Vacation Anyone?

Vacation.  We all look forward to it.  We work hard to save money to make it possible.  We spend hours searching the web for hotels, activities, and restaurants.  Whether it's relaxation or pure fun we're looking for, vacation is what we crave. 

As good as vacations can be, they can also have negative effects on us.  I found this out first hand last week.  As you know, I've been making some efforts to better my health.  I've lost 4 pounds in the last few weeks.  I've been focusing on putting super foods and whole foods in my body.  I switched to coconut oil for cooking.  I've cut out soda (well, I had one when we went to the movies a few weeks ago...but that's the only one since December).  I've been juicing vegetables and fruits.  I've cut down on the amount of sugar I consume.  I was doing great!  But more important than the pounds lost, I was feeling GOOD!  I could feel the difference in my mood.  I was less fatigued.  I was having very few headaches.  My skin was looking clearer.  I. Felt. Good.

It only took a couple of days of eating junk on our mini-vacation to ruin all that hard work.  I didn't gain any weight while we were gone.  But, I felt horrible when we got home!  I was tired, fatigued, and in a terrible mood.  I was sluggish and didn't want to do anything.  I was bloated.  My ankles turned into kankles from all the sodium I consumed.  It felt like I lost a month of hard work.  And the guilt I felt was even worse than how I physically felt.  Physically and emotionally, I felt like I had gained 5 pounds.

I hoped I could just move on and forget it, but that didn't happen.  Even though my body was screaming for those nutrients it was lacking, I was still craving the junk.  I played a game of see-saw with food for the rest of the week.  Something had to give.

Over the weekend, I made the decision to do a detox and get this junk out of my system.  I am going to try to do only fresh vegetable/fruit juice (occasionally mixed with chia seeds and/or spirulina powder) and water for 5 days.  After 5 days, I'll decide if I want to fast longer or go ahead and start adding in whole vegetables and fruits.  Today is Day 1 of my detox/fast.  So far, so good.   I'll try to post updates daily or every couple of days.

So, a couple of things I learned from our mini-vacation:

1.  Use some will-power for goodness sakes!

2. Ask myself, "Is this GINORMOUS Red Robin burger and tower of onion rings worth the damage it will most likely cause?"  I guarantee the answer will be "no" 99% of the time.

3. Plan our meals in advance!  If I pick out restaurants that have some healthy options, I can look at menus online in advance and plan my healthy meal.  If I make up my mind to choose healthy foods in advance, I'll be more likely to stick to it.

Just some food for thought. 

Have a great week, everyone!