Cleanse Day 7 ~ Confession is Good for the Soul. Plus I Really Hate Guilt.

So I cheated a little this past weekend. Not as bad as Monk, but I did cheat. (How's that for deflection?)

I let myself get too hungry and then ate a few french fries. Oh, the guilt y'all! I wanted to get down in the floorboard of Phil the Suburban and start confessing rightthatverysecond. I was more mad at myself than anything after I did it, but let me tell y'all ...

...there was definitely pleasure in sin for a season.

But my conscience bothered me the rest of the weekend. Monk on the other hand ate two chocolate cupcakes at a birthday party, drank a cup of coffee with a hot chocolate chaser and didn't have nary an ounce of guilt. I think he needs to have a little talk with Jesus.

What I have come to realize is this: I. Can. Do. This.

Some moments are harder than others, but by and large I'm managing to get through the days without thinking about food 24/7 like I was those first few days. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to 'crave' particular salads and vegetables. WHO KNEW!! This is what's supposed to be happening and that is a good thing. It means that I'm retraining my taste buds to like things that are good for me!

Does it mean that I still don't crave a Ding Dong? Um..no. I still crave sweets, chips and soft drinks .... just not all-the-time-every-second-of-the-day sort of craving. It's occasional now and fairly short lived. (However, the other day I did want to jump some kid with a bag of Doritos, but I don't feel the need to go there right now.) I also have a supplement called Gymnema that is supposed to help curb those cravings. My plan is to start taking this supplement tomorrow to see how it affects me.

(That is if I remember to take it. I am horrible at remembering to take my supplements!)

Today was a chilly, dreary, rainy day here in this here part of Texas. The perfect weather for soup! Rainy day + soup = comfort. One of our standard favorites around here is Tortilla soup. Normally tortilla soup has corn, tortilla chips and cheese, but today we left those things out and just added some carrots to add some color and texture to the soup. I didn't feel like we were missing anything eating this soup! It was extremely flavorful and filling and we walked away from the table not feeling deprived at all.

(Although Monk missed the tortilla chips a little and I missed the cheese ... well... a lot. But it was STILL good!)



Another little gem I have come to discover is the Pomegranate.

Y'all the Pomegranate is like a little burst of sunshine in your mouth! You open it up and it's like a little game of hide 'n seek trying to find the juicy little bits of goodness!

And guess what?! I convinced 3 of my girls to try it ~ very much against their wills ~ and they LIKED it!! This would lead me to Tip #3 ..

Let your children try all the fruits and veggies! You wouldn't believe the things I've discovered my girls will eat! The pomegranate was proof enough for me!

But who wouldn't love this...





The only area of the cleanse that I'm slacking in is sleep. Mostly because our non-sleeping child named Hope tends to yell and talk and scream in her sleep which pretty much means I'm awakened sometimes hourly. Nice, huh? So that means I'm trying really hard to go to bed earlier. Which is really hard for this night owl.

So I'm wrapping this post up and hitting the sheets! I'd love to hear any questions or comments from y'all out there. Especially you lurkers ~ you know who you are! Do you like me chronicling my journey or am I boring the daylights out of you?! I need to know these things!

Goodnight, y'all!! Hoo-hoo.