I need to do a cleanse. My eating habits have gone downhill–for good reasons, by the way–but I’m apathetic about taking a week off to clean up my unhealthy diet. Well, now I’m under “Doctor’s Orders.” I think she knew that’s the only way I’d get around to it, especially right before Thanksgiving and the rest of the feasting holidays. It may seem counter-intuitive, but this is the best time to do it!
The holidays are looming: Thanksgiving, several birthdays, Christmas, New Years Eve, and my wedding anniversary. This makes me want to wait until mid-January.
However, my doc was fairly insistent that I do it now. I told her that I feel blah, I’ve gained back some of the weight I lost (and bragged about), and I am depressed. She said that to wait until after the holidays probably means even more weight gain. She reminded me that doing it now means that 
I’ll be making more intelligent choices at those events.
It was painful to watch the pounds pile back on, but life became so hard that I was unable to take care of myself. In addition to all sorts of personal, family crises, I was going through an intense perimenopause phase. I was 
suffering from hourly, soul-melting hot flashes, during the Arizona summer, with its triple-digit temps. I was in Hell.
I couldn’t exercise because of the extreme discomfort and I didn’t discover until too late that I would mindlessly gorge myself as soon as a hot flash hit. It was like I had to fuel a ferocious incinerator–the only way to survive the intense burning was to distract myself with food.
So, I developed some bad habits and lost some good ones. I had worked my way up to walking a few miles a day, and ate a pretty clean diet. I was in the best shape I’ve 
seen in years. I was zooming along, feeling great, but now I’m full of Adipose and need a Doctor.
Hence my doctor’s order to do a cleanse. I’ll be posting about it every day, beginning with the preparation process. That’s half the battle, you know? Planning, shopping, wrapping your head around committing–it’s a lot of effort.
Week One will be about the preparation. Week Two will be cleanse week, and Week Three will be about easing off into a healthier way of eating. The true challenge will be that Week Three takes place during Thanksgiving week. I’m going to be challenged to keep it clean, in spite of a holiday that is known primarily for gluttony.
Wanna join me? I’ll be responding to your comments here and on my facebook page.
Lisa Bonnice is the author of five books, including Shape Shifting–reclaiming YOUR perfect body (with a foreword by Neale Donald Walsch).
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