Cleanse

Last weekend Kaia and I took a trip to Eau Claire to visit family. Our official reason for heading up north was to attend a wedding party thrown by Kaia's father and his wife, who were married in Door County in February. It was wonderful to see the family and so many people I haven't seen in a long time. Additionally it was nice to get out of Champaign and see some lakes and rivers, hills and trees.

Being a new visitor to Eau Claire after living there for so many years always makes me want to squeeze in as much as possible, however short the visit. Last weekend we were in town for four full days - which means I needed to fit in as much as two full weeks worth of activities. Here is a sample of three:

1. Tube the river? You'd better believe it. How about twice? Okay! Even after getting horribly sunburned the first day? Yep!
2. Go to the Joynt? How about three nights in a row!
3. Eat three meals a day? Screw that - four to five meals per day!

You get the picture. Don't do something once - go back and do it again and again.

As we drove the excruciating seven hours back to Champaign, I pondered on all of the excesses of my weekend. I had eaten too much, had too much to drink, and WAY too much sun. By the end of the drive I decided to go on a "cleanse diet" for the following week. This diet included avoiding red meats, refined sugars, alcohol, and other things that are generally considered "bad." I put myself on the Zand "Quick Cleanse" supplement regimen - which I had left over from a previous cleanse (I got it as a 2 for 1 special about a year ago).

Today I am on the last day of my diet and I can officially say that I feel better. I've lost some weight - cutting out ice cream and beer were two crucial factors - and I'm feeling healthier. I'm also proud to say that we haven't actually modified our diet that much this week. Being poor graduate students, we tend to not eat much meat to begin with. We already eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, especially in the summer when we get food from our CSA and our local farmer's market.

The only thing I've really missed this week (besides the beer with dinner) is ice cream and other sweets - like Fair Trade Dark Chocolate. The above photo is our dessert from Friday - using no refined sugars! We took fresh strawberries and marinated them in honey. Then I whipped up a batch of drop biscuits from scratch (no sugar), covered them with the berries, topped it off with fresh whipped cream, and drizzled the entire thing with honey. OMG delicious.

Of course, tomorrow I will eat chocolate and probably have a beer. But it's good to know that I can be really healthy for a week!