I completed my first go-round of the 21 Day Superstar Cleanse.

21 days of delicious raw, live, vegan menus, meditative yoga, and fun prompts to try new things.

I lost ten pounds.  Learned a whole bunch, and deepened my practice of gratitude.

For the first time in my life I started to really honor my body, along with the stuff I put in and on it.

I rekindled my love of sun-ripened olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Indulged in the decadence of pure, raw walnuts, almonds, cashews, and macadamias.  I learned to juice.  All the soaps and shampoos in my bathroom are now safe to eat…but we don’t eat them.  I developed a healthy addiction to raw honey and fresh dates.  And fell head-over-heels for cacao.

And while the food stuff was, is, and will continue to be valuable.  It’s all the stuff around the food that I’m most grateful for.

Like the fact that my husband totally supported me – even when it meant shopping at three different grocery stores to stock the pantry and purchasing a few new kitchen gadgets and appliances.

Or that my friends and family never made a fuss about me accepting a dinner invitation, and then bringing (or prepping) my own separate meal.

Or that today, when I told my co-workers that I had officially wrapped the 21 days – and they all jumped at the chance to toast my commitment with a round of half-glass wines after work.

With so many good, strong, kind, helpful and encouraging people in my corner failure felt impossible.

So, my takeaway from this experience:  Stack Your Corner.

With the right people behind you, anything’s possible…even giving up cooked food at the start of a New England winter. 🙂