Cleanse Days 9-15

Life has a way of turning you on your head when you least expect it. That just happened to take place at the end of the cleanse.

Days 9-11 were very good days. I wasn't hungry all the time. On day 10 I started phase 2 which included one grain dish per day. I moved on to phase 3, which includes proteins, on day 13 or 14.

Unexpectedly, I found that after day 9 I witnessed a huge shift within myself. I needed to speak and live truthfully.

Normally I consider myself a truthful person, but if someone causally asks me how I'm doing I don't always come out with the whole truth. Most of the time they really don't want to know anyway, they are just making conversation. My standard answer to "how are you doing" is "good". Well on day 9 that changed. Truth starting spilling out and it didn't stop. I made a BIG fucking mess. Even 2 weeks later it's still a big fucking mess.

But it's been a long time coming. At least it's all out there in the open. There is a lightness that comes with speaking the truth.

This cleanse was WAY more than I had anticipated on so many levels. Decisions need to be made, and will be in the coming week.

"With every mistake we must surely be learning" - right?

Cleanse Days 7 and 8

Day 7 was by far my worst day so far. I felt like shit. Exhausted, hungry, dizzy, angry. After talking with someone who has been cleansing many times a year for many years I figured out a few things. 1. I need to be eating MORE food, especially vegetables. 2. I wasn't taking any cleansing herbs because I thought that it would be easier on my system but that it was backfiring because the toxins where hanging around in my body longer. 3. I might need to move the next part of the cleanse before next Sunday depending on how things go.

I ate a handful of cashews and that helped with the irritability. In addition to eating more food I've started drinking the dandelion root tincture 3-4 x per day. I think I've eaten my weight in guacamole over the last two days.

Day 8 I felt the best that I have since I started. Although I feel low on energy the other detox symtoms have gone away. Last night I made an amazing Sweet Potato and Kale soup from the book If the Buddha Came to Dinner. It was amazing!

Oh, and I found the damn tape measure. I fell like I've already lost the inches that are going to come off but it will be interesting to see if there's any change at the end.

Bust: 32

Waist: 28

Hip: 36

An interesting side note is that the past 3 nights I've dreamt. Vivid dreams. It's been a long time since that's happened. Maybe even before I had kids.

Cleanse Day 6

Strange thing happened this morning. I woke up early with hives on my head. That's usually the first sign that I've eaten something that contains dairy. There's no way I've had any dairy. I can only guess that my body was reacting to the veggie broth, but it seems so unlikely that I could be allergic to any of those vegetables. I'm going to keep an eye on it.

Hurray for food! This morning I started out with the Master Cleanse lemonade for breakfast. I was concerned that my stomach might not handle food so well after 5 days on a liquid diet. But all is well. Today I enjoyed:

veggie broth from last night

kale chips

banana

strawberries

carrots with guacamole!!

For dinner I overdid it a bit with a baked potato with garlic, onions and guacamole. I ate it too fast. I've been so hungry.

Cleanse Day 5

Today was another difficult day. I was tired, very hungry, and cranky for most of the day. Emotionally this has been the toughest day yet. I've been feeling very insecure and unsure of myself. Somethings just not right, so tonight I decided that I would move on to phase 2 now instead of sticking it out until Thursday. I've gained what I wanted from a liquid diet. I'm excited about cooking and eating again. I was feeling burnt out before I started.

Phase 2 lasts about a week. I'll be eating only fruits and veggies as well as taking some herbs that detox the liver, kidneys, etc.

Since I've been on a liquid diet for 5 days I can't go right into eating food again without a transition. Tonight I made a vegetable broth from kale, celery, radish greens (maybe turnip greens, I can't ever remember which is which), bok choy, and parsley from my garden. I was worried that it might taste bitter but I must say that it was very delicious. It makes me wonder why I've never drank veggie broth before as a drink. I'm starting to think of it as vegetable tea.

Tomorrow I want to start eating real food, like food that you chew(!), but I'll have to see how it goes. One of the main focuses during this phase is to pay attention to how my body reacts to each food.

That's all for now.

Cleanse Days 3 and 4

Yesterday (day 3) was rough. I felt nauseous most of the day, but realized by night that I could curb it by drinking more water. Still felt hungry.

Today I was tired but most likely because I woke up for 3 + hours last night and couldn't fall back asleep. It was also a day of great temptation. Having to constantly prepare, touch and clean up food is driving me crazy! I also took the girls to Chuy's for lunch. What was I thinking?! I would kill for those beans and rice right now. But I resisted. I made the mistake of saying that I was feeling hungry out loud and Zoe kept trying to feed me all afternoon.

Right now I don't feel like I can make it another 6 days before eating again. I'm soooo hungry!! The last time I was only hungry for the first day and then it was gone. Arg!

Cleanse Day 2

Today I started feeling the effects of the toxins that are being released into my system. Bhalllllll. I feel tired, cranky, hungry. Not terribly, but I feel like I'm in the beginning stages of getting a cold. Feeding my kids has been a challenge. I realize that through out the day I eat bites of their food. I feel like there is food everywhere.

Today I find some organic lemons! They taste better than the limes to me.

On to day 3...

Cleanse Day 1

So excited to finally start my cleanse today! My plan was to start last Friday but my stomach has been feeling off so I held out until today. I'm starting with the Master Cleanse for 10 days followed by a 3 week food cleanse outlined in the book If the Buddha Came to Dinner. If all goes as planned I'll break this 31 day cleanse on Nov 4th which just happens to be the same day I'm fly into NYC for a 3 day vacation BY MYSELF!

So far so good. I ate a breakfast taco this morning since I couldn't find any organic lemons last night. Then I made the cleanse drink with limes from about noon on.

Today I've felt hungry. Not cravings, just hungry (a salad would have hit the spot), but nothing major.

Physically I'm feeling a bit run down and tired.

I can't find my measuring tape, but when I do I'm going to post my measurements to see how much I lose during the coming weeks.