am looking a food diferently. i'm paying more attention to the importnce of buying fresh - even if it means extra trips to the store. i've already cut down on processed foods prior to starting and i think that i'm going to make sunday a 'baking day' so that i can make my sweets from scratch for the week.

as a mom, it's hard to say "do as i say not as i do." all my mom ate were snacks (and a bowl of pasta for dinner.) so for me, eating candy and sweets was normal. in my house it's the same - my kids will never be able to complain that we don't have something sweet for snack, although i make sure that THEY have healthy stuff. but i'm hoping that i finally will be able to set a better example for them, instead of vice versa like it used to be.

thanks for listening to my rambling...

day 4 - today was much easier. i woke up feeling light and i like it. juice and toast for breakfast, wheathins for snack, carrots for lunch (i didn't want my pasta, it felt too heavy), more wheathins for snack (i didn't bring fruit to work), and veggi terriyaki w/white rice and miso soup for dinner.

when i started thinking about what i'm gonna eat this weekend, i realized how much meat was in my diet and i see how unhealthy i was. i mean, i would eat A LOT of red meat throughout the week. This litle experiment of mine should change that. and now when i shop, i'm paying more attention to what is in certain products.

i'm happy.

This is so inspiring.

I actually got a taste for salmon after reading it. I never knew salmon was something to consider when detoxing...I actually considered it a meat and when I eat it I feel like I'm violating my veggie path.

since i'm a meat eater - salmon is definitely a fish in my world. lol.

anyway, last night i was tlaking to chris about his detox and he said he still ate the same as he normally did. yeah, i'm pissed. why did I have to choose the strict diet? but...this is a really good mental exercise.

day 5 - i found a new no sugar added drink to replace soda (kind of). fizz ed. it's carbonated water and fruit juice. i have green apple and it's really good.

my lunch sucked. it was the re-heated veggie terriyaki. if my lunch crew ever questioned my sincerity in regards to how i deal with my food - they saw today that i'm really serious. lol. thank god they laughed and didn't get disgusted.

after lunch it got hectic and i actually craved a pepsi. i refilled my water bottle instead.

anyway, for dinner i made homefries, eggs, and toast. even though the eggs were on my plate, i still couldn't eat them. (yay me!) but i just wasted 2 eggs.

i can't wait for saturday. i'm making cookies and i'm going to start drinking mudslides at noon!

What is a mudslide? Sounds like a smoothie?

You are brave girl...Was this an abrupt change in diet? Did you wean into it?

ok. to answer questions:

1. yes. this was an abrupt change. the only thing that i cut out prior to this was candy and chocolate bars and that was 3 weeks prior. the night before i started i had pepperoni pizza and a hennessey and cranberry juice. yum. a friend tried to convince me to wean myself off of caffiene and then sugar, but i can't do that. i have to quit something cold-turkey.

2. my mudslides consist of coffee ice cream, chocolate syryp, milk, and a lot of mocha kahlua. Mmmmmmmmmm.

3. me-cca - you're right it's amazing how many foods have a ton of preservatives. especially fruit juices and jelly or jam. i can't even look at lunch meat the same.

day 6 - i'm really glad i'm almost done. i will admit that i'm really proud of myself for getting this far w/o collapsing. lol. i can't wait to have a bowl of frosted flakes. Mmmmmm.

so anyway, i did my fruit for breakfast and wheat thins for snack. for lunch instead of my trusty spinach salad, i chose to get a veggie burger. wtf was i thinking? my 1st mistake was that i cut the sandwhich in 1/2 and i could see what it was made of. IT WAS LIME GREEN, YELLOW, AND ORANGE. oh hell no. come to find out it was homemade at the restaurant.

so i stared at it. and my lunch crew was like uh oh. and i stared at it. and our resident vegetarian asked if it was the color that was skeeving me out, and i said yes. (i thought they were made with brown beans and mushrooms and soy stuff and looked brown.) then my friend yelled at me b/c it was just vegetables (which i've been eating all week.) so, i took 3 bites and i was finished. i'm glad i ordered french fries. (but i tried it! )this is how i described it: it looked like they took all the left over vegetables, put them in a blender, and then smashed them into a patti.

so for dinner i'll eat a salad. one thing that i noticed that i wish someone would have warned me about is what it's like when i go to the bathroom. it's tmi so if you want to read it check out the spoiler.

Spoiler:

ok, 1st of all my poop smells HORRIBLE. and i wonder if it's a ton of stuff that's been stuck in my colon forever, or if all of the veggies are making it smell that way. either way, i wasn't expecting that particular scent. the other weird thing is it seems like i can feel my body digesting the food because after the rumbles, it's time to go. and it's not like i'm in pain. it's just a different feeling. the consistency is weird too. kind of like a toddlers. i think that just may be from not eating meat, but i'm not sure. thanks to all of the water my kidneys are REALLY happy. hopefully i can keep that trend up.

so those are today's observations. thanks for reading and encouraging me.

_________________
alyson...

"yesterday was practice."
~ jg

day 7 @ 11:44 am. pepsi please.

tizzy, if what you said is the case... . i will cleanse at least twice a year. no wonder folks go vegetarian.

in a nutshell, this experience has been really eye opening. i am re-evaulating my eating habbits and i'll make a lot of adjustments. i see that it's ok to tell my kids "tonight's salad night" just like we have taco night or breakfast for dinner night. every dinner does not need to include a meat or even a fish.

i have a little more energy. ok, maybe a lot. but i'm still not anxious to go run a mile.

i don't think i've lost any weight, but my kids think i did and i just might have lost one of my stomach rolls.

all in all, i'm glad i did this. if i do it again, i won't be as strict with my diet since there's really no need. but i can see this happening again in the spring...without the diary and with the dairy.

thanks for your encouragement and support.

you should be proud of what you've done and what you've learned.