Day 5: Weight loss? What weight loss?

   I had two bites of a pumpernickel bagel today. I couldn't resist! It was left over from a meeting and sitting in the office kitchen, all alone. I think that's a relatively small cheat though - I didn't go completely off the rails! Other than that, I am on track. A 4-5pm meeting today even had me sitting in front of a plate full of chocolate chip cookies, and I totally resisted. To be completely honest, I the no bread thing is not as hard as I imagined it would be. I crave them, but I am OK substituting with rice or oatmeal.
   This is the first day that the herbal supplements caused some seriously, um, urgency around getting to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. Still not planning on cutting down my dose, but I can see how some might want to go that route. Maybe station yourself close to a bathroom and don't book any meetings around your first coffee of the morning - just a suggestion!
   To be honest, I don't feel like I am losing weight. At all. But, like I mentioned earlier, I don't really feel like I am cutting my calories - I may even be eating more. However, I have to admit I feel much more satiated and 'balanced' on this Wild Rose diet than what I normally eat. I am not overly full or overly starving - it's actually really nice. I know a lot of people do cleanses for weight loss, and I don't think this is one of them, unless you have really poor eating habits ahead of time. I'm eating olive oil heavy salad dressing and almond butter ever day - normally I would avoid those foods because of the fat content (even though I know it's healthy fat, blah blah blah). I guess you could lose weight if you stuck to this diet but were restrictive - but I am trying not to let myself get super hungry so that I'm less likely to cheat. Even though I am not losing weight, I do enjoy not feeling like I am on a roller coaster between being starving and stuffed all day.
   A really simple, delicious dish I whipped up with some of the left over brown rice I had is just frying it up with an egg and adding rosemary, salt and pepper. So simple, but really good - and really quick to make when in a rush. One thing I am kind of using as a crutch so far as been salt - not good, I know! Definitely going to try to include more herbs and spices instead of salt moving forward.

One of my favourite indulgences: oatmeal with apples & cinnamon 

Day 2: Keep On, Keepin' On

   Hey all…just checking in at the end of day 2 of the Wild Rose D-Tox. After the concert last night, I dropped my friends off at Poutini’s (no booze = DD for the night) and went home to “indulge” in some late night rice cakes and almond butter. So yeah, significantly healthier than poutine – and felt no guilt in the morning! Speaking of almonds, I also bought some almond milk to add to my coffee this morning, which has made it much more enjoyable.

   As for food, basically ate a bunch of blueberries, cherries, kale chips, brown rice, apples, almond butter, humus,  rice cakes, carrots and oatmeal today. I think I may actually be eating more calories than I normally would – I haven’t felt hungry or deprived so far at all. Also, I think that I am eating a lot more fat than usual (good fats, mind you). Typically I buy low fat everything: peanut butter, yogurt, skim milk, egg whites vs whole eggs, etc. With this diet, I’m eating things like almond butter, humus and almond milk, which all have fat in them and are something I’d typically steer clear of or find a low fat alternative for. So, I’m a little wary of whether or not I’ll actually lose weight, considering I was pretty calorie and fat content conscious before. I’ve actually chosen not to weigh myself, since I know it will just make me completely neurotic and crazy, but I know I’ll be able to feel/see if I’ve lost weight at the end of the detox.

   As for other side effects, my stomach was making some pretty weird noises this aft, which I’d heard other people have dealt with on this program. As for the herbal laxatives, I don’t find them to be too much for me at all – if I didn’t know I was taking them, I wouldn’t notice much out of the ordinary on the bathroom front, to be honest! I know I’d read some people found them to be too harsh, but I’m not experiencing that at all. Fatigue wise, I am fine, because like I said, I definitely have not gone hungry.  I am a bit tired this evening, but I think it’s because I spent the afternoon in the sun with some friends hanging out at Trinity Bellwoods Park. I’m planning on going for a 6.5km run tonight once the sun goes down and it cools off a bit. In the meantime, I’m going to prepare my lunch for tomorrow.