My Experience with a Cleanse

I apologize for the lack in blog posts, recipes, and What I Ate Wednesday last week!

I attempted my first “cleanse” last week.  I went to a 2-hour yoga workshop last weekend and the studio was promoting a week-long cleanse program which had me a little intrigued.

“Ignite the Fire” with Mimi Ray at Lakeshore Yoga Studio

Working with partners (I’m in aqua on the right)

I had already given some thought to cleansing and detoxing since I will have to take an entire class devoted to the subject for my holistic nutrition program at Nutrition Therapy Institute (its part of the second year of classes).  And I had always been curious how I would feel after a week without caffeine, sugar, wheat, dairy, etc.  The people at the yoga studio were really pushing the idea that we’d feel GREAT.  But I was a little skeptical, since I’d also heard that there were side effects as all of the toxins work their way out of your body.  I also wanted to try it out since I have been wondering for quite some time now if I have some sensitivities to wheat and/or dairy based on how I feel after eating them.

I didn’t sign up for the formal program at the yoga studio since I have a pretty good idea of what a detox involves from my own research and have an arsenal of clean-eating detox-friendly recipes.  Their timing also didn’t work well for me since I’ll be travelling for a few days this week which is when their program is going on.  It worked better for me to do my cleanse last week, starting on Sunday (which was the 2-hour yoga workshop) and going through Friday afternoon.  Also, I have such strong feelings about food that I knew I would end up modifying some part of their program anyway.

I didn’t have any hard and fast rules but the general outline of my cleanse was:

• no wheat/gluten
• no dairy or meat
• no sugar (even natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, etc.)
• no caffeine or alcohol (or soda but I don’t drink that anyway)
• started every morning off with a mug of warm water with juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• included detoxing activities such as yoga and dry brushing (dry brushing is just an all-over exfoliation that helps the skin, your body’s largest organ, rid itself of toxins).  I was hoping to get to a gym with a sauna to sweat out more toxins but it just didn’t happen.  I think my workouts took care of that anyway!

Some of my meals included:

Smoothies (breakfast, lunch or snack)

Smoothie with beet, carrot, apple, 1/2 red grapefruit, fresh ginger, lemon

Super Detox Smoothie with dandelion greens, wild blueberries, 1/2 orange, 1/2 banana, and juice from 1/2 lime

Green Smoothie made with kale, cucumber, clementine, pineapple, ginger and parsley

As a side note, I decided to stick with smoothies instead of juices, to be careful of the sugars I was ingesting.  I liked the idea of keeping the fiber in there to slow the absorption of nutrients, keep the blood sugar from spiking, and keep me fuller longer.  Some detoxes are purely juicing, and I don’t feel that this is the right thing for me.  I’ve had problems with my blood sugar levels in the past and I also don’t deal well with feeling hungry.  I also wanted my kids to see me eating and not just drinking juice all day.

Chia Puddings (morning snack)

Chia Pudding with mango, blueberries, and walnuts

Had this one quite a few times lately! Chia pudding layered with strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. SO good!

Salads (lunch or dinner)

Romaine with carrots, red onion, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and tahini + olive oil + lemon dressing

Massaged kale salad with avocado & lemon, topped with carrots, red onion, cucumber, and toasted walnuts

Soups (lunch or dinner)

Carrot Ginger Soup (also had sweet potatoes and coconut milk)

Miso Soup – homemade vegetable broth (made with veggie scraps overnight in the crockpot), miso and grated raw garlic

Dinners (slight variations from what I served the family for dinner)

Baked organic corn tortilla with beans and sauteed peppers/onions/zucchini topped with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, and cashew “cheeze” sauce served with guacamole on the side

Zucchini “noodles” lightly sauteed and topped with avocado/garlic/lemon/basil sauce. Served with mixed green salad.

