Buddha Belly Life Blog: Why I broke my cleanse with a cake pop
Health isn’t about perfection nor is it about a quick “fix” or result. Health is a lifelong journey to cultivate resilience of body, mind and spirit. Fueling the body with nutrition should be a top priority. Real, whole food not food like substance is what is required for an optimum quality of life. Living, celebrating and enjoying life’s moments is best experienced when in a state of health. Depression, physical impairments, anxiety, tummy troubles and fatigue make living our best life hard!
Going to a party and never partaking in the food or a drink can feel hard and not fun also. On a recent podcast interview with Dane Johnson of Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle, Dane said some pretty profoundly true things. He staid that a lifestyle change needs to allow us to be both Healthy and Happy and that the reason that so many people fail is that they seek to attain one and forgo the other. I felt this to be highly accurate and when he stated that he never “cheats” on his diet, he only “Celebrates” I was also impressed at the subconscious power that this perspective change has.
Fast forward two days later.
I am on day 3 of my 3-day pre–Buddha Belly cleanse which is to precede a 4-week full Buddha Belly protocol that I am documenting for my podcast listeners, book readers, students and followers. The cleanse isn’t extreme but it’s doing the job and going well. I am halfway into the final cleanse day, feeling great and in one moment I made an unusual decision. A decision I wouldn’t usually make.
I chose to eat a cake pop. A gluten filled, sugar covered, processed, sprinkly cake pop.
Mind you, I hadn’t even touched gluten in at least a year! It’s usually a non-negotiable for me and I had no intention of changing that. However today was different. Today, my 10yo son and I went on a work date at my gym center. We put baby sis in play care and I asked him if he’d like a cocoa for our date while I got a water and he of course said yes. We get our computers set up (he’s working on his first book and we head up to the coffee stand. I put in our two-drink order and meander to the other end of the counter to wait for the pickup. My son however stays at the counter and pulls out his wallet. The girl behind the register asks what she can help him with and he politely orders “two cake pops please.”
After pulling out his own five dollars and paying for them, he walks over to me. I say “aww did you get one for your bro? He’s not back until Tuesday.” He loves his little brother and frequently shares things with him. He just hands me the cake pop and says “no mom, it’s for you.”
The cake pop that he just spent his own money on, all by himself is for mom. Mom, who hasn’t touched gluten in over a year and who happens to be rock starring on the last day of her cleanse.
I had two choices. I either decline the gift and continue killing it on my cleanse or I eat it with my boy. Luckily, I am not allergic to the ingredients and was able to make a decision that I will never regret; the decision to eat the cake pop.
You may assume that being on a cleanse, I was looking for an excuse but I wasn’t. In fact, the success that I was feeling and the way my body was responding was more than enough reason to keep going and I had programmed my brain with an association to gluten and its effects on the body well enough to not be tempted by it.
I ate that cake pop for my son and the moment that we had together. The joy that he had when he got mom a “special surprise” was worth the “celebration” as Dane would say.
This is why we commit to a journey of health. Not in perfection but for resilience. For a body that can handle some celebration because the foundations are built upon real food, a healthy Gut, Mind and Spirit. This is truly a Buddha Belly Lifestyle and its totally worth it.
Coach Britt
Check out Dane’s interview on the BUDDHA BELLY LIFE PODCAST