Things to Avoid

As a quest to become more healthy, I decided to create a list of all the things I no longer want to put into my body.

So far the list looks like this:

Things to Avoid
Refined sugar
Dairy
Nuts
Corn
White flour
Mr. Corkscrew, Mr. Beer Man, Mr. Oily, King Kong and the Mad Scientist

Notice I didn’t say men. I don’t need to avoid men. That was never my problem. Men from my past were the only ones who ever did me any real harm. If I could learn to eat fewer carbs (and that’s hard for me, as I’m a die-hard carb addict), then I could learn to avoid men from my past. After all, it’s not like I’m giving up protein. I couldn’t live without salmon or turkey burgers. It’s just a matter of restructuring my palate. I’ll really miss my homemade oatmeal bread and yogurt with fresh fruit. I’ll miss pistachios and cashews, but I have learned to substitute with things like sunflower seeds and raisins. And oat crackers with blackberry all-fruit jam taste pretty darned good.

So far, I’ve lost the sluggish feeling that normally accompanies a full-on cleanse. The first few days were really difficult and I wanted to jump right off the wagon. And, in the men department, I did. I went to Chicago for a drama-filled week with Mr. Beer Man. But you know, it’s been two weeks and now I’m off everything. Even when Mr. Corkscrew emailed, I managed to hold it all together.

I still haven’t gone off my new plan, and I have more energy, a lot more faith and a renewed interest in vegetables.