Cleanse: Days 1 and 2

In which Emily oversleeps, but still manages to get off to a decent start, then takes a whole day to recover from illness.


This is a fun cleanse.

I’ve done this cleanse before. It is inspired by Kris Carr’s “Crazy Sexy Diet” 21 day cleanse, but I put my own spin on it. Or, to be precise, I make up some of my own rules. For example, if a food I am supposed to avoid is already in my fridge and may expire before the 21 days are through… well, I’m going to eat it. No sense wasting money.

However, for the most part I stay true to the ideals: I avoid animal products, gluten, coffee and alcohol, and I maintain her suggestions for self care such as meditation, exercise, dry brushing and more! I even complete the questions at the end of each day, honestly and happily. Knowing that at least one other person reads this will help keep me in line.

I’ve been a bit sick this past week, so I have to give myself a pass on the sleeping in on day one …two hours beyond the time I expected to be up. I'm usually very good at getting off on the right foot, and somehow sleeping in two hours did not put me too far off my game. I still managed to do most of the requisite activities: I meditated, I juiced, I exercised, I drank a lot of tea, I even dry brushed. I did not avoid gluten for the reason listed above. I had marinated tempeh (the marinade contained gluten). I avoided caffeine (and I will talk about my unbridled love of coffee another day), alcohol, and animal foods. I ate lots of veggies, drank lots of water and herbal tea. I have to admit, I felt pretty heroic. I was energized and really on my game.

Activities I skipped on the first day: using the neti pot (I'll talk about my relationship with the neti pot another time) and, as mentioned, avoiding gluten. I do promise, however, that as soon as the tempeh has been consumed, I will avoid gluten completely.

Day 2 dawned earlier than day one, but I felt awful. The cold I'd been slowly overcoming decided to take a last stand. I spent most of the day in bed, but still managed to do some of the recommended activities. I had juice, I had lots of veggies, I drank plenty of herbal tea. I did not, however, meditate, exercise, dry brush, neti pot or avoid gluten. I spent the day in my pyjamas conquering this cold. I'm pretty sure I've won. Props to me.

The good news is that the tempeh is gone, so tomorrow will begin the gluten-free run.

Interesting foods I have eaten the past few days include:
Gluten free bread. It's better than most people expect.
Daiya "cheese" which is actually made of tapioca. I eat this stuff outside of cleanses, too, and it's wonderful.
Seaweed. It's dried and lightly salted and so delicious.
Kombucha. Mind, I drink this all the time, but not everyone reading will think it as normal as I do. It's basically cultured fermented tea. It's delightful.
Gluten free granola. It makes a wonderful snack.

The coming weekend will see interesting cleanse challenges including:
The Wrecking Ball: Winter Edition, a show featuring heavy metal and poetry.
A date at a Mexican restaurant. How will I resist margaritas??
Karaoke night.

I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

What are your plans for a healthy weekend?