day 7 - a test of self control
if you ever plan to go on a cleanse, make sure you check your calendar to see what's coming up before you do.
when i'd planned mine, i thought i'd picked the perfect time frame. the start date, march 1st was a new moon, "a magical time of beginnings, when you can recharge goals or set new ones." and the end date, march 17th is st. paddy's day, and we know what that's all about. not that i'm a big boozer, but it seemed a festive way to mark the end of a cleanse.
perfect, right?
not quite, because i'd forgotten that the natural products expo west was scheduled right smack in the middle of my two-week cleanse.
try showing up at a the largest food sample expo in town while you're on a meat-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, sugar-free diet. but then again, with the current food manufacturers trying to win attention from those on vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, paleo, and diabetic diets, i was hoping that i'd be able to get my fill of tastings, somehow.
but what i found was that most food items had at least one item i needed to avoid, whether it was soy, flour, eggs, cane sugar, tea, coffee, or chocolate. (i later found out that i was supposed to avoid honey and agave, too. which i didn't. eek.)
i did manage to convince some vendors to give me full-sized packages of the food they were sampling -- especially the chocolate! -- so i could try them once my cleanse was over. and many of them were nice enough to oblige. so i now have a large tote bag full of chips and crackers and chocolate that will be hidden away until after st. paddy's day. at least these snacks are of the supposedly healthy variety :)
while at the expo, i was on a quest to find guests for next week's yoga chat show. my criteria: vendors who sold food that i could eat while on my cleanse and who had an inspirational story to tell -- whether it was about how their company came to be or how they were being socially and/or environmentally conscious in the way they ran their business. since i was at the expo for only three hours (i totally blame its distance from my home plus another event i had to get to later that evening), i concentrated my attention on the booths at the NEXT pavilion that featured emerging brands. i found three, with one runner-up. i've reached out to them and will reveal the show guests next week.
after the expo, i dashed back to downtown LA and attended a classical music performance at the disney concert hall (the iconic building that seems to show up in every ad filmed in LA). we barely had time for a quick dinner before the show; i had to pass on the entrees, soups, sandwiches, and prepared salads and settle for a simple salad from the salad bar.
we then moved on to urth caffe in the arts district for a late-night herbal tea. to my dismay, there wasn't a single item on the dessert menu that worked with my restrictive diet, which drove me nuts. speaking of nuts, i raided my friend's cupboard later that evening and polished off the last of his cashews... just in time, i should add, because i was starting to get cranky from having to skip dessert. when i later found myself nibbling on a package of dates, i decided to quit while i was ahead and went home before date night turned into "honey, i ate all your dates" night!
* * * * * * * *
today's yoga class: just saying 'no' as many times as i did today should easily be considered a practice of mindfulness :)
click here for yesterday's post
when i'd planned mine, i thought i'd picked the perfect time frame. the start date, march 1st was a new moon, "a magical time of beginnings, when you can recharge goals or set new ones." and the end date, march 17th is st. paddy's day, and we know what that's all about. not that i'm a big boozer, but it seemed a festive way to mark the end of a cleanse.
perfect, right?
not quite, because i'd forgotten that the natural products expo west was scheduled right smack in the middle of my two-week cleanse.
try showing up at a the largest food sample expo in town while you're on a meat-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, sugar-free diet. but then again, with the current food manufacturers trying to win attention from those on vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, paleo, and diabetic diets, i was hoping that i'd be able to get my fill of tastings, somehow.
but what i found was that most food items had at least one item i needed to avoid, whether it was soy, flour, eggs, cane sugar, tea, coffee, or chocolate. (i later found out that i was supposed to avoid honey and agave, too. which i didn't. eek.)
i did manage to convince some vendors to give me full-sized packages of the food they were sampling -- especially the chocolate! -- so i could try them once my cleanse was over. and many of them were nice enough to oblige. so i now have a large tote bag full of chips and crackers and chocolate that will be hidden away until after st. paddy's day. at least these snacks are of the supposedly healthy variety :)
while at the expo, i was on a quest to find guests for next week's yoga chat show. my criteria: vendors who sold food that i could eat while on my cleanse and who had an inspirational story to tell -- whether it was about how their company came to be or how they were being socially and/or environmentally conscious in the way they ran their business. since i was at the expo for only three hours (i totally blame its distance from my home plus another event i had to get to later that evening), i concentrated my attention on the booths at the NEXT pavilion that featured emerging brands. i found three, with one runner-up. i've reached out to them and will reveal the show guests next week.
after the expo, i dashed back to downtown LA and attended a classical music performance at the disney concert hall (the iconic building that seems to show up in every ad filmed in LA). we barely had time for a quick dinner before the show; i had to pass on the entrees, soups, sandwiches, and prepared salads and settle for a simple salad from the salad bar.
we then moved on to urth caffe in the arts district for a late-night herbal tea. to my dismay, there wasn't a single item on the dessert menu that worked with my restrictive diet, which drove me nuts. speaking of nuts, i raided my friend's cupboard later that evening and polished off the last of his cashews... just in time, i should add, because i was starting to get cranky from having to skip dessert. when i later found myself nibbling on a package of dates, i decided to quit while i was ahead and went home before date night turned into "honey, i ate all your dates" night!
* * * * * * * *
today's yoga class: just saying 'no' as many times as i did today should easily be considered a practice of mindfulness :)
click here for yesterday's post
posted by joni at 11:49 PM
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