Swinging from extremes

In the span of just one week, I'm going from this glistening tower of chocolatey goodness eaten at one of my three birthdays dinners this past weekend:

To this:

Yes, on Saturday, January 21st, I'm beginning a 7-day detox and body cleanse with the fabulous Dr. Kate Tenney, my friend and also a Naturopathic Doctor with a practice in Tiburon, CA.  

I've never done something like this, although years and years ago I did do a 10-day-long juice fast.  And just over a month ago, I had the experience of fasting before a medical procedure, and even though the fasting was in prep for a colonoscopy, I do have to say that I felt GREAT for days afterward.  Lighter.  More awake.

We're supposed to set an intention for the cleanse, something which is bound to help sustain me when I start to really crave eating something besides vegetables somewhere around Tuesday of next week.  I'm sure I'll come up with more as I get closer to the kick-off of the process Saturday morning.  Right now, it's just about hitting Re-Set in a big way for this year, examining some of my ingrained habits, and shaking things up.  I've been feeling like an overfed sloth since I've been unable to practice, so if nothing else, this will give me a different focus for 7 whole days.

One thing I asked my husband for as I do this, is a recess on snark about how useless such a thing really is, how unhealthy, [fill in the snarky blank]. Naturally, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is something I've been wanting to try for a long time, so right now is the time for negative opinions to get stowed in the overhead and taken down only after landing on Saturday, January 28th.  Think of it as an opportunity, I say, for him to eat all of the foods I normally can't share a kitchen with.  Kippered snacks come to mind.  Sardines.

I'll be sipping vegetable soup and eating salad and making smoothies out of kale and other pretty green foods, drinking my cleanse powder shakes and taking my detox capsules, and trying on this experience for one short week.  If nothing else, it'll be just that: a brief experience, a chance to feel my body in a different way, with probably a whole lot more awareness than I give it on a regular basis.  Sounds good to me!

For now, an end to towering chocolate desserts.  Their time will come again, I'm sure, but right now, satisfying myself with the memory and the prospect of a super-healthy and light week to come.

XX