How I Got to Eat Spaghetti on Day 2 of my 3 Day Cleanse

I quit. That’s right, I quit. Rather, WE quit. My husband and me.

And my first thought was, “Argh, I’m going to have to blog honestly about this.” Silly me, plastering my goal all over the internet. When will I learn?

But here’s the deal: The cleanse was going okay. I was feeling the effects of it, and knew that this was what I needed to get myself to get off the sugar/caffeine/general junk track I was on. (See post about Day 1 here.)

But when my brother called me today, and asked me how the day was going, and I answered honestly with, “Well, we’ve got no where to go, not much to do, and nothing to look forward to … so we’re all taking naps. Plus I have a headache from this cleanse,” and HE said,

“Well, don’t you think this was kinda a silly time to do a cleanse? I mean, sometimes going out to eat is all you have to look forward to!”

Amen, brother, amen.

I thought to myself:

I can’t quit–I’m not a quitter!
I need to do this. My body needs this jump start to break addictions and get back on track.
I determined this would also be a spiritual exercise, so I must press on!
I’m so full of good intentions … but really, I just always get sucked back down.
My desire to eat is emotional–for comfort, and out of boredom and worry. I have to fight that!

All these things are true. But guess what else is true? Sometimes, all you have in a day to look forward to is that afternoon cup of joe. And right now, with so much unknown, so much of our life at a standstill, so much of our world turned upside down in the last 5 months, honestly, truly, really, the last thing I needed to commence upon was a liquid diet.

Now, I will say this:

I always avoided the label of “emotional eater” but this helped me realize–YEP! For SURE. That’s me. And actually, I think stating that helps me a little bit. Recognition is the first step!
I will still cut sugar, and work to limit caffeine. I’ve gone two days without either (except for some green tea) and THAT is a GOOD THING.
The shakes helped me realize that it would be a really great way to get “green” nutrients, so I think I’ll look into adding a “green juice” drink to my daily routine. Erik might even too!

This is a pretty extreme cleanse. I’ve done cleanses in the past that still allowed for “real food” to be eaten at one meal (like, rice and chicken) so this all-liquid detox diet was just a lot to chew. Pun intended.

So how did I get from Day 2 of My 3 Day Cleanse to spaghetti? Well, we’d decided to loosen up our standards a bit, and planned to eat like, chicken for dinner. But ended up stopping by a friend’s house. He was serving spaghetti and meatballs, plopped some noodles on a plate, and the rest is history. I don’t even think I regret it!

Lessons learned:

Don’t start a liquid diet when you’re at (what is hopefully) the end of a long desert season and you’re waiting on answers from God.
It’s important to “name and claim” the truth: I emotionally eat. The end. Now get over it, and fight it!
Vegetables chopped, pureed, strained and slurped still taste like … vegetables.
It’s okay to fail. (Recovering perfectionist right here, let me tell ya.) And actually, I realize I didn’t all out fail. I still cut sugar (the day before Day 1, I’d inhaled most of a box of Thin Mints, so … no sugar is a big feat) and I went a whole two days without coffee. If you know me, that’s HUGE. So, no failure here. Trying to look on the bright side.

If you’re considering Dr. Oz’s 3 Day Cleanse, I say “Go For It!” If you make it all three days, AWESOME!