Hallelujah! I am Cleansed!

Janet here:
My 3-week purification cleanse ended Saturday and from my perspective it wasn't a moment too soon. While I did fairly well following the plan and only cheated a few times (like the time one of my colleagues surprised me with a tall skinny caramel latte, my favorite Starbucks drink, and I allowed myself three sips, which practically killed me), the plan was pretty limiting and didn't allow for a whole lot of creative cooking. Baking, meanwhile, was just something I could dream about. (In case you didn't read my post, I gave up caffeine, alcohol, sugar, dairy and wheat for three weeks.)

I'm not going to lie: I had some weird moments during the cleanse. For instance, I bought the people I love in my family about seven different kinds of seriously good chocolate items. I don't buy this much chocolate in my non-cleansing life but for some reason, buying it made it easier not to eat, despite the fact that the stuff was literally sitting in front of me on the table. It was not rational.

That said, I can't deny some things did improve in my life. I lost some weight of course, but surprising — at least to me— is that the joints in my hands and fingers stopped hurting for the first time in years. I also stopped having some post-menopausal symptoms and my sinuses were decongested more than they have been in about 30 years, no joke.

These were all happy changes so as the cleanse end-date loomed, I began to think about how I would incorporate more normal, interesting eating but not lose the benefits. Just continuing to eat this way was not one of the options. (Apologies to all the healthy vegan/non-caffeinated/teetotalers out there but living without all those tasty items is not on my schedule.) I also began fantasizing about what food I would eat first that was not on the list. What was the thing I wanted most?


Yes, it's true. I wanted Dannon coffee yogurt with my homemade granola (no nuts on this cleanse either). I have eaten coffee yogurt with granola for breakfast for decades. The only time I eat other yogurt is if the store does not have Dannon, and whatever yogurt it is, it's a poor substitute and that's just a fact. The only time I don't eat yogurt is if I'm away from home or out for breakfast.

Anyway as soon as I decided what I wanted for the First Meal, I started thinking about it. A Lot. Now here's the thing: Dannon coffee yogurt is not always available. (which is why I usually buy at least 5 or 6 containers when I see it so I've got the week covered.) So I was a little worried when I went shopping. I rounded the corner in the dairy section of my supermarket, headed to the yogurt section and my heart sank. Plenty of fruit on the bottom Dannon but NO. COFFEE. YOGURT.

Crap.

I headed to the checkout with my other groceries, loaded up the car, and without a moment's hesitation drove an extra 10 miles to another grocery store to see if it had coffee yogurt. The only question I had was whether or not I would drive to yet another grocery store if the local Stop and Slop didn't have coffee yogurt either. In my internal conversation, I was allowing as how driving to a third store would be kind of pathetic. I decided to just wait and see.

Happily, the coffee yogurt was there ... although I did have a moment of panic because it was hidden behind the peach fruit on the bottom type. I bought 4 containers, went home and had it lunch. After three weeks, the culinary planets were lined up once again.

Oh and in case you're wondering: Driving to a third store? Yea, that was going to happen.

Do you have something you'd drive to multiple stores to get? C'mon, share your secret.