I am willing to bet that nearly all of us overindulged over the past few months. While I managed to make it through the holidays without gorging on sweets (like I did last year READ POST), I did eat food that was a bit more rich than usual and just plain ate MORE than usual.
I am convinced that one of the reasons I was able to have more self-control this year was because I completed a cleanse during the first two weeks of December before the holidays hit high gear.
A few months back my friend Sirica and I went to the Healthy Lifestyle Expo together and when she arrived she told me about a cleanse she did while her husband was out of town. It was so pure in that she just ate fruits and vegetables. I was drawn to the simplicity of this cleanse aka “reset and repair” as I like to refer to them.
So often I hear of cleanses that involve tons of supplements and very little food (trust me, I have done those too) and while I do think there is a time and a place for those types of cleanses (under a doctor’s care and for a specific reason), they make me really cranky and hungry.
So I took what I learned about the cleanse from Sirica and ran with it. I set-out to do the cleanse for 7-14 days (not sure how long I wanted to do it) and ended-up completing 12 days. Here were my parameters:
- Consume ONLY fruits and vegetables (aim for at least 50% raw…I think I was closer to 70% raw).
- Have the bulk of your intake be from water-based fruits and veggies, but be sure to include sweet potatoes and squash.
- Drink water, tea, fresh vegetable juice, or fruit and veggie powder drinks (I drank NanoGreens once a day).
- EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT…DO NOT GO HUNGRY!!!!!!
- NO oil
- NO grains
- NO legumes
- NO nuts
- NO animal products
- NO sugar
- NO artificial sweeteners
- NO processed foods
Like I said, I completed 12 days of this cleanse and came out of it 7 pounds lighter (all of which stayed off during the holidays) and most importantly I felt great and never once was I hungry! I really, really, really (did I emphasize that enough), don’t like to be hungry, so this was perfect for me.
OK, this may be TMI, but prior to the cleanse I was not as “regular” with my bowel movements as I would have liked to be. During the cleanse that all changed. I feel like it RESET my digestive system and everything is as it should be now.
I want to allow my body to heal from the excess I experienced last month, so I will be doing this cleanse again starting tomorrow and my husband offered to do the cleanse with me too…yay!
Would it be helpful for you / would you be interested in me posting my food log next week as I go through the cleanse?