The Week After

Peppered Turkey Bacon with roasted quinoa & greens.

Several days after my "official" 21 day cleanse ended, I find myself returning to the diet over and over again, and not because my doctor told me so.

Sure, there was plenty of gluten-free talk tossed around at my follow up visit, but as I said to my friend, I refuse to attach to that identity--even if I did get a headache when I left the office and ordered a bagel for dinner.

What I do recognize is that I like the feeling of eliminating gluten and sugar and dairy and alcohol and caffeine and chocolate from my every day choices. That doesn't mean that I eliminate them altogether; but it's this freedom to "choose" that allows me to soften into the choice of caring for myself.

I felt the same way about my commitment to marriage twenty years ago. Knowing that I had a choice each day to go or to stay, made it possible for me to freely choose--every day. In fact, I don't think we said "till death do us part," but we'll never know because the videographer dropped the camera just as we said our vows.

Which brings me to a realization---it's not my promises, but my choices, that guide my life, and for now, it feels good to choose to cleanse my body of toxins, again and again.

And just like my marriage survived the fact that my husband DROPPED me over the threshold, my cleansing will continue in the face of the many times I choose to fall into the arms of chocolate, wine or wheat...

(Ps. here are some titles on the power of CHOICE)

Day 12, Pizza Day!

At this very moment I am enjoying (yes, enjoying) a slice of Amy's Spinach pizza--gluten and dairy free of course.  Unlike last week's frozen meal of Macaroni and Cheese, this one is actually yummy.

 Of course, I use the term "yummy" loosely because I haven't had wheat or cheese in 12 days mind you, and typically I enjoy my husband's homemade pizza; but the crust on this gluten-free frozen one is very "interesting", and crumbly; and I like it.

The cheese is even more fascinating--a mixture of soy mozzarella and ricotta which simply doesn't change it's form even after 12 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees.

The directions require an additional 30 seconds under the broiler to "melt" the cheese--which should have tipped me off.  I left mine in for three times that long, and still, no melting; although some of the pieces wiggled like worms under the high heat.

I put an individual piece under the broiler for an extra few minutes in an attempt to get mine to look like the photo on the box, but I had to resort to eating what appeared to be a piece of frozen pizza. The taste made up for the appearance however. I forgot how much I missed something crumbly in my mouth.

By the way, the headaches have subsided as has the great fatigue, although a sinus infection has taken its place along with some digestive issues--no doubt more "retracing" of my past.

ps. One of the readers has asked about a book for liver cleansing so here's what comes up when I type that into my Amazon affiliate link.  Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

pps. It just occurred to me that I am more than half-way through my 21-day cleanse as of yesterday!