Sunset Fresh Food Challenge: Day 4

Breakfast: Herbal tea

Scrambled eggs with green onions and hot sauce on toasted gluten-free bread

Lunch: Tofu and shiitake summer rolls 

Dinner: Vegetable broth with mustard greens, onions, brown rice, jalapenos, and green onions with a side of apple

Snack: Rice cake with mashed avocado, olive oil, and coarse sea salt

About 20 more cups of herbal tea and some club soda

Exercise: gentle yoga

Let’s do a mid-week, mid-cleanse check-in, shall we? If you’ve stuck with me this long on this crazy but awesome adventure of a cleanse, then you may be noticing many of same things that I am. Caffeine withdrawal headache in full swing? Check. Sweet tooth cravings through the roof? Check. Staring at bottle of Cabernet and drooling? Check.

My post on my Facebook page today: “Day 4 of my yearly vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, caffeine-free, booze-free cleanse. I’m exhausted, crabby, and all I can think about is a cheese-crusted, mid-rare ribeye with an espresso dipping sauce.”

As your trusted leader in this week of healthy starts, and an old-pro at the success of completing the week, I want to share a few tips of survival.

1. If you think you’re having caffeine withdrawals, it’s because you are. Suck it up and power through. If you think you might be a danger to society, have a cup of green tea and push the guilt way, way down into a dark place of denial.

2. If you find yourself day dreaming about hiding away in a small room with a gallon of mint-chip ice cream and a shovel, it’s because you’re craving sugar and your body is running out of reserves. You’re sugar addict, welcome to the club. Eat a few sticky medjool dates and drink a cup of licorice tea. It helps.

3. If you wish you could just have one teeny, weeny glass of wine, it’s because wine is delicious. Period. Good luck making to day 7, because I haven’t figured out a way to cope with this one either.

4. If you think you can’t possibly go to the bathroom anymore, well, remember when we started all this? I said drink lots and lots of water, because it’s the vehicle we use to move out all the yucky stuff. If you’re going to the bathroom all the time, it’s because you’re doing it right. Congrats. Try to embrace this small window of health and keep in mind, in a few days, you’ll be back to your usual diet of bloody red meat, French bread with brie, and bottomless Martinis and there will most likely be a back up on the digestion turnpike.

In short, do the best you can. We’re striving for overall better health, not perfection.