The cleanse is going well. I'm having no trouble staying on track and I haven't really had any unmanageable cravings. Amazingly, I haven't been particularly hungry or had much appetite. I guess not having sugar or caffeine keeps me from having big hunger spikes. I've even lost a couple of pounds, much to my surprise. I haven't had a dramatic burst of energy yet, but I feel good and am actually enjoying the deliberation and care I'm putting into my food choices.
The biggest shock has been the discovery that gluten is in fucking everything. Here I was, cheerfully munching on my vegan Boca Burger and seasoning my stir-fry with soy sauce, only to have my friend Michele (a very smart doctor) inform me that both contain wheat gluten.
WTF? I thought gluten was just in bread and pasta and stuff like that. But no, it's in virtually every sauce and every type of processed food, even the ones that are good for you. For people that have actual gluten allergies, and aren't just temporarily cutting gluten out as part of a cleanse, finding stuff to eat must be a bitch.
I've been watching all of these shows lately (I think on Bravo, can't remember) about the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in this country. And I while I'm way too vain to ever allow myself to gain more than 5 pounds or so before the alarm bells start going off, I can see how people could eat what they think is a relatively normal diet, yet they pack on the pounds, little by little, until one day they look in the mirror or step on the scale and realize their health is in jeopardy and they need to lose a significant amount of weight. Everything has sugar in it. Everything has high fructose corn syrup in it. Everything has enriched flour and rice that has been stripped of all nutrients or fiber and is basically just junk. Everything has saturated fats. Portions are way too big. I look at those Pizza Hut ads for the "P'zone," which is basically a pizza folded over to make a calzone that, according to the ad, is over a pound of dough, cheese, meats and sauce, and I want to call Pizza Hut and yell at them. No human being should ever be eating that much food in one sitting.
And eating healthy is expensive. Fresh produce is pricey, especially these days. Good, unprocessed foods are much costlier, and more difficult to find, than less healthy stuff. A packet of ramen noodles is 20 cents, for God's sake. If you're short on money and looking to get full, you could do plenty worse. But you wouldn't be doing much for your body.
I'm not sure why I'm getting so worked up. I guess it just bums me out that we're bombarded with messages about how we need to eat better and exercise more, but there are many, many obstacles put in our way when it comes to actually doing it.
It really is in everything. A friend of mine is allergic to wheat. She discovered this last year, and really started reading labels because she had to. I couldn't believe all the foods that contain wheat in some way or another.
ReplyDeleteImagine living where you can't get fresh produce except for a limited few.
ReplyDeleteI have a brother in law with Crohn's and his diet was severe restricted. What a pain! And definitely expensive. I made him cookies without wheat or sugar, but the ingredients were costly.
I think if I had to limit myself, I would find a handful of foods and just eat the same stuff over and over and over.
I'm so glad for you that its working. I really need to get the sugar and caffeine out of my diet.
one of my friends is doing this, too (right before the bar exam. imagine!) and she discovered just recently that sometimes these cleansing diets make people cranky and have headaches and the like, but that the benefits outweigh the craptacular part. I know it's hard to eat right, but I know you'll feel so much better when you've gotten there!
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