DETOX: ONE MONTH

It has been one month since I started the “detox” . . . and now I’m ready to wave goodbye and continue on my way through this veggie-crazed food journey I call my life. However, the healthy eating doesn’t stop with this post. I’ve learned much from my adventures with raw food, vegan food, green leafy veggies, and beyond. If you’ve been reading the entire series, you'll also see that I've learned you don't need to be perfect to lead a healthy eating lifestyle.

First, here's the month's "detox"-related posts . . .

• Day 1 (Where it all began and Coconut-Carob "Cookies")
• Day 2 (Miso Soup and a typical day's menu)
• Day 3 (Smoothies, smoothies, smoothies)
• Day 4 (Healthy crackers inspired by Oh She Glows)
• Day 5 (Small setback, but still going strong -- Ginger-Miso Dressing recipe)
• Day 6 (January Freeze Series 10K)
• Day 10 (Healthy eggplant chili recipe)
• Day 17 (and still chugging along -- update on progress and new energy chunk recipe)
  

Have I eaten 100 percent perfectly since day 1? No. I'm the first to let anyone who's curious know that I haven't been on a true detox. I've eaten cheese and bread. I've had beers and cookies. But what I did that was most beneficial is increase the healthy foods I consume by like 300%. I've been successful with this task because I've made it fun. I crafted energy bars (full of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and non-sugar sweeteners) and Stephen made amazing hummus. We created a delectable sesame-soy sauce for broccoli dinners. Things that made us CRAVE the good stuff.



On the weekends, we started making our own pizza with a homemade wheat-flax crust. Not only did we save money this way, we also could top off our pie with as many veggies as we wanted. We'll continue to have our Friday pizza-making tradition . . . and I'm sure we'll be healthier for it. In addition, we've learned from our mega-sandwich THE LOVER that vegetarian food can be gratuitous and oh-so satisfying -- man-versus-food style, even.

I've embraced the fact that no workout is too short or slow. Something that for a marathon runner like me, well, it's difficult to accept. And I've started using my new Garmin watch to track my runs. I don't go stat-crazy like Stephen does, but the info helps me see how many calories I've burned . . . how long and far I've actually gone . . . and keeps track of everything so I can look for trends in my workouts.

Along those same lines. Stephen and I started going to yoga together. And we continue to go -- in fact, even later this evening we're attending class at our gym. It's a great thing to do together, it's wonderful cross-training for running, and it just feels good. And, no. I can't do what I'm doing in the photo above right now. This was taken a couple years ago. We'll see if I can get to this point again. haha.

I haven't weighed myself in about a week. For some reason, I think I'm back to just about where I started. Blame it on last week's homemade bagels or a soon-to-be-posted cookie recipe . . . but I'm OK with it. My activity level has gone down since training season, and our new schedule starts on January 31st. Lehigh Valley Half Marathon -- here we come! But weight loss or no weight loss, I'm eating better. I'm feeling better. And I'll likely continue to live longer if I continue to cut out so much butter and fat from my diet.



Overall, the "detox" adventure was well worth embarking on. It got me to try new foods. It got me to fall in love with healthier foods (hello, avocados!) and experiment with some of my own recipes to make them fuller or nutrients and not empty calories. I use less sugar in my baking thanks to agave nectar and maple syrup. I start each day with a generous mug of herbal tea. I'm eating more fruits and veggies. And -- at least from what I gather in my comments -- I've inspired others to examine their own food intake. Any improvement is a good one. And small steps eventually lead to big rewards. So, if you're still on your own "detox" . . . or if you even just thinking of starting one: KEEP AT IT! And I'd love to hear how it's going :)

And if you want to find recipes for some of the healthy foods you see in this post, just visit our recipe finder!



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