Friday, August 21, 2009

Detox Recap

photo via nibs

After all my whining over cheese, I thought it only fair to do a little recap of my two week detox to let you know how it actually went down.

My initial goal for going into this craziness was to "recalibrate" my diet a bit -- I've been indulging, well... a lot this summer, in fact so much so that I'd abandoned the concept of "special occasion" eating (dessert and/or wine had become the norm instead of the exception...) I thought going spartan for a couple of weeks would help me cleanse my body a bit and get me back on track before the bacchanal otherwise known as the holidays.

So for 14 days, I didn't consume any alcohol, dairy, sugar, caffeine, red meat, processed foods, flour, gluten and soy... for the most part. I did indulge in a small (4 ounces or so) cup of coffee every morning, as I didn't want to contend with a raging headache, but I was almost "perfect", staying full on brown rice, veggies and fruit, raw nuts, beans, organic chicken and pork, fish and oatmeal. I also consumed quite possibly the grossest drink on earth every morning -- 8 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice with a big scoop of green "super food". Friends, I can't tell you how awful this was. It took every. single. ounce. of my resolve to get it down without gagging, but I suspect it contributed to the major upside of this experiment -- my super human energy.

Now honestly I'm not sure that some of my newfound energy wasn't psychological, but during the 14 days spent detoxing, I woke up about an hour earlier every morning (without an alarm clock) and didn't fall into my typical mid-afternoon slump. I also generally felt better, and yes (in case you're wondering), I also lost a couple of pounds.

So all in all, it was worth the monotony of of my meals and the absence of cheese. I think I'm going to try and do it a few times a year...maybe ;-)

5 comments:

  1. Love the fridge. I'm looking forward (/reluctantly anticipating) a hellish year of law school, so maybe I can work some of your detox habits into regular rotation....

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  2. Good for you for staying strong...now, where's the cheese?

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  3. Oh, I have had that green "super food" powder stuff, and I feel for you! No matter what I mixed it in, it was quite possibly the worst thing I have ever consumed. Blech.

    But now you're done! So, what cheese will you be enjoying first?

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  4. intriguing! Good job on the detox. That takes a lot of determination. And I think you may have inspired me to give it a try ;)

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  5. it also seems a big benefit of a clease is to retrain one to eat naturally again. because you are forced to find and make foods you normally don't your tastes and cooking skills broaden!! it is so great. glad it worked out for you.

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