Week 1 of the Detox Diet

Saturday Feb 19  Day 4

We made it just in time! I scouted the gymnasium to see if I could spot S, but she was no where to be seen. When they did arrive, S was not dressed in her gymnastics gear. C told us that S wasn't feeling well today and wasn't up to doing gymnastics. Both of us clarified with S that she was still interested in doing gymnastics - just not today. It was important to do this, because today was the deadline for paying for the term. 

I was disappointed that we wouldn't be able to watch S do her thing, but it did mean that we would have a little extra time together. I hope that isn't the reason that S decided not to participate today.  

We have another brunch date in Newtown with our good friend today. We've packed some movies to keep S entertained whilst we chat. K was lovely enough to make it 'Detox Diet' friendly! I brought my own GF bread and helped myself to 3 poached eggs on toast, steamed spinach and some plain yogurt. It was very difficult to pass up the freshly toasted croissants! They're one of my favourite things- especially with butter! K even had some home-made strawberry jam to go with it! Torture!! 

Coffee. It's everywhere. Good thing I brought my dandelion & chicory root 'coffee replacement' tea. Fortunately, K had soy milk that I could add. All in all, we had a wonderful visit and a wonderful meal. The star of our brunch was Lola the puppy! She's a tiny black pug with the best personality! All of us thoroughly enjoyed playing with her.

Gosh, I'm so tired. We headed home to relax and watch some TV.  S picked a movie and we settled ourselves on the couch. Without caffeine and sugar to artificially stimulate me, I was unable to keep my eyes open. I'm not normally a cat-nap kind of girl, but man, did it feel good today!

S was just as tired as me. A quick bath, dinner and a story and she was in bed. G and I weren't far behind her!

Friday Feb 18  Day 3

I don't know if it's just me, but man, am I ever ravenous!! I'm not eating anything that I'm not supposed to be eating.  But when it comes to snack and meal time, please don't stand between me and my food! I'm so hungry! 

I don't seem to be as thirsty as I was before. It's getting harder and harder to get down my 3 litres per day. Most days, I'm lucky to polish off 2. Sometimes, I manage only 1. Very strange. I figured on a detox diet, my body would crave more water to help it clean things out. 

At least the caffeine withdrawal headache seems to have disappeared and I'm able to function at work. I still don't get as much work done as I wanted. Oh well, it's a start.

We caught the train in to work today to save money on parking. So, we strolled through the park on our way to the station. It's a nice 7 minute walk from where I work. 

Home for dinner and an early night. We have to be up early tomorrow morning to head over to Castle Hill to watch S do gymnastics. I could sure do with a sleep in!

Thursday Feb 17 Day 2

Ok, so all of that good stuff that I was feeling yesterday- where is it!? I’ve only just opened my eyes and already my head hurts.  It’s hard enough to get out of bed on Thursday mornings when I’m feeling ok. Today it was especially tough.

J has organised new circuits.  I glance around the room apprehensively. Warm up, stretches and then J leads us through the new circuits:

Tricep:

Hip ext with tiny ball between the knees- totally feel this in the groin and inner thigh

Back extension: on the weight bench

Triceps dips- 20!! How am I going to do 20?

Standing row- leading with the elbows

Jump squats

20 squat & hold for 5 secs

Biceps:

Biceps curls on the ball one leg up, both arms simultaneously

Semi lunge and shoulder press

Hamstring curls

Push ups (on my knees)

Ice skating

Steps with weights

Oh heavens. I feel awful. Part of me wants to plop down onto the floor and burst into tears. Instead, I swallow hard and imagine the impact crying would have on my throbbing headache.  This must be the beginning of the caffeine withdrawals that I expected yesterday. Not good.

I feel like death warmed over even after my hot shower at work.  This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day. I can’t focus on a task for any length of time. I feel scattered and vague. Oh what I'd give for a coffee! How am I going to cope tonight? G & I are celebrating Valentine's Day tonight with dinner out and a movie. I hope I can get it together for that!

By the time we get to our special cafe, the thought of having a decaf soy latte is perking me up a little. There's not much I can eat. In the end, I chose pan fried salmon with roast veggies with rocket salad (no dressing). It paled in comparison to G's chicken schnitzel with fries and salad (with dressing)! But the hardest bit was watching her drink a REAL coffee! 

I Am Number Four. I don't think it quite takes over from Harry Potter and Twilight (like the reviews suggested) but it was a neat movie! I enjoyed it! And, I suppose I'm even looking forward to the sequel.  Most of all, it was wonderful to spend the evening with G. It seems like it's been ages since we've had time out together.  Perhaps 'Date Night' should be on the menu more often!

Wednesday Feb 16 Day 1  Dr Joshi’s Holistic Detox Diet (check it out or google it!)

And so it begins. Day 1 of the detox. What on earth am I going to have for lunch? After rummaging around in the fridge, I settled on tossed salad with lemon juice, raw carrots and 2 slices of gluten free (GF) bread toasted.  Should be an interesting 3 weeks!

