Detox: Update #1

So in the spirit of solidarity, I thought I'd update my fellow detox-ers on my month so far. To inform you, I gave up alcohol, caffeine & sweets for the month. Day 1 was easy as I woke up late and quite hungover so the thought of drinking or eating anything for the half-day I was awake wasn't tempting. What made matters worse was watching Illinois perform so poorly in the Rose Bowl. Not that I thought they would do well, but I didn't think my stomach would turn every time they had the ball...and did nothing with it. 2008 was off to a rough start.
Since then, however, things have been much better. I feel very good mentally about not drinking alcohol or eating sweets. Oddly enough I feel like the biggest hurdle thus far has been caffeine & sweets. I feel incomplete after meals in the time where I would normally have something sweet and now I have nothing or some dried fruit bits I'm trying to convince myself are a decent subsitute for a cookie. The caffeine has also been difficult. Not because I'm addicted to it, but more because it's an inconvenience. For example, the free Starbucks coffee options provided by my work are Cafe Verona (delicious) and decaf House Blend (not nearly as delicious). I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to live like this? No more Cafe Verona? It almost seems a waste of the Splenda & creamer. Also, when I go out to eat, I now drink water because I'm a diet soda drinker and very few restaurants have diet, caffeine free options. I could feasibly drink non-diet caffeine-free drinks such as Sprite with my meals, but the with the amount of pop I consume, I would be drinking away my entire daily caloric intake so I'm opting for the water. This has been difficult for me since I always have pop with my meals. I've been told by a couple friends that eliminating caffeine will give me more energy..but I think that's a load of @#$% because I've been more tired since Jan 1 than previously. On the upside I've been getting to bed earlier. Partially because I'm tired and partially I think because with no beer or pop to drink, and no sweets to consume, my nightly activities have been severly limited.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to things getting a bit easier, but thus far my mental happiness has been keeping me going so I haven't had any weak moments yet. Hope others are doing well.

Thanks again to everyone for the great Christmas. Hope you all are having a great year so far.