The battle of the bulge: which makes a better meal, the dachshund or the pig? (That's my sister with Pepper the family dog)

That photo above shows precisely the reason why I’m going on a detox weekend. Since I got back from Vienna a couple of months ago, it’s been a nonstop whirl of food reviews, birthdays, hanging out at the office, and get-togethers with friends. Out of sheer guilt after one food review one day, I signed up for a one-year membership at the gym. I’ve thankfully managed to do a respectable amount of cardio exercise and some yoga classes, but I still don’t feel as light and as healthy as I want to be.

Salad from The Farm at San Benito

I’m technically starting the detox program tomorrow, but they asked us to refrain from meat two days before the actual program (I couldn’t—I was doing a review of a Hungarian restaurant yesterday and couldn’t skip the beef goulash or the paprika lamb). So today, I stuck to an all-vegetarian routine of steamed tofu, pumpkin-apple soup, cranberry oatmeal cookies and.. a handful of honey dijon Kettle Chips. And a couple of forkfuls of chocolate cake. Yeah, I know. But it was sort of vegetarian.

I’d already done a similar detox in the past, although I prepared everything at home. It involved drinking fresh apple juice mixed with olive oil (try drinking a cup of olive oil; it’s hard to choke down) and dried herbs, and plenty of trips to the toilet after. I felt really light and healthy after, which is why I’m doing it again even if it’s inconvenient and difficult.

Sometimes, I wish that I weren’t as health-conscious as I try to be now, because eating is a lot more fun when you’re oblivious. Ah well!