Day 9: I Need a Break

It's actually Day 10 as I write this, but as the title implies, I needed a break last night.  As it turns out, Friday nights on this detox are the toughest for me.  Friday nights are all about cutting loose and celebrating the end of another work week and the beginning of the weekend.  We often go out on Friday nights, eat whatever the hell we want, and toast the end of the week with drinks.  But now, while in detox-land, Friday night is just like any other night: come home, cook, wash dishes, go to bed.  

I just couldn't do it last night.  I had to find a way to mix up the monotony and "celebrate" Friday as I usually do.  So, rather than cook like I had planned, we scrounged up enough leftovers in the fridge for two plates of dinner and then had date night on the couch watching a movie.  I can't tell you how much I needed that night off from cooking!  That was my way of cutting loose and celebrating the end of the week.  Totally wild, I know.

Other than needing a break, day nine was pretty uneventful.  The box of donuts was still on the kitchen table at work in the morning, with a measly 1/2 donut still in the box (who the hell leaves 1/2 donut in the box??).  Thankfully my fellow detoxer L went right ahead and threw that box in the trash.  Later in the day, L announced that she was down a belt notch!  This was the first real physical change that any of us had noticed, and was a nice nudge of encouragement to keep eating bacon, butter and coconut oil.  

After work, while the rest of the east coast was heading to happy hour, I headed to Barnes and Noble to buy myself a Friday treat.  As I mentioned in my first detox post, this 21 day cleanse I'm on is based on the paleo way of eating.  I'm not interested in doing the work of eliminating sugar and grains for 21 days and then eating cake, pizza and pasta on day 22.  I'm interested in learning more about the paleo lifestyle and incorporating some of these detox habits into my everyday life.  I'm not one to give up anything 100% of the time (no dairy? no thank you!), but I can certainly make a conscious effort to decrease my intake of certain foods in the name of good health.  So, after doing some preliminary research, I decided to buy a book called The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.  I'm about 35 pages in and am already totally smitten with his science-y yet funny style of conveying information.  Can't wait to devour this book and implement some long-term changes.

The only other noteworthy part of yesterday was a dinnertime observation: my appetite has decreased.  I used to have snack-attacks like nobody's business.  Goldfish crackers in the morning, something sweet in the afternoon, tortilla chips before dinner, and so on.  And then on top of it, my meal portions were fairly sizable and I would always clear my plate.  Now, I have one snack, usually nuts or nut-flour crackers, and my three meals.  I'm finding that I can no longer clear my dinner plate if it's the same sized portion as I usually have.  Last night, I could only get through half a plate of leftover spaghetti squash before I had to call it quits.  I'm just not as hungry as I used be.  I think it has a lot to do with replacing all of those empty calories and grains with plenty of good fat, protein and veggies.  I'm satisfied, plain and simple, and it feels great.

Rather than sign off and head to bed, I'm gonna sign off and start day 10 with a round of  egg muffins.  I'll check back in at the end of day 10 and will report from the official halfway point.  No turning back now!