Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Last Supper

Here we are, four of the many cleansers, enjoying a final-night vegan, gluten/sugar/caffeine/dairy-free meal:

(Elise, Yunah, Leslie, Mary)

We had so much fun!  (The cleanse may have been worth it for this dinner alone!)  We had the most amazing food at Gracias Madre.  SO GOOD.  And I think we all look smashing, don't you???

As I count down the hours (yes, just hours!) until my cup of Peet's, I am coming to some end-of-cleanse conclusions:

-- I have a lot of discipline.  I always knew that I did (I work from home, after all) but abiding strictly to the cleanse restrictions was a great reminder.  Just call me Will Power Wilma.

-- Many people have said, "I could never do that cleanse at this time of year."  However, I think this was a GREAT time of year to do it.  I may not have lost a ton of weight (though I do think I lost a little), but when I think of all the food I *didn't* eat, I realize what an ideal time it was to do this.  I seriously must have said "no thank you" to about 30,0000 calories in the last 21 days, calories that I *definitely* would have consumed otherwise.

-- I am definitely going to be more mindful about what is in my food.  For example, I discovered that the TJ's cinnamon raisin bread I normally eat every day has 17 grams of sugar per slice!!!  I had no idea.  And I can easily enjoy salads without eggs or cheese.  And I can make my own salad dressing sans sugar.  Also, while I may not become a vegan or even a vegetarian, I am more learned about animal-based food products.  For example, did you know that the employee turnover rate at slaughterhouses is 100 percent a year?!?!  That is profoundly telling.

-- While I'm clearly not addicted to coffee -- after all, I successfully lived without it for 21 days -- I just really, really, really like it.  I like it a lot.

Sooooo...a few of us have already committed to post-cleanse check-in dinners (really, just excuses to eat delicious food) and a number of us are up for doing the cleanse again next year. 

Who else is in?

Thanks for joining us on this journey!  Leslie

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