Day 8 - Spring Cleaning (Reflecting on Lessons Learned)

Read my previous Sugar-Cleanse Blogs:

Day 1 and Introduction

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8: I felt a lot better this day, perhaps I can give credit to the vegetables for a speedy recovery! It was a pretty uneventful day, and I have to admit, I've lost momentum on finding new recipes and ways to eat sugar/carb free. It's probably due to the fact that I know I only have a couple days left, so I might as well just stick to the usual things I've been eating over the course of the week.

We had some company over for lunch, and while I stuck to my "diet" and ate brown rice with my meat and had no dessert, they asked "So why are you doing this cleanse?"

Off the top of my head, my responses were: energy, better health, control cravings, and to detox.

I think, having considered my answer, my top reason is CONTROL. There have been far too many times over the years that I've been found wondering what I was thinking when I ate another helping of dessert, or finished off that box of chocolates or raided my stash of licorice for the 5th time in one day. While I don't eat an extraordinary amount of food, causing me to put on hundreds of pounds like some binge-eaters, to me, it's still a binge when I come out on the other side realizing "I didn't really need to eat that." Don't get me wrong, I LOVE treats and can't see myself ever becoming a vegetarian or health-nut that doesn't eat chocolate and cookies and steaks and wings and all manner of deep-fried delights. However, I want to be in control. I want to be more logical about my food choices, and not eat something just because I FEEL like it.

I've had to discipline myself to stick to this plan, and the biggest problem has been in my mind. It's like there is a little voice warning me that if I don't give in now, and eat some chocolate, I might never get a chance to eat chocolate again! Of course that is ridiculous, but in the same way that there isn't a monster under the bed of a 4 year old, it's pretty hard to convince them otherwise. My feelings and my body have done their best to persuade me this past week, but thankfully my logic has won!

While I'll certainly be thankful if my body has been rid of some vicious toxins and my health is better and I'm more energetic, I'm most thankful to have taught myself more self-control. It's worth it.