It's time for a cleanse

By Miranda

It's time....sigh...for a cleanse.

This is the least enthusiastic I've ever been before a cleansing diet/detox/fast. But I know I need it, and I really feel it's the right time.

It's important to wait for the right time, but to also be honest with yourself about when that time is. I'm certain that, if I wanted to, I could come up with some viable reasons not to do a cleanse right now. But I know, I feel it. I see the little poochy belly thing, I've noticed the slipping of sugar into my diet here and there, I've felt it in my joints. So, I've decided it's time.

Poor Jason is along with me for the ride. He does get a choice of course, but he's the "sure, why not, sounds good" kind of husband (lucky me!).

So here is what we are doing:

Cleansing diet for four days
This cleansing diet consists of tons of produce. Cooked or raw, no matter, just lots of it. Fruit and veggies alike, along with a minimal amount of vegetarian oils like olive, sesame, coconut, etc.

No to everything else. No meat, no diary-- NO BUTTER!...sigh. No nuts, no grains, no sugar, alcohol or coffee. Yes to spices and herbal teas. No potatoes, but yes to yams. That's it.

We will be eating a lot of raw fruits, sauteed veggies, salads, and simple soups cooked in vegetable broth. With a little creativity and a lack of laziness, four days of this diet can go by quite smoothly.

Supplementation
We will also be taking certain supplements to aid the body in the massive internal cleaning it has the potential to do when we're not clogging it with chemicals and excess.

We will continue to take our Vitamin D, K2, and Krill Oil supplements as we usually do. We will add in Selenium and B complex. We are also taking two forms of seaweed: Bladderwrack for natural mineral supplementation and thyroid support and Dulse (from the Maine coast) to help bind the nasty foreign bits in circulation (like various heavy metals). 

We will also be drinking a lot of water and herbal tea. There will be pitchers of Uber Herbal's Liver Lover tea blend available for us to drink all of the time. You can find Uber Herbal's delicious tea blends at their Etsy shop here, as well as at their tea and toast bar. (Don't talk to me about toast right now!)

Juice fast for two days
Intentionally, this is timed for the weekend. We have piles of produce (I recommend as much locally-grown produce from the Saturday market as you can get, followed by affordable bags of this and that from Trader Joe's). We will continue the supplementation, tea and water, but forgo the solid food for these two days.

Five sixteen ounce fresh juices for two days. This can be a little fruit along with the vegetables, but mostly vegetables. And you have to actually drink it.

My biggest challenge with juice fasts is always in actually drinking all of the juice. If you've done a juice fast, you may know what I mean. At a certain point, it gets easier to just not drink anything. But, drink we must. And, it's only two days.

For inspiration, I recommend watching the film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead if you haven't seen it. You can watch it online here for free. There are many, many other inspiring films about health and wellness, even about juice cleansing. If you look, inspiration is out there. And it is so very helpful.

In fact, merely writing this article has helped me change my tune about our cleansing diet. I'm bordering on excited, even! After we are finished, I'll be sure to share our experience with you, and share what our next steps will be to keep up our health through good habits.