Final cleanse thoughts (Part 3 of the cleanse series)

Okay, hopefully I will shut up about cleanses after this post.

Some final thoughts, answered in the form of fake frequently asked questions.

Why did I wind up doing this cleanse?
I saw a dietitian because I'd felt like my digestion and complexion had been getting worse over the past couple of years, and I had a hunch they were both related to my diet.  A new year's resolution was to get to the bottom of this.  In our first meeting, she suggested I do this cleanse, and I was all gung-ho to get going.  Fun fact: I brought home all the supplements and powders, and my husband said he wanted to do it with me.  It was very sweet of him and really nice to do it with a buddy, so we suffered (and learned!) together.

What were the hardest parts?
There are two clear winners for this question.
1.  The first four days were brutal.  Travis and I were both suffering major withdrawal from caffeine and sugar.  It took several days to get over it.  We had really bad headaches and were super-lethargic.  It was interesting, though, to experience your body legitimately freaking out without coffee and candy... we were literally detoxing.  And then also really satisfying to adjust to not having sugar and caffeine.  (I've been done with the cleanse for about two weeks now, and I've added back sugar (I'm not crazy!), but I actually haven't added caffeine back yet, and am trying not to get hooked again.)
2.  Weekends are pretty terrible.  Here are the things I like to do on weekends: go out to restaurants; go out to bars; cook a big pasta dinner and drink wine; drink coffee and read the paper; get a latte and go for a walk; watch movies and eat popcorn and drink diet coke.  We became social recluses because there's really no point in exposing yourself to so much temptation.  (We met friends at a bar once and had... waters.  So sad.  And then the waitress told us we couldn't sit there if we were just having waters.  Even sadder.)  I watched a lot of movies those weeks, and we started taking down "Breaking Bad."

What surprised you the most?
This is going to sound so cheesy and so LA, but... I really felt better while I was eating on the cleanse!  My skin totally cleared up, I lost a few pounds, which was a surprise bonus, and my energy levels were really even throughout the day.  I'm not going to exaggerate and say I leapt out of bed ready to take on the day, but I woke up feeling ready to wake up (even without coffee!), and didn't feel at all drowsy driving home from work.  I slept better, too.  I also found myself wanting to exercise more.  I'm sure that's because (a) there wasn't much else to do!, but also (b) I was putting so much effort into treating my body well, that I just wanted to keep doing right by it.

All that said, I was really excited to go to two wonderful birthday parties last weekend and indulge in yummy, yummy, frosting-y cake at both of them.  I think about what I eat more for now, but I'm still, and always will be, obsessed with eating.  Overall, worth the effort, and I am likely to do (a maybe modified) version of it annually.