It’s about that time of year to spring clean our houses, garages, gardens and our BODIES. Yes, it’s time to clean that digestive system so that we are shining from the inside-out.
Minimalists this is also for you….. It’s time to rid all the toxins you are hoarding inside your body. It’s time to take a step back now that you have cleaned out your closet, sold all your material items, quit your job, and become something. It’s time to give that same passion and attention to your bodies. Let’s do it together!
Seasonal and dietary cleanses can enhance the accumulation of waste and impurities in our bodies, causing excessive irritation and inflammation. It’s time to eliminate the toxins, before the toxins eliminate us! Most of us have become separated from a life of regular vigorous exercise, fresh clean air, fresh wholesome food, sunshine and natural environment in general. Our air, water, food, medicine, landscape and emotions all contribute to the intake of our toxins.
I welcome you all to follow me along my journey and I hope that most of you choose to participate on the this path to wellness and a NEW YOU. I have created my own cleanse using ideas and thoughts from my colonic therapist, a naturalistic doctor and by investigating and doing some additional research. I have tried several cleanses in my day and the ones that work best in my opinion are the cleanses where you are not cutting out food completely. YES, that is right you can still EAT FOOD. You just have to be mindful about the food choices you are making. Relax and breathe….
I will do the hard work for you, post all the food you can eat, when you should eat, and the special instructions you need to follow along the way.
Ready to cleanse?
The cleanse that I am doing will be 21 days, although the “cleanse product” I bought is only 14 days. If you are participating in the cleanse with me you can choose to do 14 or 21 days. It’s completely up to you! You will gain benefits on either path you decide to take. I will be posting the full 21 day cleanse. I will not be posting everyday but I promise to include everything you need for the entire cleanse throughout my posts.
What I purchased? (so far)
Gaia Supreme Cleanse Kit- this is the supplement and fiber powder that I will be taking every day. (14 day kit)
Crazy Sexy Diet Book- AWESOME! I love this book, the cleanse is towards the back! (thanks Nicole for the awesome suggestion)
2- Green Juices (drinking juices for breakfast and snacks, Day1)
Mixed green salad with walnuts and cranberries (lunch and dinner, Day 1)
2- Lemons (for water)- daily
Cayenne pepper- daily
*** I will be going to the grocery store tonight to stock up on veggies, I will post some recipes tomorrow so for now focus on eating lots of veggies, fruits, and beans!
Daily Routine
Begin the day:
-Drink 8-12 ounces of water with lemon, add a dash of cayenne pepper
-Drink a cup of herbal tea (green or white)
-Take two capsules (Deep Detox)- this will be in your cleanse kit
- Mix one spoonful of (Rejuve) in 8-12 ounces of water- this will be in your cleanse kit.
(Drink it fast or it will become thick and hard to drink)
- Try sticking to juices or a light meal in the morning, saving your solid food for lunch and dinner
-Dry Skin Brush/Oil Massage entire body before you shower in the morning
Throughout the day:
-Drink water (1/2 body weight in ounces)
-35 minutes of exercise daily
- Chew solid food well until liquefied before swallowing
Ending your day:
-Try to get more sleep than usual, between 7-9 hours per night, Take a nap if the day allows it
-Maintain a balance routine of rest and activity
-Thank yourself for taking the time out of your busy life to complete this cleanse, relax, read a book, unplug your TV ( whatever it is your body needs)
-Neti-Pot cleansing to clear the sinus passages
** During the cleanse consider colonics, massages or acupuncture.
Yes, you get to eat!
All your meals should consist of 80% veggies and 20% protein.
Foods to AVOID:
Sugar
Dairy (milk, cheese, ice cream etc.)
Chocolate
Soda and Juice that is not 100% juice
Alcohol
Coffee
Gluten (wheat, barley, rye etc.)
Fried Foods
Refined Baked Goods
Meat
Shellfish
Soy
Tobacco products
Foods to LOVE:
Lightly steamed vegetables and vegetable soups
Mixed green salads
Fresh Vegetables and juices
Whole grains (brown rice, millet, oats, amaranth, quinoa)
Garlic, Onions, and Ginger
Legumes such as lentils
Fresh fruits (in season)
Fresh broiled fish (wild salmon, sardines)
Sea Vegetables
Herbal Tea (especially green)
Recommendations
- NO COFFEE, ALCOHOL, SUGAR (yes, I mean it)
-Refrain from taking any supplements that you are currently on, it is not harmful and obviously if you need them by all means take them. (Do not stop taking prescription medicines, consult with your doctor before doing the cleanse kit)
-No Fasting! We want to eat simple wholesome foods so that we are getting the nutrients and enzymes in our bodies.
-Only use the kit for 14 days, you can however continue the healthy eating with me for the 21 full days
-Dry brushing and oil massage is recommended during the cleanse (I do it daily all the time)
-Neti-pot sinus cleansing is also recommended- you can get a pot at your local health food store.
This is a Neti-Pot
Ok… we are set. It’s cleanse time! Remember to always concentrate on the positive, not the negative.
Focus thoughts:
“Please help me open my mind. Ignite my childlike curiosity and anything is possible attitude. Tap me on the shoulder and if I act like a cranky old bat. The voices that hold me back are thoroughly misinformed. Grant me the wisdom to release them now.” – Kris Carr
Good luck everyone, comment if you have questions.
Check out the other cleanse posts!
