Smarter, Stronger, Faster

If you read last week’s comments, you might have noticed this one from Steph:

“I’d be interested to know what changes you noticed physically from your detox? You mention your psychological relationship with food and your will power, but enquiring minds (well, mine) want to know: did you lose a significant amount of weight? Did your skin improve? Were you, er, “regular”? Are you smarter? Stronger? Faster?”

I guess it’s time for the dirty truth.

Body:  Did I lose a significant amount of weight? The answer is, unfortunately, no. I would have been thrilled if I dropped pounds, but since I did not go to Meghan to lose weight–I went to her for health–my diet rehab plan did not involve any sort of calorie counting; it was all about making sure I had a vegetable-based protein at every meal. I think I may have lost a pound or two, but I would say that has more to do with preparing my own food and less eating out. The diet was strict and so that prevented me from eating some of my favorite foods (some of which are quite fattening, i.e. cheese).  

Skin:  I was so nervous about my skin.  I have fairly sensitive skin as it is and since I went through some brutal acne during my teenage years, I was petrified that it would come back.  Meghan had warned me that I  may experience a break-out during the diet change, but believed it would go away. She was right. I did experience a break out initially, but it came and went within a week.  Plus, the breakout wasn’t all that bad–I had a bunch of small pimples, but they didn’t turn into big sores and never got infected–no scars!  

After my skin cleared up, things were good for about 6 weeks, but then I started to get really dry skin. Meghan suggested that the dryness might be from artificial heating, etc., and while I think that the weather contributed, I do think my diet influenced it as well. The reason I think it was more than artificial heating because of the lines that appeared on my toenails and how brittle my fingernails became.  I’ve never experienced anything like that and this lasted until I started getting some dairy back into my diet.  

Bowels: Oh the bowels! I have always had issues with regularity and while it certainly improved with the cleanse, I was ultimately disappointed. I’m not sure if my expectations were unrealistic, but I thought that all of my “issues” would be solved and they were not.  Granted, I found it really hard to adjust to drinking eight to ten glasses of water per day and while the water helps, it doesn’t always work the way I wish it did. In spite of this set back, I did find that while on the cleanse, I never experienced a feeling of being uncomfortably full, I did not experience any cramping or bloating which was a huge bonus! 

As for being smarter, stronger, faster–I do believe I am smarter about food and about health. I am a more mindful eater and a conscious shopper.  At one point during the cleanse I joked that the more I knew about food the less I ate–some of the reading I did really opened my eyes to the food  industry and there are some things that I cannot get past i.e. margarine–I will NEVER eat it again. 

I thought that I was stronger about food, but alas, I do not think I resolved my issues with food.  Since I was eating great food everyday during rehab, I did not worry about over eating, calories or fat because I knew that everything I consumed was heart and body healthy.  As soon as the cleanse was over and I had more freedom, the same feelings about food–fear and anxiety–came back; I still have a lot to work on in this area and I will be talking to Meghan about this issue.

Overall, the cleanse was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I feel good about having done it and–for the most part–I felt good doing it. But I still have so much work to do. I need to learn how to negotiate aspects of the cleanse with my ‘regular’ diet.  

This week, I’ll be writing about aspects of the cleanse that I hope to maintain and what I will reject.

p.s. The photo above is a picture of the fruit bowl at my sister’s place–I’m trying to eat locally.