As part of my New Year's Resolution, I wanted to do a cleanse. We all have fluctuations in our diets from one day to the next, week by week and month by month. I actually did pretty well over the holidays this year. Probably the first year I didn't gain 5 pounds over the holiday. But never the less, I wanted to start my year out right. My goal was to clean up my diet, so that I began craving the healthy foods more and making healthier meals overall. (I'm also getting married in June, so there's a desire to look better than ever on that day since those pictures will last a lifetime!)

     I started my cleanse with cutting out all processed sugar for 4 days. It wasn't nearly as difficult to cut out the sugar as I had thought it would be. I was still eating fruit and starchy carbohydrates these first days. Then, for days 5-7, I cut out all sugars including the fruit and starchy carbohydrates...this was rough! I only ate non starchy vegetables, protein, and healthy fats. I felt like I was wasting away. I thank my fiance for keeping me sane and doing the cleanse with me. He's the type of person that eats to live, while I am the type of person who lives to eat! I feel like I spend a good portion of my day thinking of what I'm going to eat next.

     During these few days of only vegetables, protein, and fats, I noticed that I became much more in tune with how food was affecting me. I started to realize that I don't really like animal protein all that much. Fish didn't seem to bother as much as land animal meat. I also noticed that I was having a difficult time focusing, probably because I wasn't getting the same amount of glucose in my system as I was used to. Glucose feeds your brain, and is what all your sugars and starches turn into during the digestive process.

     On week two, I started adding in carbohydrates again but no fruits. I definitely felt better. I wasn't craving other foods anymore, and I got my energy back. At this point, I was also very tuned into how foods were affecting my body. I came to a definite realization that my body doesn't like meat very much. Twice I got a headache right after eating bacon and turkey bacon. I could literally feel where the pain was coming from. I don't know how else to explain it other than my gut instinct knew the headache came directly from the meat. It didn't happen every time I ate meat, but just those couple experiences confirmed to me I don't need meat in my life. So I've decided to become semi-vegetarian. 

     I don't consider myself an extremist when it comes to my diet. And I know that if I try to cut out something completely, I may feel deprived and want to eat it more. So, for now, I'm not buying any meat, and I won't order anything at a restaurant where the meal is designed around meat. If I happen to be at someones house and there's a little bit of meat in something they prepared, I'm not going to complain. Or if I'm at a sushi restaurant and want a roll that has meat in it, I'm okay with that. But I don't want my life to revolve around meat as a necessity. I've sort of eaten this way for years anyway, but the past two years I got off track and started eating more meat since my fiance eats meat. It's time for me to get back on track.

     Aside from that, I've truly been enjoying my diet recently. I'm on day 22 and feel good overall. I have energy, I'm eating a little bit of fruit again, no meat, mostly vegetables and healthy fats. I've been enjoying making green smoothies in my high powered blender, preparing large skillets of stir frys, going to the farmer's market once or twice a week, and making vegan sauces, dressings, and soups from healthy cookbooks. 

     I highly recommend doing a cleanse at some point. There's so many ways to cleanse your diet. You don't have to follow my method. But I do recommend going vegan for at least a few days and then re-introducing foods back into your diet. This will allow you to better assess how foods are affecting you. If you can go completely no sugar, you will feel amazing and not want to make it a daily part of your diet anymore. Some people like to go on a juice cleanse or soup and smoothie cleanse for a couple days or more. There's endless possibilities to healing your body and creating awareness through cleansing.
     Leave comments about your cleanses and stay tuned for more cleansing updates!
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