Clean

So, I've given the readership the whole update on Panama and am feeling really good about having that trip totally covered on this blog... except it still means I'm about 6.5 weeks behind on posting what is actually going on right now.

Which is totally normal.

You'd never know it from my posting habits, but I'm actually a punctual person. The thing is, I also am also a chronic over-clicker when I travel, meaning I take way more pictures than I need to, and then I do take a good deal of time to review them, weed through them, pick my favorites, edit my favorites, re-review the ones I didn't pick as favorites to figure out if I do actually like them, edit the new set of favorites, upload them all to Google+, and then finally start writing. And despite the typos you may pick up in the posts, be assured that I probably write/re-write/edit each post at least four times. Easily more. So, 6.5 weeks behind it is.

This fact doesn't stress me out at all.

But I just want to give you a tiny update as to what's going on in our lives right now, since I'm just a tad distracted from the posts that I intend to write about Chicago, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, a friend's brand new baby, what I did while NS was off-island for work, and what we did when NS got back on island (the G-rated stuff, I mean).

I'm distracted from all that because we are embarking on a three-week adventure into the wonderful world of detoxification.

Detox from what, you might ask? Apparently a lot, based on the information I gleaned from Clean by Alejandro Junger, M.D.  

We're exposed to toxins all around us, a lot of which we can't control, but we do usually have control over the food we eat. The cleanse is meant to rid the body of toxins and reestablish the natural ability of our digestive system to self-heal. After reading the book, I decided that anyone could benefit from a cleanse now and again, and I certainly fall into the category of "anyone", so here we are. (Yes, I talked NS into it. My powers of persuasion have reached new levels.)

This seemed like the best time of year to do a cleanse, because busy season is over, we've taken the majority of our vacation for the year (see future blog posts noted above), and we're feeling over-fed and generally unhealthy. Time for a reset!

So what does this have to do with the blog? Well, for one thing, during the pre-cleanse Elimination Diet week, I spent a lot more time in the kitchen than I'm used to. I have to give credit to N for being the most flexible husband ever when it comes to food. I generally have a very casual approach to our "family" dinners [(read: I don't cook often (but I have my reasons)], and he never ever complains. But now that there are a ton of our go-to foods on the Excluded Foods list for the cleanse, I'm making an effort to actually prepare three squares a day, plus snacks for work. Fun, but time-consuming; ergo, less time to blog.

But I'll still be around. If you're interested in some of the foods we may be eating, check out my "Clean Program Food" Pinterest board. Some upcoming experiments kitchen creations may include homemade almond butter (because the store-bought stuff is ridiculously expensive!), creamy beet soup, a natural Gatorade replacement (finally), and Peach Avocado Macadamia Nut Salad. I'll bet that last temptation makes you wish you were cleansing too. (Yeah. I'm not delusional at all.)

In case you are interested (can you tell I have Misery-Loves-Company Syndrome?), I highly recommend the book I noted above. Not only does it detail the cleansing process, but Dr. Junger goes into quite a bit of detail as to how the chemical reactions in our bodies process food, and how the modern diet can quickly disrupt this. I also recommend taking a look at the Clean Program website, where I've found lots of tips and recipes and answers to FAQs. In addition, a Cayman friend of mine recommended the Me, Redone blog, written by a girl who was diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene mutation, which is linked to high rates of breast cancer. As a result, she's changed a lot about her diet and has a number of healthy and delicious recipes that I immediately pinned.

So we'll just be here eating as many raw fruits and veggies as we can afford (produce is expensive!), avoiding things like dairy and wheat and sugar, replacing them with nut milk and quinoa and stevia, using our blender and our food processor at least once per day, using our new AeroPress coffee maker zero times per day, rocking the Clean life. Just letting you know, in case you want to join in the fun.

Day 1. Tomorrow.

Prayers welcome.

Also sympathy cards.

Ending with an unrelated photo of food we won't be eating for the next three weeks.

Chicago trip sneak peek. You'll wanna stick around for this one.