As evident by my lack of posting, I’ve been off in my own little world slightly. A combination of factors — the gluttony of the holidays, the crummy weather, my finances (or lack thereof), my seemingly fruitless search for full-time work — has left me feeling sluggish and tired. And not in the mood to cook, which is odd for me.
Not cooking and planning my meals has led to a lot of take-out, many a meal-on-the-go, and dinners that consist of an unusual assortment of foodstuffs from my fridge. Which is my fancy way of saying I’ve been eating a lot of Stewarts’ Cream and Coffee Fudge for dinner.
In addition to eating poorly, I’ve gone out a lot with friends (drinks and bar food galore!) to celebrate birthdays and out-of-town visits and Fridays. I’ve been stressed, I haven’t been sleeping well, and I feel drained of energy all of the time.
So not only do I need to perk up my attitude a little, I need to hit the refresh button on my body. I’ve been reading a little about detoxes and cleanses and all that, and for the most part I think it’s a load of phooey. For a week I followed the statuses of a friend on Facebook who was doing a juice cleanse. Sorry, but the “benefits” of drinking only fruit juice for 7 days do not outweigh the fact that I’d be a HUGE grumposaurus from denying myself solid foods. No Master Cleanse for me.
I wanted to do some sort of literal “detoxification” of all the crap I’d been putting into my body lately, but I was hesitant to call it that. I don’t want to spend a week depriving myself of essential nutrients — that’s just not safe. I’ve decided that, for at least this week, I do need to cut out foods that have no nutritional value. For a week I’m cutting out the following:
- Sugar (yes, this includes my beloved ice cream)
- Bread (yes, this means no bagels)
- Caffeine (yes, this means no 3 o’clock savior in the form of a medium coffee)
- Alcohol (yes, this means coming home after a loooong day and taking the edge off with a nice glass of… herbal tea)
Basically, I’m cutting out my four main food groups. Sigh. A lot of resources recommend cutting out dairy. Like cheese.
Um.
Sorry. I just need to take a moment. The idea of not eating cheese for a week is on par with spending a week holding my breath under water: guaranteed catastrophe.
Frankly, I’m not interested in deprivation; there’s no self-love in that. Cheese is in.
On Sunday night, to help kick-off the eve of Refresh Week, The Boyfriend and I did two things:
1. Ordered a cheese pizza.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, people.
2. Went grocery shopping.
I allowed myself to spend money on items I don’t normally buy because of cost: avocados, a new box of tea, Parmesan (see what I’m saying about cheese?).
Part of my Refresh Week is about getting back in the kitchen. As retro as that sounds, cooking is a good way for me to unwind after a day. I like spending 30-40 minutes preparing dinner for my little family. Plus my two furry boys usually keep me company while I chop, boil, and saute away the day.
I spent my Sunday night planning meals for the week. I’ve got some good recipes to try out, so stay tuned!
