Earlier this week I wrote about how I fell into a bit of a funk over the last couple of months because of various challenging situations. One thing I wasn’t doing was eating right. Beginning with Luke’s birthday through Halloween and the weeks after, my sugar addiction was full blown. I have always had a “Sweet Tooth” but manage to keep it in control by keeping “contraband” out of the house. Well this house was abounding in contraband and I was eating it left and right. I wasn’t worried about it because the scale wasn’t showing any sign of my sugar binges. Bottom line…..that is not how you should measure your health. I was feeling like utter and complete crap. Tired, anxious, irritable, moody, depressed, fatigued, headaches everyday, not sleeping well, foggy brain. Not at all like me…..one day after many many many many……many M&M’s I had a stomach ache so bad and my heart was racing. I thought ok……this is it. I CAN NOT keep doing this to myself. The thing I needed to change would require something drastic on my part. I am what they call an abstainer when it comes to dieting. I have to just completely stay away from the thing in order to overcome it. So I decided I was going into sugar rehab!!!
I started researching how to break a sugar addiction and the negative effects of sugar on the body. I found a plethora of articles on it. Apparently this is not an uncommon problem. Around this same time I watched a DVR’d Dr. Oz that talked about how sugar affects your body and a 3 day cleanse to help reset your body.
Below is the link to the show I watched.
Dr. Oz Show
Everyone knows my infatuation with Dr. Oz. I just adore him. He is always bringing new information to the table for me. I think he is brilliant in many ways. As I have said before, I love his philosophy on using holistic means to heal the body, as I am a firm believer that food can kill you or heal you.
It was a sign. I was going to do it! I decided that after Thanksgiving would be a perfect time. Jeremy would be off the three days after to help me through the nasty withdrawals and lend support. Boy did he ever! God Bless that man!
So without further adieu here is my experience with Dr. Oz’s 3 Day Detox Cleanse.
The purpose of the cleanse is to “eliminate harmful toxins, restore your system, and reset your body” by pumping it full of nutrients. Smoothies are a great way to get concentration of nutrients in at one meal. Can you imagine sitting down to a meal of 4 celery stalks, a cucumber, 1 cup of kale, half an apple, half a lime, a cup of pineapple, half a cup of almond milk with a tablespoon of coconut oil on top? Me either. Also because they are already broken down somewhat, it makes them more easily digested and absorbed by your gut.
First of all I was so excited about this printable. So cute and simple! You can find the original printable by clicking here.
Breakfast Drink
The breakfast drink was really good. Not much different than what I have made in the past. This was the Snack Drink I chose also. I added a lot of ice to it in order to make more volume and make the texture a little more satisfying like a smoothie.
Lunch Drink
The recipe looked like it would taste good to me and it did. It was the mealy texture that made it so hard to choke down. I decided to use only 2 stalks of celery and half the cucumber the next two times. The hard thing about recipes like this is that they don’t say how big or small the produce should be. I also added tons of ice. Doing it this way made it actually very good in my opinion.
Dinner Drink
I am sorry I don’t have a picture of the dinner drink ingredients. By this point in the day I was super out of it. This one had a very interesting mix of flavors. It calls for cayenne pepper but just a little, only 1/4 tsp., but wow did it give it kick! I also added ice to this one to help dilute the spiciness and to give it more volume. The first time I made it I didn’t peel the mango. I am not a fan of mango and have never eaten one whole like an apple. I wasn’t aware that you shouldn’t eat the peel. I Googled how to eat a mango and read that you aren’t supposed to eat the peel because it has toxins in it!!! I immediately started to have a panic attack and then read further that that’s not necessarily the case. I also read that people generally don’t eat the peel because it’s bitter. The drink did have a bitter taste to it. So the next night I peeled the mango and I used spinach instead of kale because it’s less bitter. The drink was so much better this way in my opinion.
For the Epsom salt bath I was able to find a lavender Epsom salt for 4.99 at Target.
