I finished my annual Clean Cleanse a few weeks ago and I haven’t had the chance to update you on how it all went. In the last few weeks, I tried a few new recipes that I posted about including…
This awesome Clean Chicken Fajita Recipe.
And had some fun with my Cashew Mayo in this Clean Tuna Salad.
Finally, I took a break from winter with a Tropical Lime and Coconut Smoothie.
The Final Week – Chinese New Year
I mentioned before when I asked you to join me on the cleanse that I was tempted to end the cleanse early because I was going home to California and that it was going to be especially difficult to stick to the cleanse because it was Chinese New Years.
Chinese New Years is a huge celebration that lasts for weeks in Asia. It is like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years rolled into one! As I thought more about what being with family during this time of the year meant for me, the more I realized that I had I be more flexible in my cleanse.
Don’t get me wrong, I know I was preaching (more like convincing myself, haha) that it is important to take some time for myself and focus on being healthier but at the end of the day when I started thinking about family and how disrespectful it was to turn down offerings from family during Chinese New Years, I decided to cave in and be more flexible.
This brings me to my end of the cleanse. Having done the cleanse for 3 times now, somehow this time around, I didn’t feel as CLEAN as I felt after doing it two years ago. Many of you have asked me what my life is like after the cleanse. If I go back into my old habits or if I continue to be as healthy I am on the cleanse. As much as I would like to tell you that I am super healthy post cleanse, most of the time I am giving myself “breaks” and the effects of it shows.
I feel like a lot of you can relate to this vicious cycle, whether it comes from being on a diet or some type of cleanse. I am just better with structure and rules in my life. When things were clearly black and white, with a strict yes or no, it was easier to field out the unhealthy choice and stick with the plan. However, once the cleanse is over, I am left with all the grey areas and questions.
How bad would this small bag of chips be? Or just a small piece of chocolate wouldn’t hurt right? It starts becoming a slippery slope and with social functions and celebrations on the horizon every weekend. If you are anything like me, you slip back to the bottom of the hill you worked so hard to overcome. Self control’s such a hard thing, you know!?
Being on the cleanse this time around helped me reevaluate where I want to be in my own health and fitness. I mean, let’s get serious here for a second, I’m not getting any younger and my body’s really feeling it these days. I definitely can’t recover and bounce back like I did back in the college days (or even just 2-3 years ago!) after a week of bingeing on junk. In the past two months I’ve been trying to commit to finding a lifestyle that will lead me to being the healthiest I’ve ever been. I know that for me, it’s going to be finding a balance in eating healthy and finding more effective workouts.
I’ll be blogging in the next few posts about what some of these things are. Thank you for following me on this journey as “Shelly in Real Life” takes a crack at being a health & fitness blog! ๐
