Alcohol & detoxing

[juliet]

Final booze tally for last week: somewhere around 35 units (based on: 15.5 from Monday-Thurs, cheers boyofbadgers, 2 pints nice beer Friday night = c. 5u, around 5 decent-size vodkas Friday night = c 7u (I don't pour 'em that large), 1 bottle Old Brewery Sat night = c.2.5u, 3 glasses wine Sat night = c. 4.5u). Gosh.

What with that, & reading the Vegan Society magazine this morning at work, which has a thing about detoxing, I am thinking that a few weeks of mild detoxing might be a plan. I've been feeling mentally not at my best recently, & whilst I am fully aware of the causes of that, being in physically better condition might help with dealing with them. Also at least I get to feel all virtuous & stuff :-) Though I do not plan to do this in a dramatic sort of way - more a minimising of the bad stuff & maximising of the good stuff.


Veg Soc list to avoid:

• Coffee/tea/alcohol/fizzy drinks - can do that, & intend to cut these entirely for a couple of weeks. Fruit juice instead of Pepsi in pubs.[0]
  
• Additives/preservatives/pesticides - well, our veg is organic, & I don't really eat prepared foods.
  
• Tap water - bugger off, nothing wrong with London tap water.
  
• Meat/dairy/eggs/animal fats - vegan!
  
• Processed foods - see above, don't really eat any. Avoid the crisps, I guess.
  
• Fried foods - erm. Olive oil doesn't count, surely? Sod that, good oils are good for you.
  
• Wheat - hahahahaha [falls over laughing]. Everyone *knows* what happens to me when I don't get regular carbs, & pasta is a standard source. I will, however, try having rye bread for lunch, & porridge for breakfast, instead of regular bread, for a bit.
  
• Sugar - oh well, no caffeine = no chocolate anyway, I suppose. Bah.
  
• Salt - ignoring this as well. You need a certain amount of salt; I don't eat much prepared food; so I'm not going to worry. Avoid the hula hoops, though, I guess.
  
• Excess potatoes & bananas (more than twice a week) - bah! Mind you, actually if I have fewer pub lunches (i.e. chips), this isn't that bad on the potato front - we don't eat them *that* often. Bananas, now... hrm. I suppose apples & satsumas & such are a tolerable replacement.
  
• Peanuts - urgh, ick.
  
• Environmental toxins such as cleaning products - Pete just *isn't* going to buy this ;-) (though we do use Ecover anyway)

Things to have lots of:

• Hot water with lemon & ginger first thing [urgh]; 6-8 glasses water [do that already]; herbal/fruit teas [see below]; fresh juice, mostly vegetables [piss off, I shall stick with my orange juice].
  
• Fruit & veg! - yay.
  
• Herbs! - again yay.
  
• Beans - tofu etc, also sprouts. I shall try sprouting things, seeds are quite cheap.
  
• Molasses & blue-green algae - ye-es. This is the sort of thing you acquire at health food shops for obscene amounts of money, isn't it? If I had obscene amounts of money I would buy a Treo 600, not sodding algae. Rye bread is expensive enough.
  
• Seeds & nuts - well, not nuts. Hate nuts. Seeds are nice. I shall roast some mixed seeds again, mmm.
  
• Grains (brown rice, millet, whole rye bread, oat bran) - dunno about millet, but brown rice & rye bread doable.
  

Can anyone recommend a decent herbal tea? Camomile is OK, but not great in the morning cos of the sleepiness. catsgomiaow, didn't you try detoxing a while back?

I need a FOOD icon, I do.

[0] I am also thinking that if I avoid booze altogether for a couple of weeks, I will get out of the habit of drinking in pubs etc, & thus may drink a bit less when I start drinking again. Maybe.