So for those of you who are friends with me "in real life", or even acquaintances on Facebook, this last week you have heard me gripe about the cleanse diet that I'm on right now.
Today marks day 7 of 10 (ish, depending upon some factors).
I'll answer some of the questions you may have, as others have asked me:
Why on earth did you decide to do this?
Without getting into details about my digestion/health/etc, I'll just share that about a month ago, for 10 days I had pain in my stomach after every meal. I tried to change foods to see what affected the pain, but I couldn't really figure it out. My mom suggested I meet with a nutritionist/health coach to see if they had any ideas. I don't tend to "go to the doctor" unless something is unbearable or really worrisome and try to approach my health with alternative means versus popping pills, so this seemed like a good first step to figuring out what was going on.
We first started to meet and we discussed my diet, exercise, overall health, etc. The first thing she told me, which I tell my clients, is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I know, I know. Practice what you preach, E...but I have a hard time eating breakfast. I typically start the day with milking a big coffee for much of the morning then around lunchtime I'm ready for, well, lunch.
She said no way Jose, eating breakfast (really anything) within the first hour of waking is the most healthy. So for a week or two I started to work on eating breakfast. Protein/healthy fat type of breakfasts (eggs) gave me the most energy and feeling of being full the longest...the trouble is, yogurt or a piece of toast is much quicker, but the sugar/carbs can make you crash.
Anyway back to what I'm supposed to be talking about - the cleanse.
My health coach/nutritionist every few months will do a cleanse diet that many of her clients will participate in at the same time. She outlines what we can eat each day, what we can't and kind of motivates us through the 10 days.
THE GOAL of the cleanse is to detox your system, particularly your liver (sorry liver, realizing how much I abused you these last, say, 10 years) of harsh chemicals from foods we eat, drinking, smoking for people who smoke, medications, outside pollutants, etc. It's a time to minimize what we put in our body to get rid of unwanted chemicals/toxins.
In addition to this, I'm also using it to see if there are any foods/food groups (ie, the most likely are dairy, gluten) that I have sensitivities to. Apparently when you have sensitivities to food, your body can be in a state of being constantly "inflamed" and fighting those foods, which makes it harder to lose weight despite lots of running, or feel tired despite lots of sleep (some of my complaints).
So it's all very hopeful that I'll be able to sort some of this stuff out.
What on earth does it entail?
Veggies. I mean we're talking a lot of F-ing veggies. Each day you move through the cleans you are eliminating different types of food and by day 5-7 it really just leaves you with leaves...yeah, leafy greens.
To start, however, during the ENTIRE 10 days you aren't supposed to have any: meat, caffeine, alcohol, refined/added sugar/processed sugar/honey/sweetner. WHAT? Yah, seriously this in itself is a detox.
Pretty quickly dairy and eggs are eliminated (after day 1), and soon after nuts (after day 3), then most fruits and then even some veggies have been cut out (after day 4) in order to be focusing on very concentrated green veggies that help to detox your system (and 3-4 protein drinks over the day to make sure that all the important nutrients are getting into your system).
You shouldn't ever been hungry on the diet, the goal is not to starve or anything. The protein drinks are filling. But it's hard with these middle days before we start adding foods back into our diets for the next 3-7 days to just eat bowls and bowls of kale, arugula, brussle sprouts, broccoli and cabbage without any sort of yummy sauces or what feels like a main course...
Again, why on earth did you decide to do this?
Honestly, I'm just sick of feeling "bleh". I work hard to exercise pretty regularly and didn't notice a difference in my body or weight, I felt tired regardless of how much sleep I was getting and I was starting to have some stomach challenges (note: for those of you, women typically, who have stomach challenges - doctors commonly will diagnose you with IBS when they aren't sure what it really is...often times a change in diet, or a detox with supervision of a professional is something that significantly changes/illuminates the problem).
If something I can do may change this and I'll feel good, then I wanted to try it...and stomach issues are not something I'm a fan of, so let's figure this out.
What have you noticed so far?
Primarily? How hard it is to resist eating foods that give me comfort, how hard it is to resist having a drink when I'm out being social, how hard it is not to snack on something, or much on something that isn't good for me when it is around me...How hard it is to not think about food.
It's actually been pretty tough emotionally. I mean I knew I was tied to coffee, like really tied to coffee. I had been drinking coffee daily since I got my license. I mean you remember feeling cool walking into high school with a big ice coffee (extra, extra, so there was as little coffee in it as possible), that is how people knew that you drove to school. Well since then my coffee love has matured (for iced, no sweetner typically and just a splash of half and half) and it became less about people seeing me drink coffee, to just really loving it. I've said on more than one occasion it is the reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Also, there is food messaging, EVERYWHERE. You can not drive down the high way, watch tv, go out with friends, talk to friends, go to the mall, stop in the store without a million images of fried, chemically made, tasty, bad for you food...literally everywhere.
