Excuse me, where's the ladies room?

So, it's January 2nd and I'm doing pretty well. I started the 30-day plan yesterday, which the first 2 days is called a mini-cleanse. The mini-cleanse consists of drinking meal replacement shakes every 2 hours for 2 days and a glass of water on the opposite hours. It's a heck of a lot of liquid and the first day is hard, but I generally wake up the second day feeling great. This held true for me. I felt great today. I had more energy and I generally felt like that icky holiday food was out of my system. Plus, as a bonus, I'd lost 3lbs.

Now, I know that I said weight loss was not the general goal of this whole thing, but boy is it nice to have already dropped 3lbs. But I also feel great! And for once in my life I'm craving healthy things. All I want right now is an avocado and some sauerkraut. Both of which aren't that bad for me. Oh and are veggies which is impressive for the green food skeptic that I am.

So, while I was detoxing yesterday I was watching PBS. There was this great show on by Barbara Watson call the H.O.P.E. plan for digestive health (see, we're back to the healthy goal now). She's a Naturopath (or however you spell it, a doctor that specializes in natural cures) and the show is all about how eating is directly related to most health problems including asthma. I have been looking for nutritional suggestions for dealing with asthma, so I watched. The basic idea is a 4 point plan 1) High fiber, 35 grams of fiber a day; 2) Omega-3s; 3) Probiotics; 4) Digestive Enzymes.

The program explains why these things work, but the good news is I was already on my way to a couple of those. I take acidophilous and digestive enzymes as part of the 30 day plan and I've already been sneaking flax seed meal in whatever I feel like I won't notice it in (scrambled eggs, yogurt, applesauce, anything saucy really). I guess that means I'm on the right track, and hopefully with increased good eating this will bear out her plan.

I've been doing lots of research about healthy ways to eat and what it means to be healthy. It seems like a lot of these plans say different things, but the bottom line is this: 1.) eat lots of fruits and veggies; 2.) eat lean protein, especially fish (ew, I still struggle with this one) and stay away from lots of red meat; 3.) Stay away from processed foods especially grains and sugars. Seems like if I do these things I'll be well on my way.

Tomorrow: Back to solid food and exercise. I'm really looking forward to the marinated flank steak on greens with avocados (yum!).