Well it's actually been a whole year since we did that crazy month of eating well. I must say it really transformed how we eat, cook, and shop. In the past year, although I feel like i've become a bit more dependent on coffee, we have barely bought any cheese or bread to have in our house. We may still eat out a lot, and thoroughly enjoy doing so, but I'd say we now think twice about what we choose on menus; maybe not the healthiest thing, but not usually the most unhealthy either. I think we eat a lot more different kinds of grains now too.
I've needed a boost every now and then. I actually did some form of the cleanse once per quarter for one week at a time. That seems like a good method for me.
So now we're back on for a whole month of cleansing again. Whole Living does have new recipes for this year, with more big batch recipes, so that's nice. Their guidelines for 2013 are pretty much exactly the same as 2012. This year, though, they're allowing for caffein but still not coffee and allowing lentils right from the start. I didn't really notice many other differences.
Now that I have tried this cleanse out, and I feel like I have a good sense of what works and doesn't work for me, I'll probably make a few tweaks to the rules. I'm going to allow myself to have one cup of black coffee per day if necessary so that I don't get a headache. We want to start on a Monday, so we'll be starting this year on February 4th (bonus that we don't have to cleanse at Superbowl parties).
In addition to the new recipes from Whole Living, I feel like we've got a plethora of recipes to choose from. Many of the meals we've made in the past years would fit into the cleanse guidelines. So I've started a Pinterest Board here to collect the recipes. Hopefully this is helpful for others.
Speaking of others, I'm hoping a lot of people join in doing the cleanse with me again this year. It was great to have others to support and talk with last year. Although we talked about it last year but never got around to it, I'm actually going to throw a potluck at my house on the weekend of Feb 16/17. More details to come. Last year eating out at restaurants really just didn't happen (except for that horrid raw meal on V-day, ug). I'm hoping we can think up some restaurants that have cleanse-friendly dishes on the menu. I also hope to have folks over more and cook for them.
I'll try to keep this blog updated throughout the month, but please feel free to let me know if you want to write and I can give you permission or post it for you.
OK, back to savoring all of my non-cleanse food this week!
