Let me first say that moving to Los Angeles from New York does not, as one might think from all the jokes about Angeleno's and their wheat grass and oxygen bars--it does not foster, for many, a trimming down of the waistline. Quite the opposite, actually. Take the following fun fact as example: a New Yorker walks on average of 5 miles PER DAY!! 5 miles a day, people...that's 35 miles/week! That's 1,820 miles a year! On foot. Walking. Burning calories and toning butt-ocks-es. And probably 800 of those miles are logged just going up and down subway stairs.
An Angeleno, on the other hand, averages on a daily basis, I don't know...500 feet? Maybe. It depends how many times you have to go to the bathroom.
Plus, since everyone is trapped in their cars and apartments all day (or, if you happen to be one of the lucky few with steady employment...your office/studio/what-have-you)...all the socializing centers around food and drink. And also drink. And occasionally alcohol. And booze. And sometimes beer. And drinking. Have I said that there is a lot of drinking that happens here?
You get the picture.
So, my mister and I have been feeling the pinch of this. Or, the opposite of the "pinch" actually...the bulge. The bloat. The I-feel-like-I'm-made-of-sausage feeling that comes from excessive intake and rare mobilizing, and so, for the second time this year, we have embarked on (gasp!) a cleanse. A "detox" diet, actually. Not the crazy one where you just drink lemon water and maple syrup, a much more sane one, but still one that disallows: (hold on to your hats...)
Alcohol, caffeine, sugar, dairy, wheat, oats, white rice, soy products, red meat, nightshades (eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms), peanuts and...what else? Um, fun? Yes, I think that's on the no-no list as well.
We've done this diet once before and for three weeks we limited ourselves only to food on the "Yes" list, which is basically brown rice, vegetables, chicken and cashew nuts, but this time we are doing the full enchilada (no enchiladas allowed though)--so not only can we only have foods on the Yes list, we are also only allowed a smoothie for breakfast and a blended soup for dinner. And there has to be a 12-hour window between dinner at night and breakfast the next morning.
!!
It's the soup for dinner that really kills me. The smoothie...that's great...I look forward to that. I wake up excited about that (mainly because I'm starving, as I've only eaten a bowl of freakin' SOUP for dinner. And that was like 14 hours ago.) But still, I'm good with that. The lunch, also good--there is actually a lot that can be done with the allowed ingredients, and it's nice to have a big festive meal for lunch, but the soup for dinner is just...depressing.
Dinner is the meal I look forward to! Dinner means the day is over and the night is beginning. Dinner means socializing. Dinner means--I've made it through the afternoon and now I can relax! Dinner means a glass of wine and something delicious! But not anymore, not for us, now dinner means...a mug of blended soup.
Mmmmmmm.
BUT, on the plus side--I have felt, I think we both have felt actually, that even though it's been hard and sort of just...boring. (Truly, truly booooooring) There is something about eating this way that really does just make a body feel GOOD. I have more energy--or at least my energy is steady, and not so up and down all day long, and a few days this week during and after lunch I have been filled with such a peaceful calm, which feels decidedly physiological--as if my body is sending me a little thank you for not over-taxing it with booze and french fries, in the form of hours of sweet peaceful goodness. Also I just love to say "I'm detoxing" as the explanation for any and all ailments and/or behaviors that occur during said cleanse.
"I'm detoxing."
And we are at this interesting moment, with four days left to go in the detox diet (the name of which, by the way, is The Clean Program, for any interested parties), where we are both fantasizing about all the stuff we want to eat (last night I started spontaneously waxing poetic about grilled cheese sandwiches) and also really feeling like we'd like to keep some or many of the habits we've developed around eating, in place...a small breakfast and dinner and large lunch, meals composed mainly of healthy fresh whole foods....and sometimes in my private fantasies I think, yes, I am going to eat this way forever. Now begins my new life with food, eating only what is on the "Yes" list, finally working my way towards biochemical perfection.
But the truth is...I'm a foodie. Both my mister and I are. We love good food and we love food culture. We love experimenting with foods and sampling from all kinds of cultures and sources. And we
And I wasn't going to even make a yoga allusion in this post, but now I can't help myself...as I've been thinking so much about this in the world of yoga as well...and in the world of art-making, really, in any facet of my life that feels big and important, or that is at the very least susceptible to self-seriousness or grandiosity...how is that one maintains devotion and as deep a concentration as is warranted WITHOUT crossing over into deprivation or rigidity? How is that we can learn to be...moderate?
Because I, personally, do not want to live in a world where a perfect juicy burger and a nice glass of wine (maybe not in the same meal, but you get my point)--aren't allowed once in while....
2 comments:
Me and the husband just finished a three-week cleanse of our own! Very similar, and with similar results-- we both felt great, and have been trying to keep certain aspects of it going. But you know what else was great? The lasagna and three glasses of wine I had Tuesday night, a week post-cleanse. That was freakin' amazing.
Oh my gosh, we're done tomorrow and I am so looking forward to eating some CHEEEEEEEESE!! How can cheese ever really be bad for you? I mean, really.
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