Spring clean your insides….. Cleanse Time! (Day 2)
Spring clean your insides….. Cleanse Time! (Day 3)
Spring clean your insides…. Cleanse Time! (Day 4+)
Spring clean your insides… Cleanse Time! (Day 14+)
One Love,
Meg
04/12/2011
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So maybe I’m gonna need some help to do this cleanse….
David William recently posted..Ignore the Experts
David William » You have to be really serious. No chocolate, no alcohol and no sugar. If you really want to do it….. I will help you.
I agree with your thoughts here and I in fact love your blog! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future. Your post is very interesting. I’ve read your blog for few days now and I trully enjoy your blog. Thank you for your great work!
Niesha- Welcome! I am so glad that you are enjoying my blog. I love everything I write about and I am very passionate about the topics. All of the stuff I talk about I have either tried, in the process of experimenting or simply just wanted to learn more. If there is ever anything you want to be featured, please let me know. I really appreciate you stopping by and hope to hear more from you on future posts. One Love!
I believe the shakes I currently go for are not ideal. Those are powder protein shakes. Main reason is to loose some weight. I don’t have to loose much, just some to make me feel better and more energetic.
Until now (means 33 years by now) I’ve a total anti-vegetarian. My wife gave me a great vegetarian cook book for Christmas and after having lost some pounds I will reward myself by starting to experiment with those recipes.
It helps me to do something hard first and then turn what would have formerly been punishment into the reward. If I loose pounds I allow myself to start testing the veg lifestyle. Same with running. This has a hugh effect for me. It actually makes me look forward to things I normally dreaded.
Philipp Knoll recently posted..Company blogging 101
Phillip- That is what it is all albout. Learning to adjust your regular lifestyle to expierence new things. Sometimes things or foods you thought you dreaded become your new favorite thing. Our bodies change as we age, and so do our likes and dislikes. We can look at kids, and how picky they can be, as they grow up they begin to re-introduce the foods they once dreaded out of the simple notion to not like it! Good luck with the veggy eating. I really thought I was going to miss meat when I gave it up, haven’t even thought about it. Once you learn new recipes and ways to eat without it, you forget meat was even a staple. I try to be a runner too, so I know how demanding that can be. Sometimes my mind overcomes my motivation which makes me hate running. I am learning to appreciate the fact that I CAN run, and look at it in that light. Stay healthy!! One Love.
[...] Spring clean your insides…. Cleanse Time! (Day 1) [...]
Hey Meg,
I’m looking forward to this series of articles as I’m planning something similar right now. To be perfectly honest I should have been committed got is plan for two weeks now but signs are good that I’ll start tomorrow. Sadly you put all the foods like on you list of foods to avoid.
This is what I’ll do, let me know what you think of it – this is not only for cleansing but also for loosing some pounds: I read David Kirsch’s book The New York Bidy Plan a while back as I was doing an interview with him. He suggests adding protein shakes to your diet. In combination with advice from another website I’ll be on 7-10 days shake diet. Only shakes for those days. This has already help me get in shape once. After that I’ll experiment with the Four Hour Body low carb diet. I’ll check out your blog to find some great input on what go do also. Really looking forward to it!
Philipp Knoll recently posted..Company blogging 101
Philipp Knoll » I like that your even thinking about being healthy. That is the first step! My only hesitations with shakes and this is coming from learning about eating with the seasons. leaning away from processed foods etc. If the shakes you are making come from a powder based, they are essentially processed. They are refined in a way that they have a shelf life. If the shakes you are making are veggies and fruits then yes that is much better but you still loose nutrients even by juicing. Just some things to look into and think about. But I am happy you are taking the leap. It’s hard at first but I promise it gets easier. You won’t even think about those things on the DO NOT EAT list, they will become your enemies.
Let me know how it all goes and I will be looking into the books you mentioned. I also like hearing other people’s perspectives and ideas. Like I said this is a cleanse that I derived from experience and using other people’s ideas to determine what works and what doesn’t.
Thanks for stopping by!
Well it sounds like someone has been doing a little sneaky spending… hmm…
It is for a good goal though. I’m not sure I can cut out chocolate, dairy (ice cream!), and alcohol, but good for you. I tried the Neti Pot and thats about as far as I’ve gotten…
You eat so super healthy already. Does the cleanse really matter? I think it is a good idea to stay on top of your health though. Very inspiring! Now, I’m off to eat some raw brownie mix
David William recently posted..Ignore the Experts
David William » We live in a processed food world and even if we refrained from processed foods and we ate a 100% raw diet we would still get toxins from the environment that we live in. A cleanse would be recommended to ANYONE regardless of how healthy they are. The cleanse I am doing is the most affordable and very easy to do. You say you couldn’t give up all those things, but there should be nothing in your life that you can’t refrain from for 21 days. That means it’s an addictive product that you are consuming. Don’t defeat yourself like that. Cleanses will show people’s true strengths. It’s all in your head….and your cells are listening.
I really challenge you to try one, it would be way out of your comfort level and would truly be a challenge. I would help you of course.
Hmmm…. it’s not that I can’t do it though. It’s the commitment that I lack. It sounds awesome to drink lots of good juices though. That I can get behind.
I also don’t view chocolate as a bad thing. I just don’t. In fact, I view it as a really really good thing. And alcohol, well I went 21 years without it just fine. Now I like to enjoy it
But maybe with your help I can do a little version of a cleanse. As it already is, I am eating much healthier because of you!
David William recently posted..Ignore the Experts