Giving it up...

Yeah, I said it.  Giving it up.  It's not what you're thinking.  Get your mind out of the gutter. lol  Giving it up to me, right now, means giving up food.  I'm on day number 4 of a 7 day detox.  My "meals" consist of four medical food "shakes" plus four cups of green vegetables every day.  That's it.  Oh, and water.  And a little coffee (sssshhhhh, don't tell).  The first day was awful.  I expected it to be.  The second day was easier.  The third day was easier than the second.  The fourth day is a little easier than the third.  I still have cravings.  I still want to sink my teeth into something substantial like a very large piece of french bread.  But, this detox is helping do a few things for me: most importantly, clearing my system of toxins and inflammatories that I don't need and that are essentially poisoning me; also the detox is helping to reset my metabolism; lastly, and equally important (and unexpected), this detox is teaching me how caught up in food I was.  How my cravings were controlling my life, and my weight.

It's not news to anyone that I'm overweight.  It's not news to anyone that I've been trying for the past couple of years to slim down.  It's not news to anyone that I took up running and other activities to get more fit.  This detox is probably the best thing I could have done and I wish I had knew about it a long time ago.

After the detox is over, I'm sure I'll want to go crazy and eat like a pig.  But, I won't.  I'll stick with the plan, which is to give up gluten.  After seven days with hardly any food, giving up gluten shouldn't be that hard.  And what's wrong with things being difficult?  Isn't that how we learn to be strong?  To overcome?  Running isn't all fun and games.  In the beginning, when you first start, it's difficult.  But then it gets easier.  Anything worth doing is probably not going to be easy.

Anyway, writing this just puts it all into perspective to me.  I'm in control of my life.  I can choose to stay overweight and be unhealthy or I can choose to wise up and slim down.  It's been a long time coming, but I'm down 18 pounds as of today and my future is looking bright!