Detox Diaries
It’s official. I have successfully completed the four week detox that I was prescribed by my doctor! For those of you who missed my post a few weeks back about why I was even doing a detox in the first place you can read my story here. If you’re all caught up then lets dive right in.
All in all the detox was not horrible. The hardest part during the first five days was giving up coffee. I had NO CLUE how dependent I was on caffeine. I mean I was a regular ole bear without the stuff. If I wasn’t bitting the heads off innocent victims in the grocery store then I was sleeping to cope with the constant pulsating in my forehead. My poor husband. He was such a sweetheart during those first five days, He dealt with my decaffeinated self in the most amazing and loving way (the man is so patient).
After the first 5 days I was finally getting over the caffeine hangover. I didn’t feel stressed or anxious like I have been for the past 11 months. If I’m being honest most of my stress and anxiety had stemmed from my constant worry about my uncontrollable weight gain due to my hormones being completely out of line. Since the beginning of this year, mid January to be exact, I have been eating a pretty strict diet. I felt like that was the only way I could control my weight gain. It was already mostly out of my hands due to my biology being off so I figured that if I ate a ridiculously strict diet that was also low in calorie paired with working out twice as hard for twice as long I could at least prevent any further weight gain. This proved to be unsuccessful since hormones trump willpower. I had developed the obsessive habit of constantly tracking my food and weight. I became so fixated that I began to become overwhelmed. Anxiety constantly followed me around. As crazy as this sounds, as I progressed through the detox it allowed me to step away from being so strict. I know that sounds insane right? How can a detox, that is a pretty strict diet help you get away from these bad habits?
I spent the past 30 days not tracking anything. I simply ate when I was hungry and I ate as much as I wanted (within reason). I filled my body with natural, clean foods that it needed. I also had my husband hide the scale from me. The inability to weight myself did me so much good. As the detox went on I felt myself no longer craving sweets or caffeine. I would sleep through the night without having to take a melatonin. I would wake up so refreshed and well rested. I had energy to actually get things done throughout the day. I no longer felt like I constantly needed to nap or a coffee to get me through the mid-day hump. If I craved something it was things like hot tea, fresh fruit or vegetables.
During these past 30 days I filled up mostly on organic fruits and vegetables. I would drink a smoothie for breakfast packed with fresh spinach, organic frozen fruits, a source of omegas and some supplements given to me from my doctor. Lunch & dinner would be a large salad topped with lots of fresh vegetables. I had significantly cut back on my meat intake. Now I’m not saying that I’m going full blown vegan but not eating meat wasn't so bad.
These past 30 days made me feel super refreshed. There are a lot of things that I learned from this detox but the biggest lesson that I learned is to really invest in the quality of foods that I place in my body. Taking care of our bodies isn’t just done by exercising but by fueling it with good quality foods. My husband and I decided that even after this detox was over that we would continue to choose foods that are free from pesticides, GMO’s and hormones. Now that the detox is over the next step is to begin the hormone regimen that my doctor had prescribed specifically for me and my imbalances. I can’t wait to continue to share my journey with you guys!