Spring cleaning

Society6

System purge and flush.  This week I have been participating in a metabolic/insulin cleanse, a kind of reset / spring cleaning for my body, particularly after the rough time it had in February.  The past few days (and next few days) are all about protein and green vegetables and no carbs or sugar.  Those of you who know me know that I don’t typically eat badly - my diet (I also hate the word “diet”) during the week is mainly vegan.  I can’t remember the last time I ate a hamburger or slice of pizza and I promise I’m not even sad about it (and the last time I had fully loaded nachos was only three weeks ago so there’s also that).  Since my parents have been vegetarian ever since we were young children, eating this much pure protein, with very little added fat in the rest of my diet, is a new experience for me and befuddling for my body.

The cleanse in and of itself is not a difficult one as there is no quantity limitation.  If one prepared all allowed food in advance, it could be very straight forward and easy to stick to.  The trick, as with it is in life, is to avoid opportunities for slipping up.  At home, I’m in a controlled environment.  There are no random French baguettes or almond croissants lying around, beckoning me with their flakiness.  All of the rogue Swedish fish have been disposed of properly.  However, in the office, temptation lies around every corner.  It’s painful to visit sites like tastespotting.com or foodgawker.com, which I usually frequent daily for recipe ideas.  Glass cut bowls of dark chocolate and clementines are perched on the admin’s desk.  Brownies and cookies and potato chips (let’s not even talk about the pasta) were catered in for lunch today.  I have even successfully avoided alcohol during a happy hour this week - it’s like I don’t even know myself anymore.

So far, the biggest surprise of this cleanse was how irrationally angry I felt, especially during the first few days.  Lack of carbs and fat made me extremely irritable and impatient with the entire world, whilst at work, driving, and even casual conversations with people.  Of course once you let people know that you’re on a cleanse, they understand the change in mood, nod their heads understandably, and give you their own rendition of a similar experience.  It’s as though the cleanse is of negative feelings instead of the toxins in your body - they all just need to get out.

I’ve been able to add fats to my diet and feel so much better about it.  And when you add in the eggs and bacon and turkey meatloaf that JR has cooked, I quite feel like I’m eating regularly again.  But if a stranger on the street offered me a loaf of bread right now, I think I would gladly jump into their unmarked, windowless van.