Ready...reSet...Detox

This post is about Polish pottery my recent journey to reset detox my body.  Many of you know I've been on a bit of a roller coaster these past few months.  (ok, a scary, fast, take you upside-down roller coaster.  Note:  I don't do roller coasters. ever.)  I could feel it coming --the aches that never really went away, the bloated feelings, general feeling of “cloudiness” in my head.  Stress, poor nutrition choices, lack of consistent exercise all contributed to my need to get myself back in order.  There’s never really a good time to detoxify; unless you can stop your life and check into Betty Ford.  So, I gave it my best shot and for the past 21 days, I’ve been on a journey to cleanse the icky stuff from my body using food and supplements*.

I failed miserably, and yet accomplished so much! My failures weigh heavily on my heart because I wanted to be completely successful.  The premise of the detox was to slowly eliminate animal products, dairy, eggs, drinks of any sort that aren't just plain water and grains from my daily diet.  Increase my water intake until I felt like a camel and seriously focus on creating healthy and edible interesting meals out of <gulp> Vegetables!   I grew up with some pretty strong rules about food:  always clean your plate, every meal needs protein and grain;  vegetables are optional, fruit is something you pick in season from the tree/vine/bush out back and eat for dessert with your cake.

This was not going to be easy.  Let’s put it this way, “you can take the girl out of Iowa but you can’t take the Iowa out of the girl.”  I. Love. Meat.  (and bread.) 

Ok, so not totally typical
for my childhood, but pretty darn close!
Meat, potato, bread and green for color, certainly not for consuming!

I wanted to follow the program recipes exactly, however, finding certain ingredients (tempeh!) in Germany proved impossible.  And yes, I know I could order miso paste from Amazon, however I needed it for THAT meal, not in 2 weeks!!!  

I travelled while doing the reset and discovered when in Poland, eat as the Polish do.  I had some really wonderful meals and am glad I didn’t try to deprive myself of enjoying the new culture I was experiencing!  It wasn't easy --most menus are full of "vegetarian" dishes but are heavily infused with grains. 

Polish version of the Iowa meal:  meat mixed with grain, wrapped in cabbage with a little touch of edible green

Breakfast was  challenging when traveling since I was dairy free, too.  But otherwise, I learned to love eating 3 cups of fresh cut fruit every day!   Living without meat wasn't such a big deal either, and even living without bread didn't bother me so much --I just couldn't walk into the bakery!

BUT, Coffee?  Seriously?  Give that up???   I'd been decaffeinated for about 2 months, so caffeine wasn't an issue.  Except, I really love a good hot latte in the morning!  My love affair with a nice hot latte is like Imelda's love of shoes.  So, the coffee lattes stayed, although I only had 1 cup a day.  Sort of. (Depends on if you count a cup as a "Venti" or a "Tall")

Final lessons learned:   
1.  Eating more veggies was easy!  A giant salad with extra veggies (instead of meat & cheese) and a light dressing would more than fuel my body thru the day.  

2.  Drinking the water according to my body’s needs (take your weight, divide in half and drink that number in ounces each day) kept me in the bathroom frequently from snacking all afternoon.  

3.  Taking time to plan my meals was key to my successful days.  Planning how to get around eating out...crucial.  

In spite of my "cheating" I lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks.  But more than that, I gained awareness of my food and my choices!  Eating more vegetables helps me feel lighter and yet fuller, satisfied and energized.  I’ll eat meat again, and bread.  But, in better moderation than I did in the past.   

*Ultimate Reset, Beachbody.com