It is amazing how much our culture is built on consuming, literally consuming. I knew it before, but it has been so much more apparent this last week.
Physically I'm surprised I have as much energy as I do (don't tell my coach, she may resort me to decaf!). Day 2 I had a crazy headache which made me go to bed around 9pm (early for me), due to caffeine withdrawal. I've had a dull head ache since, which might be because I'm 'detoxing' and I feel a bit hungover at times which I think is also since I'm detoxing.
I've lost weight. Probably about 5lbs. Aside from the actual weight I'm a bit thinner overall, and I mean that I can tell my body is holding less bloat, but like I mentioned about being "inflamed" I feel that I'm not as bulky, if that makes sense.
I miss foods emotionally which is surprising, but also I think I'll appreciate foods and feeling satisfied by food a lot more after this experience.
What are you craving?
Well I'm craving meat, more tasty foods, variety overall. Not really much specifically right now.
If you had asked me a couple of days ago I would have said coffee, grilled cheese, steak and red wine.
The red wine still stands, I'd be cool with a glass (not at 9 in the am of course), but I think primarily at this point I'm just looking forward to adding things back in that I'll take anything, since the menu has been super limited the last few days.
That seems hard, how are you doing it?
Willpower I wasn't even aware of, frankly. But it's not willpower alone. My mother is doing it, and there is a group of us doing it at the same time. Not wanting to slip up and really only hurt myself in the end, is also a big motivator. Also, not that the goal was to directly lose weight, and it's not been a ton, but feeling like it's making me healthier as a result has been motivating.
What has been tough is just lacking the desire to really eat more and more veggies. I'm just veggied out at this point. I think that's the hardest part is just being bored with food.
But this presents an interesting thing. Bored with food. Food is to nourish us. Really that is the main goal. So what does it matter if it's bland/same old same old...if I'm nourished why do I care what it is I'm eating?
Well I've been conditioned to seek out foods that taste good, that fill me up how I enjoy, that give me comfort, that are interesting in flavor and texture and combination, and we have all kind of learned in this society to seek that out.
Aren't you afraid that you'll find out that you can't have something you love?
Yes. Absolutely. I'm super afraid that some of my favorite things (coffee, cheese, bread, meat, beer, wine, spicy foods, etc), affect my health/mood/energy etc. negatively.
BUT if I know that reducing (or eliminating depending upon the severity of how I feel when I re-introduce the foods back in over the next week) whatever I'm sensitive to, that I can feel better...If I can be healthier and I can lose a bit of weight, then I think ultimately that will trump enjoying a plate of pasta or a bowl of ice cream.
What is good is that there are many people before me who have allergies/sensitivities who have paved the way and sought out/made alternatives. I've already introduced some of the alternatives to my diet (before the cleanse) like Jovial rice pasta for instance (one of the good brands out there you would not be able to tell the difference between regular penne and this penne)...
...and I'm not too worried now that I've already managed to eliminate EVERYTHING I like, I can live with out 1 or 2 things that I like.
****
I'm not sure if I'll return to all my old ways. I think if I notice big changes over the next few days that are encouraging I might try and stay away from overeating the typical problem foods (gluten/dairy/tons of carbs/sugar).
I also think that I might just overall eat less and more balanced meals. I think strict restrictions tend to make people over compensate and binge on foods that aren't good for them. I'm not looking for a long term diet that is all about I can't eat this, I can't eat that, but I want to be more conscious about my food choices, and choose options that are healthier for my body in particular...a lifestyle change around food.
We'll see. My mood/thoughts/feelings change a couple times over the course of the day around food. Sometimes I feel frustrated or sad, sometimes I feel empowered and sometimes I just feel, well, good.
I'll keep you posted as I learn more. If I do have to make long term dietary changes, I'll let you know what I find as good substitutes so you can implement them too, if you need to.
With Thanksgiving looming (Seriously, November when did this happen!?) and with all this talk about food, let's take a moment and remember that there are also many people in the world, even in this country and, in your town and probably even within a minute drive of you (and me) that don't have enough food, or enough healthy food.
Let's be thankful for what food we do have (even if it's all veggies and you can't imagine eating another piece of broccoli!!) and our overall health.
Until next time.
Veg-E
No comments:
Post a Comment