the cleanse

I've mentioned a couple of times that I was going to put myself to the challenge of the Whole Living 28-Day Action Plan. Today was my first full day (and I promise the only day that I will document the food I've consumed in such detail - this is not a detox/diet blog!)

So much of the purpose of starting this blog was to encourage me to stay positive and reserve a space for things that make me happy. I started blogging here a couple of weeks before I left a job that was causing major problems for my wellbeing, and the start of several months of (cherished!) unemployment. Which is to say, this is and always has been an effort to accentuate everything in my life that is good, and as a result (as with so many blogs) only show a very consciously edited version of my day-to-day that may gloss over or flat-out ignore anything in my life that's bad. Well, today I'd like to pull back the curtain a little bit, and share some of my motivations behind undertaking such a drastic mind/body transformation as this action plan/challenge/detox/cleanse. I think that sharing them here will shame me enough to stick with the plan, and keep the lifestyle changes I plan to make through this process last much longer than the 28 days.

So. Full disclosure. The reason I'm doing this challenge is because I've picked up some really terrible, unhealthy habits over the past 3-5 years. Although I've recognized how bad they are for me, I've also made excuses for them and allowed them to become ingrained so deeply that they seem unchangeable. These habits include:
-eating hardly any fresh produce in my meals, despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian
-eating the same portion sizes as Cameron, who expends about 1000 times more energy than I do in a given day from walking everywhere and working as a carpenter, and is, you know, a man
-eating kid's cereals/sugar cereals every morning for breakfast (all. my. life.)
-watching a TV show during every meal that I eat at home, and because I live in a studio apartment and have a problem keeping table surfaces free of clutter, that means eating every meal sitting on the bed, from a TV tray
-spending at least 95% of my working days sitting in a chair in front of a computer, and at least 95% of my workday evenings sitting or laying in bed, watching TV, internetting, reading, or sleeping, so if you do the math here I'm...
-getting alarmingly little physical activity in any given week, even in months when I'm attempting (usually failing) to go to the gym, or in good weather when I get out of the house more on the weekends
-eating out for lunch every single day of the working week; terrible not only for the food habits but also for my finances
-being a picky eater, and being reluctant to try foods outside of my standbys
-maybe the worst habit of all - never learning to cook anything except spaghetti, frozen pizza, microwaveable meals and canned soup! As noted, I eat out a lot, and at home, Cameron cooks all the meals because of a lifelong dread/hatred I have of preparing my own food.

There, I've said it. Now you know my deepest, darkest secrets. Doesn't just reading that make you feel about 30 pounds heavier, and like you ought to go to the doctor to get your cholesterol checked? I know myself well enough to know that the only way I'll ever change these habits is a) a full immersion, baptism-by-fire plan for change that forces me to drastically alter the way I do everything, b) a detailed, step-by-step process designed by experts to do so, and c) accountability - from my partner in cleanse, Cameron, and by writing it out on this blog.

It boils down to using an extreme short-term method for getting to very simple long-term goals. They include:
-eating lots more fruits and vegetables
-becoming comfortable in preparing more meals myself
-testing out more varied recipes that I can add to the current rotation of favorite meals
-being physically active in some way at least half of the days of the week
-eating dinner at the kitchen table

I've now written a novel on my intent for the cleanse, so I'll save more of the non-food details for sharing later (if at all). If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading, and feel free to send encouraging comments or thoughts my way this week as I detox my life. Your support is appreciated.