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 1: So Far, So Good

   So far, so good! Day 1 wasn’t that bad at all. Started the morning with the pills and drops (FYI, the drops aren’t that bad, I mixed mine with a couple sips of water). Breakfast consisted of a bowl of oatmeal with sliced apples and cinnamon on top and a cup of black coffee (tip: put cinnamon in your coffee filter or your French press…helped take a bit of the shock out of having to drink it black). I snacked on fruit all day (half an apple, some blueberries, cherries, baby carrots with PC masala hummus) and also baked my very first batch of kale chips. So easy and so delicious – will definitely make them again!

   Mid day I went on a 7-8km run along the water. I have read that some people get super fatigued mid-detox, so I wanted to get in a decent work out in case this happened to me.

   Post run I went on a big grocery shop and came home to make my first dinner. I baked a plain salmon filet and made this awesome peas & brown rice recipe that included coriander, basil and cumin. Really fresh tasting, perfect for summer. I cooked a few cups of brown rice, since I figure it’ll be a staple over the next 12 days, and saved some to use in different recipes. For dessert I had an apple with almond butter – ummm, how have I not actually tried almond butter before now?! It’s so delish. One of the foods I was most sad to give up was peanut butter, but I think I’ll be totally fine replacing it with almond butter. Bonus for people who are lazy and live alone (aka, like me): almond butter is runnier so you can actually dip the apple slices into the jar, no knife required. You may think that's gross, I think it's awesome.

   Tonight, I’m heading to see The xx at The Phoenix with a bunch of friends, which means I’ll be surrounded by people drinking. This will certainly be a test of will power, so we’ll see how it goes (but I’m feeling confident!). As for cravings so far, it hasn’t been bad – although I felt like bread at dinner, the salmon, rice, apple and almond butter was totally fulfilling so I’m OK. I feel like I might crave carbs come 2am tonight after the bar, however, since I won’t be drunk I’m hoping I’ll have more clarity in my late night snack choices.

The kale chips I baked today