Good Afternoon Everyone!
Ok, wow, I made it to Day 6 of the Master Cleanse! Who knew?
So, I am still on it, still doing great and still full of energy. I played soccer last night and the only issue I had was I had to pee during the 1st half other than that, my energy level was high and normal and all good.
Wow, I am really impressed with this cleanse! I can't believe it and I am just floored by it. Last night instead of doing the salt water flush because I got home from soccer so late, I did a cup of Smooth Move tea instead. Ok, the name just cracks me up...anyone else think that is really funny?
I also started one of the July books for book club last night too as I laid in bed sipping my Smooth Move tea. Our book club is reading a book by Laura Flynn called, "Swallow the Ocean". It is really so far a good book. It seems to be interesting as it is a true story, which I like, about a mother who is slipping into schizophrenia in front of her 3 daughters. It is listed as a memoir, which I don't normally like, so we will see if it turns out good or not.
As I read books from our book club, I do list them on the blog site and rate them so, if ever you are looking for something to read, please check out that list. I am not sure I will read the other book for July book club. I can't remember who wrote it but, it is called "Austenland". I had no clue what it was about but, after reading the back cover, YUCK, no thanks. It is some dumb book about a woman obsessed with Jane Austen and her books and wondering if she will ever meet her own Mr. Darby from Pride and Prejudice. What?! She is hoping her fantasy Austenland will bring her a man or something like that. Ick, gag. SO not my type of book. My husband laughed when I read the back cover to him. To me it sounds like a romance book that some high school girl would read....love you girls in my book club but, icky on the book :-)
Ok back to the cleanse for a little bit. I am really still wanting to eat. However, not the humongous amounts I used to eat or the crap either. I have not craved sugar or candy or anything since the cleanse started. I really just miss eating with my children. Steve and I were talking this morning and I told him I would probably continue drinking this lemonade deal as a meal replacement. He said he read that a lot of people do that after their cleanse. So, my thought is after Monday when we end the cleanse, I will probably go back to eating breakfast and dinner which are two of the main meals in our family and we eat them together. Then, for lunch I will just have my 'lemonade' instead of a meal. I don't really like lunch all that much anyway as it is mostly a sandwich meal and since I don't eat wheat...who cares if you don't eat at that meal?!
We also got another good piece of advice on eating which made a lot of sense to me, might not to you but, here goes anyway. A business contact of Steve's was telling him that when he lost all of his weight, he started thinking of food very differently especially his meals. He said to think of your stomach like your gas tank on your car. Instead of every time it gets a little low and then filling it up all the way full, let it get empty and then only put $3-5 worth of 'gas' in it at a time. (I told Steve there is a BIG difference between $3-5 worth of gas in our convertible vs our Yukon...I told him I didn't think I could live on $3-5 worth of 'gas' in the Yukon but, definitely that much in the convertible. See...$25 fills our convertible, it takes $75 to fill the truck)
So, you let yourself get hungry before you actually eat something but, then you only put enough food into your stomach to get it off of empty. You never want your stomach to be 'full'. I like that analogy. Steve and I were giggling when he told me about it because we both are the type of people that like to feel like Thanksgiving everyday. We like that over stuffed feeling people normally get just once a year at Thanksgiving....that is why it is one of our favorite holidays!
So, I will now start thinking of my stomach as a gas tank and only put $3-5 worth of 'gas' into it when it is empty. That to me means ordering the 1/2 salad instead of the full, eating off the appetizer menu instead of the full dinner menu and sharing dishes with my hubby. It is going to take a lot of retraining as me just typing this I am protesting sharing anything when it comes to food! Isn't that pathetic?!
After the cleanse I am also going to live by the rule I used to have for years and for some reason gave up on. But, the rule is to always drink, at least, one full glass of water before eating anything. Did you know that most of the time when you think you are hungry your body is really just thirsty? So, if you drink a glass of plain old water first, your hunger might just go away.
This is the hardest part of any life change....actually changing your life. It is easy to diet, it is easy to cleanse, those are only temporary! But, to actually make a change in your life, that is difficult and requires a lot of changing the way you think about things. I am a gorger, it will be difficult to believe I can live on small portions and be happy but, I can and I will.
Blessings to you all and please continue to cover me in prayer! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
-Liza
