#68 Cleanse

 There's a lot of conflicting information when it comes to health and fitness. But more so than any specific scientific information behind whether or not "cleansing" is good for you, the idea of cleansing has always been appealing to me. I am one of those people that continually strive to be "healthy", but usually succumb to pizza or french fries if they are in front of me. When you hear people who are successful at weightless or healthy lifestyles say "If I can do it, anyone can", I often think those words should be reserved for when I am able to say that... maybe then they'd be true. I haven't gone so far as to "yo-yo" diet, or to try every fad on the market, but I would say I have definitely thrown out the phrase "Ok, this is my last day of eating whatever the hell I want. Tomorrow I will eat healthy" more times than I'd like to admit. To avoid this blog turning into an entry entirely about my lack of self control for foods I love and my ongoing need to get in as best shape as I can (let's not forget the career choice I have chosen for myself... but that's a whole can of worms for an entirely different kind of blog. This particular goal is for health and motivation), I have taken up "juicing". It's day 4, and so far I feel great. I have a juicer, a ton of fruits and veggies, and surprisingly, a pretty strong sense of will power, thus far. My juicing is a bit altered. Because I have also taken up Muay Thai (which will tie into goal #70 here pretty soon!), and have been committed to a more rigorous fitness regimen, the idea of consuming solely juice for 10 days seemed a bit unrealistic. So my juicing is more of an introduction to clean eating. I juice in the morning and the afternoon, then I will eat grilled chicken and a vegetable for dinner. No cheese (What?!?!!?) No Coffee (WHAT??!?!!?!!*(&!)*^#(!). And absolutely no grains or processed sugar. And no Wine *sigh*.

This is what I've learned thus far:

• It's a good thing I like beets, because you get a ton of juice out of them and it makes your beverage a really awesome color. 
• Juicing is messy and requires a ton of clean up, but you can make enough juice to last two or three meals in one go, which is nice. 
• Thank God I live in LA because there are a bunch of places that offer fresh juiced beverages. "The Liquid Garden" from the Oaks and the Juice Bar in the Farmers Market at the Grove have been my favorite so far. You can also go to Whole Foods - they have a juice bar as well. 
• Caffeine Headaches... no joke. 
• And finally, if I make it through these 10 days of juicing/clean eating, it will definitely be a successful introduction to how I hope to live about 90% of the time. I have already come to terms with the fact that I love food and life too much to not enjoy it. No coffee or Wine? Forget it! But if I can adopt this way of life for the majority of the time, I'm sure I will be happy with the results for my body and for my health. And then maybe, I too will be able to say, "If I can do it... anyone can."