Ten Things I Learned from doing a Detox Diet

First things first, Diane Craver, you won the drawing again! So choose your shirt. :)

If any of you have seen my posts on fb lately you might be aware that for the past eleven days I've been on a two-week detox diet. My teenage daughter wanted to try it and she "encouraged" me to join in for moral support. The restrictions were no sugar, salt or wheat. No red meat, unless grassfed and then only in very small portions. Initially my daughter and I chose to abstain, but later we added it because I was getting a little loopy from lack of protein. (Lucky for me we raise grassfed cattle and have a freezer full of beef). No chicken -- a rule we also broke at the halfway point b/c another detox diet said it was okay, and b/c of the loopy reason. Only fresh caught fish. Absolutely no dairy. Nothing canned. Frozen or fresh fruits and veggies were okay, but no dressing. No butter. Nuts were allowed if they were unsalted. Absolutely no bread -- this falls in line with the wheat thing, but I feel like I need to stress it. ABSOLUTELY NO BREAD! (I love bread). Nothing with any kind of preservatives. A wee little bit of olive oil could be used for cooking, but nothing else.

Well, adhereing to it has certainly been a challenge -- especially at 2am when I'm up writing and my stomach starts to growl (one night I baked fish at this hour) but I have made some interesting observations regarding food, and a few adjustments to my lifestyle.

1.) You don't need a lot of salt to make food taste good, but you do need a little.
2.) Potatoes NEED butter and cheese (and salt).
3.) Vegetables actually taste good if you're hungry enough. This is probably the biggest change to my lifestyle. I've never hated veggies, I just haven't been that crazy about them. But, since I was forced to get a little creative this week, I actually made up some recipes that were pretty darn good. However, they'll be even better when I can add just a wee little bit of salt.
4.) The egg is a near perfect food and I still don't understand why it's not allowed on these diets, especially if it's farm fresh.
5.) Nuts need either salt or chocolate, preferrably chocolate.
6.) Drinking coffee, for me, is more of a habit than a like, and I can deal with less.
7.) Honey works really well as a sweetner.
8.) Fresh fruit is really yummy, but after several days of eating it with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and in between meals to try and stay full, it gets a little boring. And the fruit acids eat away the lining of your mouth.
9.) I REALLY MISS BREAD!
10.) Desperation spurs creativity and a willingness to try new things. Case in point, my daughter and I now like diced mushrooms, cooked with diced onions and lots of oregano, and served over raw spinach.
11.) I know the title says ten, but this one is really important. Adequate protein ingestion is essential to brain function. After witnessing me my family will attest to this, but please don't ask them to. It's embarrassing and they enjoy it too much.

So, overall I'm glad I gave this a try. It's made me think twice about what I put in my body, and I do see myself making a few adjustments. I also think it's something to approach with caution. While my daughter suffered no ill affects from the restrictions, fatigue and concentration became a real issue for me about five days in. But, I'm glad to have discovered this. There's a heredity in my family for certain vitamin deficiencies due lack of absorption, and I've never been tested to see if this is a problem for me. But it is something I intend to ask my doctor about in the future since I seemed to have had some adverse reactions.

My last thought on the matter is that at this moment I'm really craving pizza and a Babyruth candy bar.