At the time it was difficult to explain what I was about to do since I had not yet experienced it. All I really knew was that last year my sister did this cleanse, lost a bunch of weight, gained a ton of energy and never looked back. She's been trying to get me to do this ever since and I finally agreed, after a year of gentle prodding. I kept saying "But I don't need to lose weight!" to which she responded "This is not about weight loss. It's about improving your health, boosting your energy, changing how you physically feel on a daily basis. You'll see." So I agreed to try it.
Twenty days later, I feel great. Here is what this cleanse has done for me (so far!)
No More Morning Sickness
I'm not talking about the morning sickness of pregnancy - just general morning stomach upset. Since I was a kid I've had a sensitive stomach in the mornings. No matter what I ate - I'd feel sick to my stomach ten minutes later. Over the years I've learned to live with it and just treated it like a normal thing. I'd compensate by not eating much in the morning which would inevitably lead to massive hunger pangs by ten a.m. On the days that I work, this would mean that whatever lunch I may have packed for myself was immediately devoured before 11 a.m. - which then of course would leave me with nothing to eat until I got home later in the day.
For the past three weeks I've started my days off with a delicious protein and nutrient packed shake. Before starting the cleanse I scoffed at the idea of drinking a shake as a meal. It seemed ridiculous. But now I'm not sure I'll ever stop. My stomach feels great, I'm full until late morning and best of all, no more weird stomach noises when I'm in the middle of a visit with a patient! To be quite honest, I've hardly been hungry at all in the past few weeks.
No More Unhealthy Lunches on the Run
Because I'm on this program I've had to be more organized with what I bring with me when I leave for work. Since I'm also drinking a shake for lunch, I don't need to pack a whole elaborate meal, just my shake mix, my shaker cup and two healthy snacks. In the past I was not organized, thus quite often I would run out of the house without a lunch which would then cause me to stop somewhere, spend $7-8 on a lunch that may or may not have been healthy and then feeling bloated and gross for the rest of the afternoon.
Lots of Energy!
My initial reason for trying this was to boost my energy. Because I'm putting so much good stuff into my body and I'm cleansing out all the bad stuff, I feel incredible. I no longer get that 2:00 p.m. slump I used to get which I would usually solve by stopping at Starbucks and getting a coffee or just sludging through it and trying to get through the rest of my work day. It probably helps that I'm also off alcohol for the month. I've never felt so bright eyed and awake in my life!
Learning How to Eat Clean
I thought eating clean meant eating crazy health nut stuff - but wow, is there ever a variety of stuff that you can eat without consuming preservatives, added sugar, high sodium, etc. I've had a lot of fun learning how to cook meals using fresh ingredients, no processed food, spices I've never heard of before. At first I was nervous about cutting out wheat, dairy, soy, etc - but I've discovered that it's actually not that limiting. I'm realizing how much bad stuff I was actually eating before and how much some of it was probably dragging me down.
Now - this doesn't mean I'm off all those things for good. Once this thirty days is over - you bet I'll be having the occasional beer or glass of wine. But I won't be doing it every night like I had gotten into the habit of doing. I feel too good to go back to that. I don't even really miss coffee that much - but I'll probably go back to having it here and there when I feel like it. The key is to treat all those things as exactly that - treats! Eat healthy most of the time and occasionally indulge in the stuff you love. It will taste that much better.
But What About Weight Loss?
As I said, I wasn't in this to lose weight. I did lose a couple of pounds, probably those extra holiday pounds I had put on eating potato stuffed pierogies and Christmas cookies. I've been following the calorie counting a bit loosely since I'm not trying to lose weight and I'm also training for a half marathon, so I've probably been eating more than someone would who is trying to lose weight. But I have a few friends who are cleansing with me who have lost some unwanted weight and feel fantastic - so if that's someone's goal, this is a good way to do it.
Conclusion
It's hard to put into words how I feel after following this program for the past twenty days. As I was on a (very) long run the other day, it hit me. I had hit the reset button.
Last week my phone suddenly stopped working. For weeks it had been giving me problems - pages would load slowly, occasionally it would freeze up on me, and overall it just seemed a bit sluggish, like it had run out of steam. I ended up having to completely reset it, wipe it clean, start from scratch. Once I had wiped the memory clean and reinstalled everything, it worked like a charm. Pages loaded instantly, the screen became more responsive and the phone itself seemed brand-new. My sad, tired phone of the previous day felt new again.
It's kind of like that.
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