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"   The important thing is that I did not bury myself in this jar.  Well, now I know what happens when you don&amp;#039;t follow this program to the letter. Last night I felt so physically and mentally blah after work and grocery shopping in freezing rain that I decided to replace my evening workout with an extra-long detox bath. That seemed fine, considering I was probably experiencing the worst hump of symptoms, and my body needed to rest. I don&amp;#039;t regret it. But today, I forgot to take the stomach-filling PGX supplement with lunch\u2014a dark greens salad with shrimp and asparagus\u2014and right now I feel ready to dash out, buy, and down an entire jar of almond butter. If it weren&amp;#039;t for meetings and the knowledge that I&amp;#039;ll be able to go home and make a protein-heavy dinner, I would do just that. What exactly am I allowed to eat? Everything except sugar, starch, caffeine, alcohol, and processed foods. That leaves whole foods, i.e., plants derived directly from nature. Each morning I make a protein shake of nuts, almond and coconut butter, almond milk, and frozen fruit. Lunch is a salad or homemade soup, filled with veggies and a protein such as grilled chicken, turkey, boiled eggs, or tofu. Snacks are nuts (almonds, for me), and dinner is a lean protein accompanied by saut\u00E9ed veggies. The recipes are more complex\u2014and yummier!\u2014than they sound, but that&amp;#039;s the gist. They definitely fill me up, and they don&amp;#039;t taste bad either, but dealing with emotional/mental cravings is another issue entirely. Last night I would have given my left arm to order Thai takeout, or even just make some popcorn when I got home, soaking wet and exhausted. The idea of cooking, and thus waiting a whole half hour to eat, felt like torture. Okay, fine, I did snack while I cooked. Who knew fresh berries could ever feel like a stolen treat? And by the time I sat down to eat my real dinner, I&amp;#039;d lost my super-irritated, hangry edge. It also helped, after the detox bath, to write out my experience. Dr. Mark Hyman emphasizes journaling, the idea being that we need to release all of our toxic feelings and thoughts along with the physical stuff. I free-wrote about my day without judgment, patted myself on the back for mostly sticking with the program so far, and let go of everything else. It wasn&amp;#039;t a perfect day, but what day is? And anyhow, if I&amp;#039;d consoled myself with pizza or pasta, it wouldn&amp;#039;t have fixed anything\u2014it just would have soothed my overactive mind into temporary submission. I&amp;#039;m not deluded enough to think I&amp;#039;ll never use food as a crutch again, but it&amp;#039;s nice to discover I can do without some of the bad stuff and be just fine.  Hannah Hickok, an admitted sugar and carb addict, is an assistant editor at REDBOOK living in Brooklyn, NY. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/body/healthy-eating/news/a17550/10-day-detox-diet-day-3/>