Snacks

Apple with Raw Almond Butter

Mary’s Gone Crackers brand Gluten Free Crackers topped with mashed avocado

Celery and Carrot Sticks with Avocado White Bean Dip

Lemon Larabars (raw bars made with only nuts, dates, and dried fruit)

Leftover smoothies

Clementines

Trail Mix with raw pecans, almonds, cashews, pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) and raw unsweetened coconut flakes

My Thoughts

In general, I was surprised at how well I was able to stick to it.  I guess if you’re truly determined and genuinely want to do something (versus being forced to eat a certain way) then its a little easier to stick with it.  I did have a couple of situations come up and just tried to go with the flow the best that I could.  There was one social opportunity where I didn’t feel like justifying or explaining my detox so I ordered a glass of red wine.  I was feeling the effects halfway through the glass!!!  I didn’t even end up finishing it!  The next was a rare opportunity for a mid-day lunch date with my hubby.  I had a salad with roasted beets and a little bit of goat cheese.  I was not about to make myself miserable or feel totally cheated by this cleansing experiment.  This is probably not in line with a true yoga type cleanse, but I was still more aware of my feelings (physical and mental) than I usually would have been in these situations, which is one of the goals of cleansing.

By the second day, I was feeling some serious detox effects.  Even though I don’t drink much coffee/caffeine, I definitely had a headache!  And this  lasted for 2-3 days!!!!!!  The best way to describe how I was feeling was like a cold coming on.  It was very strange.  But I just kept chugging tons of water and doing my yoga and tried to get plenty of sleep at night.  I think by the 3rd or 4th night, I kind of hit a breaking point with the headache, sick, weak kind of feeling and made myself some oatmeal and a green smoothie for dinner to feel like I had something with some substance to it.  I don’t know if that did the trick or if I finally got through the detox symptoms, but I felt better by the next day.

I didn’t have a strong plan for coming out of the detox.  I just knew I’d stick with the same plan for the day on Friday and then just ease back into normal eating since we usually go out to eat on Friday nights.  Well, we ended up staying home and all of a sudden, it was like I was craving every food I hadn’t eaten all week – salty snacks, creamy cheesy food, sweets – you name it, I wanted it all!  It was really frustrating and disappointing!!!!  It may have just been mental since in my mind I knew I was “done” but I didn’t really have a plan so that next meal was wide open.  I think my takeaway from this is that I’m really happy with the amount of healthy foods that I eat every day and feel OK with balancing that out with a splurge every once in a while – whether its homemade pizza or pasta for dinner, a glass of wine, a little dark chocolate, some goat cheese on a salad, or a meal eaten out at a restaurant.  I would rather mix a little of that stuff in here and there throughout the week than be craving it all in one sitting.

Once I got through the “blah” detoxing symptoms, I did actually feel really good for a day or two (before I started eating normal foods again).  The two things that I noticed that upsets my system the most are wheat and sugar.  Wheat (like our whole wheat pasta or traditional breads/tortillas) make me feel really heavy and bloated and sugar gives me the most intense headache.  The Ezekiel sprouted grain bread seems fine though.  Definitely something to think about for the future.

One thing that I think REALLY helped me stay focused during the week was the yoga.  I think I may be addicted  I am not sure if its the holistic aspect of my nutrition studies or just this time in my life, but I am connecting to yoga now more than ever before.  It just makes sense and I am enjoying it so much more than I ever did before.  I used to do it just because “its supposed to be good for you”.  Now I do it because I truly LOVE it.  I’ve been practicing at the studio 3 times a week and at home on the other days.  Since this post is already a little long and full of info-overload, I’ll write about my yoga practice and other new workouts in another post.

It will be really interesting to go through NTI’s detox program.  I am not sure if it is more of a traditional juice cleanse or an elimination diet similar to what I did (eliminating the most common food allergens and toxins).  I do think that its a great experience to have since this is something that I will need to be able to help clients with.

So, I’m curious…..have any of my readers ever attempted a cleanse or detox?  What kind?  What was your experience?  Any other questions I didn’t cover here – do you want to know more?  I’d love to hear from you…..even if its just that you missed me 😉