On Monday afternoon I came home from work just feeling wiped out. My body hasn't been wanting coffee as much in the last few weeks, my pants were starting to feel a little tighter, and hub and I were talking about how much food and good brew we'd been able to indulge in during the month and a half we've been back in Oregon. In the midst of our conversation hub interjected stating that we should do the cleanse he's been wanting to do for the last several months (it was mentioned in a couple articles in his
Outside Magazine.) While hub was in the Army, we couldn't exactly do a cleanse....but there was no real reason why we couldn't do one now...and what better time than the present...we decided to start the very next day....
So we hunted down the book, hub read the parts we needed to know and I spent the rest of the night reading the book in depth. Much of Junger's thoughts on the toxins that are present in our world and the reasons behind doing a cleanse (to purge oneself of toxins and realign/pause your digestive tract) I readily agreed with.
Junger's
Clean would actually allow us to eat a decent amount of calories, but would include a major change in the way we've been eating:
No dairy, no beef, no peanut products.
No soy, no corn, no wheat products.
No oranges, grapefruits, grapes, tomatoes, peppers, bananas, or potatoes.
No coffee, no alcohol, no real sources of caffeine.
No to most sweeteners.
But instead we have expanded our exposure to many of the products we can have: quinoa, brown rice, coconut milk, almond butter and milk, millet, dried legumes, fish, sesame oil, agave, balsamic vinegar, and a whole host of vegetables and fruits.
The basic schedule of the cleanse allows us a smoothie in the morning, a solid lunch, and a smoothie or raw soup in the evening for dinner. It also allows for a small snack between meals (almonds or a piece of fruit, etc). We are to drink enough water to make us urinate every hour and we're allowed herbal teas, including yerba mate (even though it has caffeine.....). The cleanse itself is 21 days and people who have gone through it (including
One Green Generation) report that it's been wonderful---provides more energy, increases health and decreases health issues, and assists the body in enhanced functioning.
Like most things, you can purchase supplements and shakes to help improve the experience, but we're not doing that...just good ol' fashioned food and continuing with our exercise of running.
Luckily we're allowed many spices as well: most green spices, healthier oils, vinegars, sea salt & pepper, and lemon/lime for seasoning.
We've been stocking up on organic fruits and vegetables mainly thanks to Fred Meyer and Whole Foods, but today we had our Organics to You delivery also!
We've also been hitting up new recipes and taking ideas from recipes and rolling with them. It definitely takes more time for preparation but so far the food has been pretty good! Plus it's just nice to try new things.
So how's it going you might be wondering? Well, we opted not to do the elimination diet prior to starting the cleanse (which is recommended to ease your body into it), so as we're three days in we're a lil more tired than usual and we tend to fluctuate somewhere between lots of energy and wanting to take a nap. But overall we both feel like it's doing good things and we're hopeful to have some great things to report by the end of the 21 days.
At the very least, it's great to be doing something new together and our recipe selection is being given a whole new take on life. Speaking of, if you've never tried millet---give it a try! It's sort of a mix between couscous and brown rice, but its definitely a food that will be sticking with us past the 21 days!
Here's to health!
