Wiping the Slate Cleanse

I knew that I wanted to begin the year with some sort of cleanse to reset my body from the food overload that I’d inflicted on myself during the holidays. But, if I’m truly honest with myself, I’ll admit that this season of overeating actually began with my vacation to Europe where I indulged in artisan French pastries and finely formed Belgium chocolates. As much as my senses enjoyed this indulgence, my body was working overtime to process the large portions that I was eating and the exercise that I was doing to compensate for my less-than-healthy eating habits.

After doing a brief Internet search and thinking through some of the more popular cleanses that many people have done over the years, I decided to embark upon my first cleanse by choosing one that is short in length and full of whole foods and nutrients. I should also disclose that I’m a pescatarian, which means that I do not eat poultry, beef, or pork. Rather, I eat a diet that includes but is not limited to fish and seafood, instead of meat.

Therefore, I wanted to adopt a program that included plenty of protein, in addition to fiber, antioxidants, and natural sugars. With this criteria in mind, I chose Dr. Oz’s 3-Day Detox Cleanse.

This is a juice cleanse that does not include any solid foods. Rather than explaining the cleanse, which the website already does quite well, I’ll spend my time here telling you what I learned, with the hope that you can find one or more things from my account that resonates with you and perhaps your own experience with starting with a clean slate.

What are my takeaways?

I know that many people reading this blog want the quick takeaways that they can use to help them on their own cleansing journey. For those audience members, see the following summary of learning points:

Sometimes I didn’t follow the rules. But I kept going.

On the second day of the cleanse at around 3:00 p.m., I just wanted to get in bed and go to sleep — forever. Of course, this feeling might have occurred because I missed the lunch juice that day. No judgements, please. But like many of us, life happens, and in my case, I worked through the lunch hour. After realizing the consequences of missing the lunch juice, I decided to carry on and have my dinner juice as planned. I was grateful for that dinner juice for sure! And I didn’t give up just because I missed a meal. These two points — gratefulness and not giving up — are ones that I will discuss in detail in a later post. But I will say that going without can offer up many choices — the options to give up, follow or break the rules, or turn to God for strength. I chose a couple of those options. Although I broke the rules a bit, I knew that I could turn to God at any moment for His help. But what I learned beyond that point is that I could also turn to God to say, “Thank you!” For every meal, I thanked Him for the opportunity to cleanse and nurture my body. I thanked Him for the endurance to see the cleanse to completion. Going without helped me go deeper within, where I found sustenance far greater than food.

The juices were so tasty that I decided to continue juicing.

I expected the juices to be barely tolerable as I purchased the ingredients from my shopping list. Sipping kale, blueberries, mango, flax seeds, and avocado through a straw weren’t so appealing to my palate. Plus, I found that juicing takes a lot of cleanup time. But aside from the cleanup, the juices were all surprisingly quite delicious. When watching TV talk show hosts sample a healthy juice or dish that’s made by one of their guests, I’ve always questioned whether they really like the taste. However, in this case, I can honestly say, “Yes, it was really good!”

Cleansing propelled me into a more healthy way of life.

Although the cleanse only lasted for three days, during that short period of time, I experienced a mind and body reset. For example, day 2 of the cleanse was the most difficult. I craved solid foods, and I felt totally empty. Again, I didn’t follow all of the rules, which I mentioned in the first bullet. But, it was during this brief struggle that my expectations changed. Before the cleanse, I expected to eat a black bean burrito and feel like I made a healthy choice just because I purchased it from Whole Foods. Alternatively, I expected to eat at Chipotle without a second thought because I knew that I could look forward to my morning run to burn the 800 or more calories in the vegetarian burrito bowl that I’d eaten. But this cleanse reset my palate and my expectations because after three days of expecting to drink my next meal, I began to expect foods that were lighter and contained less processed ingredients. In fact, at the end of day 3, I went into a grocery store, and for the first time, I realized that most of the food in the store was full of preservatives and subsequently, could sit on the shelf for days (maybe even weeks) before reaching my table. That thought didn’t sit well with me, and I began to be more mindful, thoughtful even, about the foods that I buy and where I eat.

I took care of myself during the cleanse.

Usually I start the day with a morning run, accompanied by a fast-paced playlist to keep me energized. During the cleanse, however, I knew that my caloric intake would drop tremendously. So, I decided to rest my body and walk instead of run during the cleanse. On day 3, I’ll admit that I couldn’t resist, and I did run and walk intermittently for about 30 minutes, since my body tends to crave cardio just as much as solid food at times. But in general, my goal was to be gentle with my body, and embrace rest. With that in mind, I scheduled a massage at the end of day 3 to further enhance the detox process and because getting massages is something that I enjoy. Doing what I enjoy often helps my overall health and well being, and this principle certainly served me well during the cleanse.

Next steps

Now that I’m well into my post-cleanse experience, I’m so grateful that I completed this cleanse. I feel lighter; my food choices are healthier; and because I’m not as hungry, my portions are smaller. My energy level is slightly elevated, and I feel more balanced. I also experienced divine gratitude, which surpassed the indulgences of French pastries in Paris and the much anticipated juice meals that I made during the cleanse. Gratitude is immeasurable.

These improvements will become the foundation for long-term healthier eating habits, which have only augmented my fitness activities and overall health and well being.

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