Food Lover's Cleanse: A recap

I did it! I am proud to say that I completed the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse. Thanks for everyone who supported me along the way. Here's what I took away from the experience:

Yum: 

• I had fun experimenting with new-to-me ingredients such as quinoa, sake and hemp seeds.
• I learned some new techniques. Oatmeal made on the stove top is supremely better than heating it up in the microwave. And roasting chicken with a little garlic and salt under the skin makes the meat so tasty.
• As a tried and true cereal girl, it was fun to have so much variety in the morning. Who knew I liked smoked salmon?
• I got a lot of ideas for healthy snack options. Pear drizzled with goat cheese and honey?
  A-mazing.
• I rarely felt hungry.
• I never felt bloated or gross.
• I lost 2 pounds!

Ew: 

• The dinners were often too much work for a weeknight, after a full day in the office. Sometimes I was cooking for an hour, or it just got hectic making all those side dishes.
• Considering all the work involved, some of the meals were a bit bland, and there were too many plain green salads for lunch.
• The amount of prep work was intense. Most mornings, I was often cutting up this or marinating that to save me time later. It wasn't hard, but it sucked up a big part of my day.
• For every meal, I dirtied twice as many dishes as usual. Dan, who usually does the dishes, reminded me of this fact every night.
• Going to parties where I couldn't eat anything was tough.

Would I do it again? Maybe. Right now, I am happy to be back to eating what I want. This cleanse reminded me how much my body likes to be fed right. So I am going to try to stick to a similar routine for the work week (with much easier dinners/fewer dishes) and save the fun foods and dessert for the weekends and vacations. Lucky for me, the weekend starts today!