The first day of a diet clean-up is usually productive, and it was for me.  I am down 1 1/2 pounds and only wish that could continue.  Of course, that would be detrimental to my health, and I know from disappointing experience if you lose it fast you can gain it back just as quickly.  So while I am thrilled with my first day I know it couldn’t, and shouldn’t, continue at that pace.

Breakfast:  I felt hungrier this morning because my intake was so sparse yesterday, so I had three bites of chicken breast with some garlic sauce, which made it a sort of Mediterranean style dish. Three bites were enough to kick start my metabolism, which, protein first thing in the morning, is meant to do. And they were satisfying, not like bacon which is so delicious going down but leaves me with that greasy, gunked-up feeling shortly after the dishes are put away.

I also juiced purple, yellow and orange heirloom carrots, celery, one beet and beet greens with a squeeze of lemon, which made it all so much more palatable.  I could get used to juicing veggies on a regular basis, as long as I had some lemon or garlic or maybe add a pinch of cayenne,  I was thrilled when I found the heirloom carrots since I subscribe to the idea of “eating a rainbow” every day, if possible.  The different colors translate to a host of different nutrients just waiting to help us with our internal issues, from inflammation to full-blown disease.

Lunch:  I made a bok choy salad with green onion and lightly-toasted almonds and sesame seeds.  I used homemade lemon vinaigrette and a little paprika dressing which made it uber-delicious. Remind me to post those recipes, they’re low on oil (never canola or soy), no sugar, just good stuff.

Dinner:  A BIG salad with spring mix greens, garlic salt, onion powder and the rest of that chicken breast from breakfast.  I came to dinner very hungry, since I, unfortunately, got in the habit of snacking at my “hungry time” which is 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon.  I get ravenous, and I used to grab what was easy, which usually meant something that was a nutritional disaster.  So, I made such a big salad I was “choking on the tail,” which was my mother’s colorful way of saying too much food was plated.  As hungry as I was I had felt full about three-quarters of the way through the meal and should have stopped there. But my old conditioning took over that told me to “clean my plate…children elsewhere were starving.”  How long will it take for me to learn I’m satisfied with less, even if I come to the table feeling like I haven’t eaten in days??

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