Click here for the benefits of soaking in an Epsom salt bath.
This was SO necessary and wonderful by the end of the day.
Day 1
This day started out with green tea and lemon. It was so hard not having any coffee. But one of the things I hoped to accomplish was to completely eliminate coffee and drink tea instead or at least go to one cup instead of two. The rest of the day was relatively easy. I was just super tired and laid around most of the day. I drank several cups of herbal tea which made such a huge difference. It was soothing and comforting. I also had a slight headache most of the day.
Day 2
Oh my sweet mother of Mary. Let the caffeine headache and sugar withdrawals begin. I woke up with a massive headache that lasted all day. I slept in pretty late until about 8:30. After I drank my tea, I tried to start on the housework and I just couldn’t get going. I felt like crying because I couldn’t get the things I needed to get done because of the fatigue and brain fog. Poor Jeremy came over to take the broom from me and I snapped at him. “I don’t NEED your help…..” What? Of course I needed his help. He looked at me like I had slapped him in the face! As I was getting ready to leave for the afternoon we were talking in the bathroom. He wasn’t understanding what I was saying and I flew off the handle. He was like, “What the hell?” I spewed something about how I’d rather starve than drink the lunch drink, and needing coffee, wanting oatmeal, drinking vegetables, he just doesn’t understand, that he can’t get mad at me for being irritable, I’m sorry for being such a (insert expletive) and to just leave!!!!! It was very drama…. trust me. The tantrum ended with me in tears and him apologizing and telling me to go get a pedicure. God BLESS that man! At that point I honestly thought I was going to give up. I thought he would tell me to go eat a sandwich and make some coffee. But he didn’t. He just talked me through it, told me how proud he was of me and I could finish it like a boss! That was exactly what I needed at that point. The rest of the day I kept my cool but felt as though I was on the verge of boiling over at any point. We were out the rest of the afternoon & I had to skip my snack drink. NOT COOL! When we got home I made the snack drink and then the dinner drink. I wasn’t able to finish the dinner drink so I put it in the freezer for the next day. I drank my herbal tea and had my bath. The bath felt so wonderful and was absolutely essential. I was so ready for bed. I just wanted the day to end. I was happy I had made it through the second day and had just one more day to go.
Day 3
This day was so much better. I woke up feeling awake and full of energy! I was also super hungry and a little nauseated. This was the only time I felt hunger the entire cleanse. I was I was a little anxious because I was worried about making it all the way until 2 pm with out being able to have my drink. I was volunteering in Aidan’s Sunday schools class and wouldn’t get out of there until around 1:30. Jeremy had gone home after the service and set my leftover frozen dinner drink from the night before out to thaw so it would be ready for me when I got home. I was so glad he did. As soon as I pulled into the garage he walked out and handed it to me. It was the best thing I had ever had in my life! After I finished it I made my lunch drink and that was also the best thing I had ever had in my life! I was amazed at how quickly my taste buds had changed! After “lunch” I slept for 2 glorious hours and then got up to make my dinner drink. I was so glad it was my last one and I was day dreaming of all the food I was going to eat the next day. I prepped two batches of tuna salad and baked about 6 sweet potatoes. I didn’t have my last bath because I just wanted to go straight to bed!
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I will do a second post or a “Part 2” about cleanse with the results. How I am feeling, how much weight I lost, cravings, changed eating habits, and the endless energy I have now.
Stay tuned!!!
But I have come full circle and found my deep love of running again. It’s so simple and highly effective.
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I loved it while it was working though! The voice comes on every 5 min and lets you know it’s been a certain number of minutes, how far you’ve gone and what your pace is. VERY COOL!
That same night after dinner I was craving something sweet and I realized I was just still hungry. So I ate a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana sprinkled with cinnamon. That took care of that. Other than that time I really haven’t craved sweets. And even then I don’t think I was craving sweets, I was craving comfort….
Simply Southern 