Dani Spies

Day one went just fine.  Nothing to exciting, although I did have a little headache the first half of the day.  Maybe that was a result of no caffeine.  I do love my morning coffee:).

This whole idea of cleansing really gets me thinking about the difference between our physical needs for food and our mental/emotional needs. This is definitely a topic that I could explore all day.  I find that food and our eating habits very much mirror our habits in all avenues of our lives.  

For instance, people that are moderate with their eating and tuned into their bodies tend to be moderate and tune in with their jobs, relationships, etc. as well.  On the flip side, people that embody the "all or nothing" mentality with food and diet tend to mimick this  behavior in the other avenues of their lives.  There is a major struggle with control with the "all or nothing-ers", believe me... I 've been there.

I have waivered between both worlds in the past.  I spent years in the all or nothing cycle of dieting and eating but eventually began to realize that it wasn't working for me.  I read every diet book on the shelf...every nutrition book, worked out all the time, knew everything there was to know about nutrition and diet yet I could not apply the knowledge in my own life.  So clearly it was not about the physical it was about "what the hell was going on in my mind" that was creating the problem.  The rules, the boundaries, and the expectations that I was placing on myself were causing me to crash and burn everytime.

The point is, I think that for many of us we have to take our focus off of the food and the eating in order to really make progress with our diets and our health.  The focus needs to shift from our plates to our perceptions, the patterns and behaviors that cause us to turn to food.  Afterall, the body follows the mind and if the mind is going "crazy" guess who's right behind.?!

I have been debating whether or not I wanted to do any type of cleanse this spring.  I have done cleanses in the past and know they can be challenging to say the least.  Acually, the only type of cleanse I have done in the past is the Master Cleanse.  If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a ten day fast that consists of drinking a lemonade made from fresh lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.  I personally find this to be a VERY challenging cleanse and wasn't looking for something so extreme this time around.

I was bopping around researching different types of Spring Cleanses and finally decided to just make up my own.  There are no real rules with my cleanse other than I am going to avoid caffeine, dairy, eggs, sugar, meat, alcohol and any processed foods for the next week.  

I find that cleansing is as much if not more a psychological as it is a physical challenge. I think about food A LOT.  Like a lot, a lot.  Other than the fact that my career is based around food, personally I am always thinking about food; whether it be my next meal, going to the grocery store, or what I want to cook up next, my mind is some how always on food. So for me a big part of doing a cleanse is mental.  I just want to take a mental break from food for the next week.

I'm just going to keep things simple...fruits, veggies and maybe some whole grains, we'll see. I'm gonna journal about the week so if any of you guys have any questions or thoughts feel free to send them my way!!