Detoxify Me!

I’ve struggled with weight and poor eating habits for as long as I can remember.  For example, I think I was in my 20s before I could eat a vegetable other than corn (and like it) and I’ve never been much of a fruit eater because I find different textures in my mouth to be….challenging, what can I say?
It is true that as I’ve grown older – and developed a love of cooking – that my palette has matured but there are still things that are just big no-no’s for me, like kale and turnips and strawberries...and kiwi…and….So, I’ve never been a big fruit or veggie girl.  But bread?  And pasta?  And cake?  And ice cream?
Yum.

So garbage in, garbage out, I say, and lately, I’ve been feeling a little bit garbage-y. 

A friend suggested that I join her in a virtual “detox” group and I quickly agreed, then thought about it. I’d have to drink green stuff.  Once or twice a day.  And eat a lot of salad (not that I dislike salad….but it isn’t, you know, mashed potatoes).  And not drink wine. Ugh.  FOR 28 DAYS!!

But here’s the good news.  You supposedly get your energy back, your skin brightens up a bit, the sluggishness and fatigue is kaput and maybe you lose some weight too.  And that’s just on the outside!  On the inside, the bad bacteria in your intestines (those sugar sadists!) are banished to oblivion, and your kidneys produce more alkaline (good) and less acidic (bad) stuff, while blood sugar issues stabilize, etc., etc.

Now that’s all good.

Even though I committed to doing this, I knew that I could always have a change of heart.  But I wanted to give it a good shake…I mean, smoothie…first.

On Sunday I bought all my stuff for week one, which is essentially a veggie-fruit energy drink, salad, beans, soup and nuts week.  Period.

Yesterday was D-Day:  Drink the drink day.

Into the juicer went the kale (god, I even hate the way it LOOKS), cucumber, lemon, apple, parsley, ginger, celery…and voila!  Green juice.

A sympathetic friend, knowing of my texture issues, suggested a big fat straw as the food delivery device of choice so my lips wouldn't be compromised by green foamy stuff.  I poured the juice that was soooo good for me, plopped the straw in the glass, and closed my eyes.  A big, big first drink through the straw.  I swallowed and evaluated my ability to continue.

Not bad.  Really.

Now it’s not like drinking a vanilla milkshake, or a marguarita for that matter, but the green stuff was actually flavorful.  I realized I had no excuses to not try to forge ahead for now (except for the wine thing.  We’ll see about that).

And here I am.  Day 2 and 26 to go.