My 28 day cleanse is over. Well, technically, it ends tomorrow, but I cheated a little bit. Once the diet is over, you are supposed to gradually add foods back in to see how each food affects you, but there are about a million foods I couldn't eat so it would take about another month just to be able to finally eat. It got too confusing. And, since it's Mother's Day, we wanted to go to our favorite French Cafe for brunch with Ben's mom on Friday, so on Friday I started my re-introduction of food early and added dairy into my diet. So, now I've had dairy since Friday. I added sugar today (fitting for Mother's Day, right?), and Wednesday I will add gluten. Then the diet will be officially over.
So, after 28 days- here is what I have learned:
It actually wasn't that hard. As long as I had a menu to work off of it was fine. The protein shakes really helped because I never had to think about breakfast. I could have had the shakes for lunch, too, but instead every day I had 2 brown rice cakes with almond butter and sliced bananas on top. I really like those- they are very filling and delicious. I am quite addicted, actually.
Another thing I am addicted to: Tea. Part of the diet was to have a detox tea every day- this diet is all about detoxing your body from acids, and cleansing it to create a balanced PH. I was always confused how on British TV shows a guy would walk in and tell a woman: "I'm sorry, but we just found your husband dead and your children are all missing." Then her mom would say, "Oh, dear. Let's all sit down and have some tea." As if tea would solve the problem, But, I get it now. Tea is SO calming and relaxing! It really can solve all of life's problems! (There is, however, great debate amongst the Mormon community about whether tea is acceptable or not. Ben thinks I am a huge sinner and he is concerned for the welfare of my soul. I know every one of my Mormon friends has a strong opinion one way or the other. Even though I have come to love my tea, I love my husband more. If he is that concerned, I will sadly give up my daily cup of tea- even if I don't really think it is a big deal. So long saying good-bye to all my problems for just a few minutes every day.)
The purpose of the cleanse is to eat healthy and detox your body. I think it is really great, actually. While I could never commit to a lifetime without bread or sugar, I actually think this is something I would like to do once a year. Maybe every January- after a month of gluttony, having a month to refocus and get my body back on track.
Bonus: I did FINALLY lose the two pounds I gained over Christmas. Now, hopefully I can keep it off by going back to tracking points.
Other things I learned:
I really didn't see any of the great promised benefits that a lot of other participants found. One woman found that after over a decade of not being able to smell, quitting dairy caused her sinuses to clear up and she could smell. A lot of people said they lost their cravings and addictions to caffeine. Some said they had a ton of energy.
Sadly, I did not see a great increase of energy- or even a small increase in energy. This has me very depressed as I now realize that nothing I do will ever give me energy. I am destined to be tired for the rest of my life. I had also hoped that my skin would clear up and "glow." While I did notice my skin being much softer, my face is still as splotchy as ever. Continued make-up for me.
I guess what I learned most of all- and something that I think is very important- is that I do eat pretty healthy. We don't eat very much processed food, we eat lots of fruits and veggies, I do count points via Weight Watchers so I don't overeat (too often), and I think following these rules is pretty good for me- as evidenced by the fact that this super healthy diet didn't really cause any changes in me. I don't seem to have any dairy or wheat sensitivities, and if I can continue to eat moderately, I think most foods are fine for me to eat.
So, in the end, I am glad I did it. I will most likely do it again, but I'm not going to live it all the time.
1 comment:
So, I am not sure if this will clarify, and if it is "official" church doctrine, but on my mission in Taiwan a lot of people drank tea. We were instructed to teach investigators that the Word of Wisdom specifically applied to teas where they used leaves from the tea plant to make them. So black, green, white, and oolang teas were against the Word of Wisdom where as other teas were okay. I know there members drank a lot of flower teas as substitutes. Of course, if someone has no idea what is okay and is worried about breaking the Word of Wisdom, it is better to just stay away from whatever is in question, but my family drinks certain types of teas that I drank when I was a missionary.
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