I'm going to be blunt and honest: I've struggled with eating for essentially my entire life. Growing up as a dancer in front of a mirror, I always compared myself to everyone else in the room. It was common practice for our teachers to be strict in all aspects: technique, manners, facial expression, and of course diet. Naturally, any young girl in this situation would start to have doubts about her self-esteem and body image. Insert eating trouble here. Unfortunately, even though I had an incredibly supportive family, I slipped into a pattern known all too well by people with eating disorders. Luckily, since then I have utilized many tools and become more comfortable with food. However, I'm still always on the hunt for something that will make my body feel better and less weighed down by all of the processed crap that's out there. Thus, my new relationship with the Eat To Live diet.

Typically I eat fairly healthy things. I do not eat any refined sugar or white flour and I love fruit and most veggies. However, I'm definitely a salt lover. I love crackers, chips... anything with salt really. I'm also a sucker for Cesar salad, the creamier the better. Now as you all know, those things are fine in moderation. But, on a Sunday when I'm hungover, you better believe I'm stuffing about 85 breakfast sandwiches into my mouth. Eat To Live is great because it forces you to eat only healthy options, mostly focusing on vegetables.

I initially heard about the Eat To Live plan from my friend Jessie (she's essentially my personal health guru- this girl is an amazing cook and has a great wealth of knowledge for the best practices in healthy eating). At first I was totally against it, mostly due to my obsession with french fries. Almost a year after learning about it though, I've finally decided to jump on board.

Here are the sparknotes:

- created by Dr. Joel Furhman 

- eat as many vegetables as you want until you are full

- eat tons of fruits

- no meat, no bread, no cheese (you can technically have these in moderation for the life plan but not in the cleanse, which is what I'm doing)

- no coffee- stick to tea 

- don't snack between meals

Because I know that a lot of you are just as ADHD with long posts as I am, I'm going to include some links below for you to read at your leisure. If you are really serious about doing this, I recommend reading through everything (including at least part of the actual book) so that you are educated on your new eating plan. *DISCLAIMER- I am by no means a licensed dietitian or health expert. You should consult your doctor if you have any doubts about eating and exercise. 

Approved foods list 

Dr. Furhman website

A great blog post about the 6 week plan

Today marks the first day of my cleanse. After such a gross weekend of unhealthy eating, I was thrilled to only be consuming a fruit smoothie for breakfast. I even woke up a little earlier to blend one myself. However, by lunch I was feeling the hunger a little. No problem... I walked over to the cafeteria and made myself a nice salad, following all the rules. But once 3:30pm rolled around, I started to get a little hangry (hungry and angry). I started craving something with carbs in it which is a definite no-no at this stage in the game. Luckily I was able to make it through and distracted myself with a good, cardio-infused, gym session but it wasn't easy.

Every few days I will be blogging about my progress as a way to hold myself accountable. Hopefully I can inspire some of you to adopt a healthier relationship with food by doing this. To those of you who are with me, GOOD LUCK! 

(Please email me any stories about your Eat To Live experience)