The Bitch Stopped Feeling Fat and Tired - End of the Cleanse!

I finished the four-day cleanse! The final day was quite similar to the one prior, roasted vegetables and all. I spent part of the day getting food for this week because..... I have decided to go forward with phase two of the cleanse/diet/become-as-fabulous-as-Gina-plan. Speak of the devil, Gina and I went to Allandale Farm in Brookline to get some fresh and delicious produce. There are a lot of opportunities in the summer for city-dwellers such as ourselves to get fresh, local produce. You just need to know where to go. First, there is Allandale Farm, which opens in April. There is also Marshall's Fenway Farm Stand which has, in addition to delicious fruits and vegetables, the most delicious chocolate milk I have ever tasted in my entire life. And lots of yummy prepared meals. Another good option is Russo's in Watertown. Always really busy but if you can handle that and pick the right fiddleheads at the same time, all the power to you. All of these are good options where you can get yummy local produce almost all year long. There are also farmer's markets in each part of town throughout the summer, there just weren't any when we went shopping. I encourage you, fellow Bostonians, to visit these farmer's markets and rely on them for your produce and let them rely on you for your dollars. You'll both be much happier. Another path you could go down is becoming a member of a CSA. Read all about CSAs here.

Anyways, here I am telling you where to get your peaches and asparagus and expecting you to listen to me. Why? Because you should. Because I'm Fabulous now. Because I can wear pants that have been hanging up in my closet, knowing they are too small, crossing their legs every time the Goodwill truck drives by. Not anymore, pantaloons. You're mine forever. I lost six pounds doing the cleanse. Although I am not entirely sure where it came from, I do feel a lot better, and the fact that I could even button those pants makes me know it came from somewhere. Dan told me my skin looked radiant the other day, and Dan doesn't tell anyone that anything looks radiant. So I guess this isn't all a crock of shiitake as I was secretly predicting.

I felt really empowered being able to change something as "simple" as the food I eat and then feel so much better (science!). I decided that I am going to go forth with phase 2 of the O2 Diet. With caution. I really don't want to turn it into something that I fight with, grow to hate, and then spite with cheeseburgers. I want it to be something I follow -not necessarily swear by- but guidelines by which I will try to dine. This was tested my first day of phase 2 when I unexpectedly made dinner plans with a friend in need. She's a friend, indeed. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in the universe, the Parish Cafe, and instead of ordering my fa-vo-rite steak sandwich ever, I decided I could be a little more sensible and have something a little more healthy. I didn't want to get a salad since I had been living off that for days, so I settled for a chicken dish, swapped out the garlic mashed for rice, and only ate half of it. I ate until I was full, not until I was Thanksgiving Full, as I usually do. It was delicious! And satisfying! And I left the stupid leftovers in my car! I even had a glass of wine. I decided, from that meal forward, that I wouldn't make myself feel guilty about it because a. that will only make me hate it, and b. it is so freaking annoying listening to people complain about how they violated their diet. So here I am, liking phase two as a friend.

Phase two adds more dairy, fat, and carbs to the diet. It lasts for two weeks. There is a recommended meal plan and then also guidelines for doing it yourself. I am going to follow the recommended meal plan because I love the idea of someone just telling me what to eat. I have really enjoyed the ability to eat really varied things after eating the same exact thing every day for four days. I have also been really open minded about trying new things. Like the recommended breakfast for today was a smoothie that had fruit and yogurt and juice and other normal stuff in it, alongside avocado and grapeseed oil. Weird. But it was delicious. As long as I didn't think about it.

I am going to keep blogging through phase two and I will keep you posted about the funny things I eat and the love-love relationship I am going to maintain with this diet. I have had a number of questions from people who are interested in starting this, so I will answer them next time I post, but I currently have a suspected sinus infection to attend to. (I never said this diet was magic!)