Small Wonders: Food

Day 1 my weight is (yikes!) 133 and I ate:

Breakfast: Green Juice (kale, spinach, carrots, apple, ginger, celery, cucumber, fennel)

Lunch: Big salad, all-natural dressing, plain tuna fish

Dinner: Cauliflower-Leek soup.

Snacks: hummus and gluton-free cracker, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, herbal teas

Activity: morning yoga, 45 minutes cardio, free weights, crunches, stretch

Thoughts: Dang, no more toddies for a while. Day 1 must be the hardest day.

This year I became a big fan of detox cleansing and I'm going to document the one I started today here on my blog. I'm not trying to convince anyone about this or make any veiled judgements, I just want to have a record of it and watch how things progress. I did my first cleanse back in February and had fantastic results (and lost 10 pounds!). So good, in fact, Rob asked me to walk him through a cleanse of his own and he is now a devotee as well. Some of the best outcomes were an abundance of energy, sleeping like a rock, feeling refreshed and generally light and happy. I also saw my skin improve dramatically.

There just came a time when I felt sluggish, puffy, sleep deprived, and I had over-indulged in too much food and drink and certainly was not paying too much attention to any healthy routine. The dark England winter wasn't helping. Not that I was in terrible shape! Our diet has been consistently healthy-ish and vegetarian-based for a long time. What's been great about the cleanse is many of the practices have stuck with us and become part of our everyday routine. And, Rob's recent blood work showed great results. Not only were the numbers within normal ranges, but he kicked it on cholesterol.

I follow the program from Dr. Alejandro Junger's book "Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself" -- a New York Times Bestseller (there's also an excellent support Web site). It is 21 days of "approved" vegetables, fruit, non-gluten grains, lean proteins, nuts & seeds and supplements. The schedule is a liquid (usually smoothie) for breakfast, a full balanced lunch, and a liquid dinner (usually soup). The idea is to give your body a break from working too hard to digest difficult foods and transforming toxins so that it finds time to release the bad stuff and restore the body to a clean state.

After the 21 days you slowly re-introduce particular foods back into your diet to see if you have bad reactions (i.e. headaches, joint pain, skin problems). Many find they have negative reactions to sugar, caffeine, wheat, tomatoes, and dairy -- some quite pronounced. Many have seen nagging health problems disappear. Rob found out tomatoes are not for him (aching joints). I found out I feel my best without coffee, sugar, and milk (I switched to coconut milk). I should mention there is a preliminary period to wean off sugar and caffeine before starting the 21-day program. No doubt many (most?) people are dependent on both.

I may not post every single day, but I expect when I am done on December 18, I'll be very careful about what I add back -- and that will include a pint of Christmas cheer.