About cheating: my mentor told me....

I am on Day 8 of the cleanse and I haven't slept better in ages and feel *so* good! Days 1 - 2 were tough, but once Day 3 arrived, I knew how to avoid the tougher parts of the day (snack time after school, family dinner, etc). My mentor works with me and does the cleanse several times per year. Her take on the whole thing is this:

If you are going to cheat, do it after Day 3. Before then, you are simply fighting off the habit and urge to eat, and cheating then will sabotage what you are trying to do those first three days. Do it very infrequently and be smart about your cheating choice. Make sure it’s a small amount of a soft vegetable (she suggested cooked chopped spinach), broth or juice, not a carbohydrate (i.e. noodles, pasta, bread, etc).

I am being totally honest here. I cheated three times in 8 days, my cheat choice is broth from a can of soup (I cheated with about 1/2 cup of the broth from a Campbell's Healthy Request Italian Wedding Soup - no pasta, no meat.) It has body, gives a jolt of something *not* citrusy sweet and really settled me down. While this probably goes against what a lot of diehards will say, this cleanse is tough. If you do at 98% as opposed to 100% will it destroy the other 98% good that you did? Unlikely.

So I know many naysayers will reject this notion, but my mentor has been doing this for years. When we do the math - I am drinking about 80 ounces of lemonade a day, multiply that by 10 days =800oz. If I cheat four times total (I am sure I will have another moment of desperation before Friday) at 4 oz a pop, I am still completely on track 98% of the time. My cheating items aren't laden with tough to digest foods, they are liquids and contain nothing that will pull me out of ketosis. And frankly, if these small indiscretions keep me from falling off of the wagon entirely, then they are worth it to me. I have lost 9lbs in 8 days and am thrilled with the results, despite my human flaws.

I hope this helps some of you who are struggling, but please do not take this as license to cheat whenever - remember, you need to be wary of the salt that goes in. It will have a profound effect on you and your results. If you have to cheat, do it in small amounts and only "in case of an emergency."