One week in

B and I are one week into our Clean experience. For the first five days, we ate on the "Elimination Diet," which is an eat this/not that list of foods, designed so that we only consume hypoallergenic, basic (as opposed to acidic), non-inflammatory foods. The list is much of what you'd expect--more vegetables, less junk food--but it's stranger, stricter, and even more indulgent that you'd think:

• Stranger: Vegetables and fruits are good, except tomatoes and eggplant (inflammatory), oranges (I think because they're acidic), grapes, strawberries (contaminated) and a few others. Lemons are OK, though, but I don't know why.
• Stricter: no whole grains or oats, which puts my breadmaking and favorite breakfast both into hiatus. No refined sugar makes sense, but no honey either...maybe because of the allergens. We're using agave syrup.
• Indulgent: Almonds are my go-to snack food. They are supposed to be raw, but that's turned out to be OK because raw almonds are sweet and creamy. Also, coconut: B and I have had a few breakfasts now that included an entire can of coconut milk.

For the first few days, I think the difference in how I felt was mental: I knew I was living differently, so I felt differently.

On Monday, we began the formal 21-day cleanse. The cleanse is the same as the elimination diet, but with less food. Two liquid meals (breakfast and dinner) and a solid lunch. Snacks are OK too, but only as needed. 12 hours are supposed to separate dinner and breakfast so that your digestive system can repair itself.

So far, so good: I feel hungry sometimes, but I'm feeling more comfortable with that now, which I recognize is less hunger than it is being "not full." B and I spend a lot more time planning meals than eating them, which is the opposite of the take-out diet we ordinarily have. I lust after my comfort foods, but B is a great strength to me in that regard. I have a surprising amount of energy, given that I'm not drinking coffee. I think I may be sleeping better, but that (and some of the other things) may be in my head more than my body. Whatever the source, I'm starting to feel very good. It's interesting to be this in tune with my body, to treat it as important and not just my vehicle for getting around.

Perhaps the most significant change for me is self-restraint, which is a good lesson during Lent. Because of the strictness of this diet, I can't grab food whenever I want it and I can't have my coffee. Not giving into my impulses is strengthening. The discipline is freeing, and I feel in control of my body and my mind in a way that is usually lacking. In the flow of life, grabbing hold of the reins of life, which so often seems to run ahead of me on its own course, and subjecting it to a more deliberate way, is a difficult thing to do. This project has allowed me to do that for a time.