I turned 32 years old on Saturday.  It was a fun day with family and a fun weekend.  Spring weather is peeking out a bit here in Georgia, and I’m so ready for it.

As I look back at the past year, much of it is a blur really.  Adding another to the family has been perfect and wonderful, but the amount of busy in my life multiplied more than two times over.  (How is that possible, by the way?  It seems like the work should just double, but it feels like more.)  We’ve had so many changes with Jude growing up a bit and beginning preschool.  And our decision to sell the house.  And Norah’s constant changes as a baby of her age when every moment seems so different from the day before as she grows so fast.

I think the major lesson I have learned in my last year is that of self-care.  You know it’s important and you think you understand it, but it’s only when you ignore it that you really feel its weight.  An hour of knitting after kids are in bed, a night out with Scott or with friends, a long bath, a good book, a new pair of shoes.  There are so many little things that add up to help me stay sane and healthy and productive.

In relation to all of this, I decided to kick off my 32nd year with a dietary detox, and even as I type that, I can hardly believe I am going to try it.  I have no will power when it come to food. NONE.  I feel lucky that, genetically speaking, I might have an area or two I’d like to work on with body image of course, but on the whole I can eat what I want without too much showing up on my figure.  I’m not at all doing this for weight-loss, but for overall health.

I’ve complained here about the kids being sick a lot, and most of 2013 has been nursing their illnesses.  Now we are on a well streak, and spring is coming, so I feel like we are nearing the end of this preschool sick season.

But I don’t feel like myself, physically speaking.  Not at all.  I am sluggish and tired and lacking a predictable appetite and just plain blah.  I had to have an antibiotic for a sinus infection last month, and I guess that was the final straw with my tummy because despite taking probiotics and eating yogurt, I am more yuck than ever.  Bloated, sluggish, not healthy.  This is not at all how I want to begin my 32nd year.  The kitchen being such a mess with renovations lead to our eating fast food and frozen pizzas and such far too much recently.  To say I need a detox is an understatement!

So I’ve read a lot about the Whole Living Detox Program, and I decided to jump in.  I can do anything for 21 days, right!?  Week one is super strict – only lentils, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables, and I started it on Sunday.  I quickly realized that my caloric intake was not at all compliant with breastfeeding a baby.  So I’ve sort of tailored it to my own thing, and I’ve more or less just jumped in on week two of the cleanse rather than week one.

The main idea is no added sugar (fruit is okay), no gluten, and no dairy for 21 days. Very limited lean animal proteins.  This is not a Paleo diet where you can pig out on bacon but not eat rice.  Not at all.   I’m working on 80% of what I eat being fruits or vegetables for the next 21  19 days.

And I know this is only day three, but I am feeling results already, you guys.  Meaning I am not craving junk food as much, not falling asleep on the couch at 8pm, and not feeling like I need a gallon of coffee to get me going in the mornings.  So I intend to keep plowing right ahead with it, and logging my food and recipes here.  It might be totally boring to anyone reading (sorry!) but it could be of interest to some of you, and I want it as a resource for me as well when I do this again.  And I say “when” because I know I will.  We service our cars, we reboot our computers, we spring clean our houses, but we tend to let the bad habits in our own bodies just build-up over time.  It feels good to have a reboot every now and then.  More later.