with kale, i write

OK, so the weirdest thing happened.  I was reading blogs and things, and my computer died.  So I plugged it in and decided to read a book while waiting for my laptop to recharge a bit.  Of course, just a few minutes later, my nook died.  So that's not the weird part.  The weird part was that I of course decided to plug the nook in to charge, and was kind of aimlessly wandering around the kitchen, bored, thinking maybe I was hungry enough for a little snack.

And my mind was all, "Oh!  We have kale!  I'll steam some kale!"  And then my mind said to itself, "WTF Jessee?"

Because, steamed kale?  As a snack?  What are we, animals??  Like, healthy animals??  What about donuts and cookies and like, candy?  And frosting and cookie dough and other sugary sweet things, that are so bad for you?  Kale??

So I steamed some kale. And I tossed it with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.  And I ate it, loving every freaking bite.

A month ago, I decided to do this cleanse. Not like the kind of cleanse where you starve yourself and drink shakes and like, disgusting wheat grass or something, but a healthy cleanse. The kind that cleanses your body of built up toxins and things.

I read about this thing, it was a 21 day cleanse where you gradually eliminated meat and dairy and eventually ended up eating vegan.  I decided that three weeks of eating good and smart and consciously wouldn't kill me at all. Either way, the three weeks were going to pass by, why not at least try it.

Honest to Cod, I believe this is the first time in my 43 (ugh!) years of life that I ever stuck to something. Like, made an actual decision to follow something, and then actually followed it til the end.

It wasn't hard. I am lucky that I like fruits and veggies. The cool thing about this cleanse was that in following it by the book, which had strict daily meals, I ended up making and trying a ton of things that I've never tried before (like kale and jicama). I made things that I was sure I wouldn't like, and loved them.  Seriously, I could almost live on this "diet."  In the three weeks that I did it, there was only one meal that I didn't like, and it was a roasted root medley. Wtf, right? Just too many roots I think. 

I hate the diet thing. Hate. I hate feeling deprived. I hate feeling like I can't eat a bowl of Lucky Charms without feeling guilty. Not that I ever really eat a bowl of Lucky Charms, but you know, if I felt like it, my initial feeling would be guilt.

Anyway, I did it. And it was good, really. Besides feeling better physically, I ended up dropping some pounds, which was a rather pleasant surprise. Kind of like a kick start to getting back on the wagon, which I so stupidly fell off of last year.  I'm a few years behind the fit at forty thing, but I'm catching up.  

I'll get there.