Oh man, do I have an update…
Last week I shared how I prepped for my upcoming Standard Process cleanse. This week I have a ton to share. Maybe a book’s worth, but I have tried my best to make this concise!
The kick-off went smoothly, crediting batch cooking, organized smoothie recipes/ideas, and grocery shopping. I roasted veggies (2 cookie sheets) 2-3 times, I tried to take it easy, although my husband was traveling most of the week, and I planned some exercise to fit with the program.
However, this is not an excuse, but honesty of how the week went. I cheated, and I planned on cheating. What? Yes! All the details below.
Before I get there, have I shared why I am detoxing in December? Well, here goes:
For this program, I have the best intentions and high exceptions. I not only want to do this cleanse and feel awesome and accomplished after it, I want to learn everything about it, making myself a guinea pig so I can best steer consumers on a well-rounded cleanse.
Yet, I originally thought I would do this cleanse with patients, but when organizing my plan and collaborating with my local Standard Process rep on how I want to help guide consumers towards a detox like this, he suggested I do the full program first. Oye, which left me with the holiday season to do so.
LESSON #1 – Find a period of time that it’s realistic to meet the guidelines of a program to do a cleanse.
So December is it. I knew I would be challenged with baking (did fine!), social gatherings, reunions with friends, etc, but I was and still am confident I can be compliant (and have been 100% with food).
Mid-week, I knew there was an event on Saturday and I began stressing over not enjoying it because of the detox. I decided ahead I was going to bend the rules, and I have more details and feedback below on day 7. I needed to end the debate of what I was going to do, so I made a decision and made a plan of how I was going to go about it.
LESSON #2 – Relating to a cleanse, and all health initiatives, if you eat something indulgent or off plan, do not beat yourself up and drag on a negative conversation with yourself. I work clients on this all the time. Assess the moment, enjoy what it was, and move on. If able, learn from it too. Don’t turn something as innocent as food into a personal debate and an emotional drain. Life is short.
A play-by-play of Week 1:
Day 1 – Where did my appetite go? This was actually a big surprise. I started the day with a smoothie (coconut butter, spinach, clove, ginger, stevia, ice, water), which was low carb as I am used to a high fat and protein-based bfast and didn’t want to rock the boat too much with my blood sugar and insulin needs. I had a baby shower around lunch and just nibbled on the fruit and vegetable for the offered lunch and had a smoothie waiting for me in my cold car. Dinner was roasted vegetables and half a cup of lentils. Day 1 was, dare I say easy?
Day 2 – I could tell I was detoxing. Feeling cold and sluggish, and (no filter) I was peeing like a race horse. I know it was expected to have an increase in bathroom visits, and I felt like I was non-stop urinating. As I am not a napper, even with a newborn in the house (16 months ago), I did need to rest for 30 minutes mid afternoon. I did a smoothie at bfast and dinner, and think a better plan is a smoothie for bfast and lunch. We are allowed to have a smoothie with a meal, the general rule is to just have 1-3 smoothies a day. My lunch was an awesome Kale Soup w/ lentils and I wrapped the day with a light hot yoga session at Blue Spot Bexley.
Day 3 – I’ve been perkier getting up in the AM. This morning I didn’t want to move. Thankfully I didn’t have anywhere I had to rush to on day 3. Maybe less energy than day 2, so opted to exercise post work with a 30 minute walk with a small incline. Overall, I am definitely not hungry. My gut is telling me some of the ingredients in the smoothie control appetite, but overall not finding the no meat as hard as I imagined. Also no coffee is somewhat breezy. I am starting the day with Yerba Mate tea. Maybe my new go-to post cleanse and use coffee as an occasional treat.
Day 4 – Hallelujah. I feel like a million bucks. It’s not that the first 3 days were terribly hard, I was just dragging and as expected come day 4/5, cleansers start to feel better. I woke w/ no appetite, but eventually had a smoothie to break the fast after a 20 minute swim and sauna session. So reflecting on the day I had an easy intermittent fast and progressed per norm.
Day 5 – Good energy, and a healthy appetite. I had a smoothie for bfast, 2 lunches of veggies and oils, and a smoothie for dinner. I thought I’d eat more salads and raw veggies, yet, It’s been quite cold out and all I want is warm food.
Going back to my plans for this program. I met with my rep in November but also had a conference call on the books with other health care professionals that have done and supported clients on this program. I learned a lot from these veterans and have adapted the program for my needs and goals. Being diabetic I do far better with a fat and protein breakfast. Also, if someone on the program knows they are absolutely not sensitive to eggs, that can be included in the program as well. The next adaption I am amending for myself and will coach people on is the day they start to reintroduce animal protein.
Day 6 – Therefore with day 6 I kicked things off differently. I started with eggs and avocado, lunch was smoothie and veggies as was dinner.
Beyond food, I had a big surprise on day 6. I had this wave of anger (so not the norm). It was almost an out of body like experience. I started researching and came across data showing it’s common to not only detox toxins during a program, but also emotions. It was wild and I have never felt something like it, but it went away by day 7.
Day 7 – Saturday, I felt great waking up, especially coming off such an emotional day before. I did a Bikram class first thing and it was awesome. My food and smoothies were spot on, including my evening out. I ordered a basic salad with olive oil for dressing and asked to have a serving of wild salmon with the greens. It was easy and delicious. Now more details on the “bending of the rules.”
The evening was a double date with dear friends of ours, and a couple who is always on the road, which makes it a treat when we see them. Starting off the week I knew this night was planned and I was honestly stressing about it. I was emotional about being overly anal with the ingredients at the restaurant and more so wanted to have a drink with them. So I decided I was going to nail my meal of food but was going to have some wine. I was going to treasure it; and I did. I noticed I was more sensitive to alcohol, and pass some of my glass to my husband to finish.
I also was overly mindful with my day before and after. I did additional lifestyle detoxing techniques and drank more water and as mentioned, did hot yoga. I organized the plans so started the evening with one of my Dry Farm Wines. Side note, the wine industry is like the supplement industry. There are really good wines out there, such as Dry Farm Wines, and there are really pesticide, sulfite, sugar filled wines out there. I love Dry Farm Wine and Naked Wine as they are clean healthy options and also uber gentle on my blood sugars.
So was the wine worth it? I think, but I made sure I enjoyed every sip and kept focused on my health initiative.
So that’s a wrap. I will be back next week with an update and let me know what info I didn’t share that you may want to know!
JANUARY CLEANSE – If you are interested in doing a cleanse in the New Year, Standard Process is kicking off their 21 Day Standard Process Purification program with a webinar on the 9th of January, and the diet/supplement regime starts on the 10th. Let me know if you need to order a kit, and I will get you what you need. Their cleanse has dairy free and a standard version (both ~ $235)
This program has a Guide and a full eBook (1 Degree of Change) with step by step meal plans and a free app you can download, which has tracking tools, shopping lists/list builder and recipes from the meal plan.
A lot of information, but all of the above makes the program really easy to follow. Hope you have a healthy New Year and entire 2017 in whatever way you choose to strive for your best health.
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