It's time to cut the three a day habit

Yes, I have to admit, I have a Clif Bar problem. A good friend asked me recently, "well, you don't eat the whole Clif Bar do you? " It has honestly never occurred to me not to eat the whole thing. My problem exists because I like they way they taste. Not every flavor though. I've been through a long testing process. I had finally settled on Peanut Toffee Buzz, which was my mainstay for a couple years. Then during the terrible peanut butter crisis, Clif had to pull them off the grocery shelves and rejigger their manufacturing process. That took forever. Once I found a Peanut Toffee Buzz that I had stashed away somewhere. I didn't even look at the date on the wrapper to see if it was from a potentially contaminated batch. My joy at this discovery made me begin to understand the extent of my problem.

The peanut crisis and ensuing fix forced me to search for a new favorite flavor. Luckily Clif came to the rescue with White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Even though Peanut Toffee Buzz is back, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut is my new flavor of choice. I buy my Clif Bars at Trader Joe's which generally has a great selection and good prices. Either I buy boxes of them if available, or I count out 24 or 36 at a time. The checkout clerks are always happy when I tell them that I've already counted out how many I have, so they don't have to swipe them all.

I started eating Clif Bars on the bike and then before swim practice. That, of course, is exactly what they're designed for. Where my problem starts is eating Clif Bars as snacks during the day. I mean, why not, they're delicious! But it's time for one of those periodic efforts to revamp eating habits and improve nutritional intake. That means it's time to reorganize the Clif Bar position in my own personal food pyramid. Fruit and vegetables should not be consumed in lesser quantities than Clif Bars.

To achieve this very difficult and major change in eating behavior, I am embarking on a 28 Food Detox of my own design. I'm not very good at complete abstinence with food groups, but have willingly committed to stop consuming Clif Bars for 28 days. In order to give the Clif Bar deprivation some company, I am also eliminating dairy, gluten, sweets, and alcohol. This is only temporary, and not because I don't like any of the above. It simply occurred to me that this would be an interesting experiment, and I am bound to learn something from it.

Lesson # 1: It is very difficult to shop at Trader Joe's on this program. Even the nut aisle was hard as I had to buy new products like seeds and dried fruit. Who knew there were so many choices! Then I ran right into one of my all time favorite snacks -- pretzels filled with peanut butter. That hurt. But not as much as walking by the Clif Bar aisle and realizing that this would be the first time in my life I had shopped at Trader Joe's without bringing any home.

It's only four weeks, that's my mantra.