My morning coffee. Let’s see, I could have a decaf soy cappuccino. No. Strike that. Not allowed to have the chocolate sprinkles. Got it! Large decaf soy latte! Sold!!  Then, a mug of hot water with lemon juice when I get to work.

Missing my usual Jalna, but now that I’m on the full cream plain version, I know that I’ll survive. The fat-free plain was too much of a change. Even with muesli, honey and a banana, I could hardly stomach it!

Well, I survived my first day at work on the detox diet. Now I’ve just got to psych myself up for tonight’s role play! I have to play a manipulative client. It should be interesting!

Our role plays were fantastic! It’s amazing how much we learn both as part of the role play and as observers! I think this term is going to be very interesting, very challenging and very educational!

Home in time for The Fringe and a late dinner.

Tuesday  Feb 15 – last day before detox

This is it-the last day of my diet. Who would have thought that I would be sad to be off this diet? Certainly not me. But when I think about the restrictions of the new Detox Diet, I’m already filled with nostalgia for the ‘diet’ food that I’m no longer ‘allowed’ to eat.

What will be left if I can’t eat: gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine, red meat and alcohol?? I told J that I’m happy to give up alcohol—after all, I almost never drink! Giving that up would be easy! Caffeine, on the other hand, is going to be killer! Right now, a cup of tea at night or that first morning coffee.  Sigh. They are the highlights of my day!

I’m not keen to give up gluten and dairy either.  Gluten lurks in the weirdest of places!  And if it’s gluten free, odds are it has dairy and/or sugar. Oh well, I’m still open to the idea. After all, it’s only for 3 weeks, or 21 LONG days! Let’s see what J has to say.

The Centre was full of people so we huddled around the front desk to chat quietly. We talked about things that I ‘could’ eat. That seemed to change something in my head. I’d been focussing heaps on the food that I wouldn’t be able to eat.

The time passed very quickly! Before we knew it, it was almost 6pm and we hadn’t even stretched! J took my measurements and I hopped on the scales. The scales are different to the ones I’ve got at home, so I try not to pay too much attention to what it says. The measurements are looking good. J is pleased.

If tomorrow is ‘D’ day, then I’d best head off to Woollies to pick up some supplies: soy milk, rice pasta, salmon, lemons, veggies, bananas,  Jalna yogurt without any fruit flavouring, and more dandelion & chicory root tea –hyped as a great caffeine-free coffee replacement. Even shopping is different. I spent most of my time reading labels! It’s like watching a foreign film with subtitles. It is tiring and time-consuming.

Just in time for Packed to the Rafters. So tired.

MONDAY FEB 14  VALENTINE’S DAY

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

My dance card is jam-packed today! The alarm goes off at 5.20am – even though it’s my day off and I could simply roll over and go back to sleep, I’ve decided to put in an extra day of group PT.  I got ready in the bathroom and made my way out to the kitchen.  Poking out of my black bag was a red envelope. Then G padded down the hallway to give me a big Valentine’s Day cuddle.

Not to be outdone, I handed her a red jacket book on The Strand –a beautiful, old historic building in downtown Sydney. G was surprised and touched! A great start to the commercialised celebration day of Love.

It was weird to be at the Centre on a Monday! It was a good work out! We went back to the original circuit that I started with. Man! I sure felt it in the arms!! 3 mins of Bliss. Then I had a quick chat with J about out upcoming Detox diet. I’ve been stressing about it for the past couple of days, and as it approaches, I’m becoming more and more apprehensive.

J eased my mind and told me that we’d talk more about it on Tuesday. She mentioned that she has a few things that she wants to clarify and re-iterated that we’d be doing it together. That made me feel better.

Cruising against traffic, I made my way home to shower and prepare for the next task on my schedule.  No time for breakfast. Gotta get to Parramatta by 9.30 to drop the car off for its scheduled service.

Just made it! Plan for the rest of the day while I’m waiting for the car to be ready? Hanging out at Parramatta Westfields (huge shopping centre). First on the agenda? Buy a ticket to a movie, grab a coffee and get something to eat for breakfast. But, it didn’t quite go to plan. I ended up with a latte (no sugar) and a small popcorn for breakfast! Not ideal, but not a bad way to indulge before the Detox diet begins on Wednesday.

The movie was ok, but I’m glad I only spent $9 on it. Then I sat for a while to play Plants vs Zombies on my iPhone.  I downloaded it a couple of days ago and I’m hooked! Unfortunately, it does suck the juice out of my battery. Off to JB HiFi to browse through cds, movies and iPhone accessories.

I only have 20% battery charge left and I still haven’t heard from the car service centre. Off to the food court. It took me a bit to decide on what to have, but I finally settled on a Mexican beef wrap. Tasted almost like a fajita. Yum! I scouted the food court until I sourced a table that was close to a power point. I finished my lunch and settled in to continue my game of Plants vs Zombies while my phone charged.

I had an interesting chat with the driver of the courtesy car. He told me about his plans for Valentine’s Day and other things that he had done to surprise his wife. I was so engaged that I felt a real sense of disappointment that I wouldn’t know the ending to tonight’s surprise.

Home for dinner, TV and some quality time with my Valentine.