I’m sure my future self will thank me one day

{Sorry to be gone so long but I’ve been working on some technical issues with the ol’ blog. All is well now! However, I do want to make you aware of one teensy change. I have turned on comment moderating, so please don’t be alarmed if your comment doesn’t appear after you hit “Publish Your Comment”. It will shortly. Ok, moving on…}

Perhaps you recall that a while back I spoke of a dream, a goal, really. And perhaps you’ve noticed a couple of new images over in my sidebar. {No, really, go look. I’ll wait…All caught up? Ok, good.} You might have even noticed a while back when the image in my sidebar under the topic “What I Am Pursuing” was a picture of that she-devil, Jillian, and her latest phenomenon known as The Thirty Day Shred.

Around my house it is now known as The I Tried It For Two Days & My Body Staged A Mutiny.

Nope, it’s just been too long since the old girl was truly active. My muscles were screaming things at me like, “No, really, we’d like to help you sit down and travel down steps in the next two days! For the love of all that is holy and good in this world, please stop!” So I did. Mind you, I did some power walking in the days that followed but no consistent exercise has been seen in these parts since then.

What followed my flailing leap off of The Shred bandwagon were several weeks of preservative filled crap, general slothfulness and an overwhelming sense of lethargy. Something needed to change but I wasn’t sure what.

Oh, who am I kidding?! I knew exactly what needed to change, I was just too busy seeing how many consecutive meals could consist of generic boxes of Mac & Cheese.

The thing is I’m actually surrounded by people who eat healthy/organic/vegetarian. My sister, two of my cousins, several in-laws and my mom. What really got me thinking was a conversation I had with Mom two weeks ago. She has had chronic foot problems for almost two years now and has had two surgeries in an attempt to get things working again with not much progress. In January she made a commitment to eat better, specifically to eat more fruits and vegetables and less foods that consisted of mostly preservatives. In our conversation I noted that I hadn’t heard her complaining about her foot lately and asked how it was doing. She responded, “Well, you haven’t heard me say anything because since January the pain has gone from a 10 to a 2. I think between eating more cleanly and losing some weight, it’s really helped.”

I looked at the boxes of Mac & Cheese and yet another package of Nestle Tollhouse Ultimates -Chocolate Chip Lovers Cookie Dough lying on the checkout belt at Walmart, heaved a sigh and a switch flipped in my brain.

It can’t be a diet, it’s got to be a lifestyle.

First, I made a trip to Greenlife Grocery {a local natural food store, it’s awesome!} and scouted out an herbal cleanse. I wasn’t going to go too crazy with some sort of massive colon flush-out thing, but I knew from talking to some folks that a general cleanse could be beneficial to get rid of some toxins and such. I found one created by Renew Life called “First Cleanse”. Perfect.

Knowing that the cleanse was going to be ridding my body of junk built up from all the preservative laden food, I have actually been more motivated than usual to eat fresh foods and lots of protein. I loaded the fridge & freezer with all manner of veggies, fruits, fish, chicken and low-fat dairy. I also purchased a package or four of Crystal Light, some yummy teas and vowed to drink more water. The other ingredient to this life change is Benefiber.

I know, it put me dangerously close to the Metamucil. I had visions of me prematurely being eighty-something and wondered if I should go back to the front of Walmart and grab one of those electric carts.

But seriously, when you do a cleanse, they recommend that you up your fiber intake because the fiber acts to trap the toxins and then helps as they are…um….naturally eliminated from your body. Bonus: fiber makes you feel fuller longer. I mix it in my hot tea, Crystal Light and even milk. I’ve definitely noticed that my in-between meal cravings are significantly less and I think that’s due to the added fiber I’m getting through the Benefiber powder.

I’m only through the first week, but I feel different. More alert, sleeping better, less lethargy. In short, I no longer feel like a giant slob. My taste buds are slowly waking up and I’m realizing just how good fresh food is without loads of butter or salt. Or powdered orange cheese. I’ve lost 3 1/2 pounds which is a pretty normal amount for when I first start watching what I eat. It’s unlikely that I’ll lose that amount each week from here on out, but I’ll take it.

Lest I mislead you, let it be known that I did make my first pound cake this past week and served it up with some strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

And I drank some seriously sweet tea. I’ve done some freaky diets in my past and I’m bound and determined that this lifestyle change isn’t going to leave me deprived.

After all, what’s a Southern Drama Queen without her sweet tea?