This past week has been pretty interesting around our house. I began reading through Jordan Rubin's book, "Perfect Weight America" in November (and I'm almost finished with it - aren't you proud of me?) and I decided that after the New Year I was going to try a few of his ideas. In the book, Jordan recommends taking part in a cleanse 4 times a year - the first cleanse being in January. So, I thought this was perfect timing and I enthusiastically shared this information with my family. The purpose of the cleanse is to rid your body of toxic build up that accumulates over the months because of junk we eat and toxins that we absorb from the air, cosmetic products, etc. I thought that this 10 day cleanse sounded like a good idea, and after discussing it with my family, we decided that last Monday (the 5th) would be a good day to start.

Hannah was on board with me and we have been "cleansing buddies" for the week. Leah is also in a "cleanse" of sorts, as she is cutting dairy out of her diet for 10 days. Her acne always flairs up when she consumes too much dairy, so she's taking a break from it. My mom is doing her best to cut out sugar from her diet, and Rachel and my dad.......are cheering us on from the sidelines! (To his credit, my dad has eaten soup with Hannah and I along with salad for dinner, and he wishes that his daily schedule would allow him to take part in a cleanse.)

The cleanse goes something like this: Day 1 - eat homemade chicken soup for all five meals. Days 2-4, eat chicken soup for 4 meals and have a salad with homemade dressing for dinner. Days 5-7, you can add nuts and seeds to your dinner salad. Days 8-10, you can eat 4 ounces of kefir or full-fat plain yogurt with a teaspoon of honey along with everything else. So you'll notice - no carbohydrates, no fruits and virtually no sweets. While I knew this was going to be tough, I was preparing myself mentally for the cravings and asking the Lord to give me His strength to see this through.

Well, let's just say we've had a few bumps in the road. First off, I didn't plan on the time it takes to make the huge pot of chicken soup (not chicken noodle, chicken soup). We went to HyVee the night before our cleanse to grab a few items we needed, and it was so late by the time we got home that I decided to just make the soup in the morning. Bad idea. As you probably know, making chicken soup is not a quick thing. It took us almost the entire day! Okay, plan B. I ate fruit for breakfast and had some of the broth for lunch. And then, it hit me.

Nausea. I felt awful! My stomach was really upset, but I didn't know if I should tell my family or not. I mean, here it is - the very first day of our cleanse and I'm feeling sick! Not the best advertisement for healthy living! It finally got so bad that I told my mom I needed to go lay down for a bit, and by late afternoon I was feeling much better again. I still don't know why I felt so awful. I've fasted before and not had any nausea, so it's still a mystery to me. I didn't have much of an appetite that day, so no struggles with cravings. And even though we didn't exactly start the cleanse according to the book, I was sure that the next day would be much better!

I got up the next morning, exercised, and then headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Where I came to the conclusion - I don't care what the book says, this girl ain't eating soup for breakfast! Sorry! Not happening. I had a piece of fruit again and talked with Hannah about it, and we decided to go ahead and eat fruit throughout our cleanse. We were going to take part in the "winter cleanse", which doesn't include fruit, but the "summer cleanse" does. So, we put on shorts and flip-flops, dabbed some suntan lotion on our skin and ate our fruit! j/k

Okay, I can do this. Fruit, chicken soup, salad...how hard can it be? Famous last words. This is tough! And on top of that, I'm still not feeling good. I've had a sore throat and dry cough for about 3 days now, and my head sometimes feels full of pressure. (I highly doubt that this has anything to do with the cleanse, though. If anything, being on this cleanse should help me recover faster!) Oh, and Hannah isn't feeling good, either. Nothing specific for her, she just has a case of the "blahs". Perfect. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Is it because the toxins are being released from our fat cells and are in our bloodstream while on their way out? Is it because we're having carb and sugar withdrawal? Probably. No one ever said that cleansing would be fun...

The past few days have been very stretching for both Hannah and I, and tonight we looked across the table at one another and made a mutual decision without even speaking. (It's a sister thing!) We made it 5 days, and beginning tomorrow we're going to slowly begin adding the carbs, dairy, and sugar back into our diets. I could look at this and say that we're bailing out early and beat myself up about it, but I'm proud of the fact that we lasted so long. If five days doesn't seem long to you, then YOU try it! But just make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. :-) I was glad that we were able to give our bodies a little break.

Okay, okay. The weigh in this morning. I really had no idea what to expect, but I was thinking there might be a slight gain. I couldn't exercise nearly as hard this week because I didn't have the energy, and I was so sick yesterday that I didn't do any at all. My thoughts were justified when I saw 167lbs this morning, which is up a pound from last week. Not really stressing out - this has been such an odd week! I'm going to double my efforts this next week and see what magic number I can pull! :-) And I'm going to begin counting my calories again for this week just to make sure I'm eating enough, but not too much.

That's all from here! Wishing I had more time to blog. I'll try and add some more thoughts as this week continues. ~Bekah