The Cleanse
I’ve never been fond of the word ‘diet’ and being a food lover I’ve never really adhered to one. I’m an intuitive eater and, generally speaking, I have a healthy regime. Before lockdown I was an ‘at home’ vegan, only enjoying meat when I was at a restaurant or being cooked for.
Lockdown, however, has proven an amazing time for cooking in my new household and we’ve definitely enjoyed ourselves as well as indulging in various takeaways as work kept us so busy.
As the lockdown rules relaxed we celebrated the reopening of restaurants and the return of our favourite pastime left me dreaming of a cleanse. To reset. To restart. To give my body a break and to reintegrate the healthier eating habits I had previously.
The raw juice cleanse consists of 6 drinks a day staggered from morning to evening. A mixture of fruit and vegetable-based juices, coconut water and limitless herbal teas (and water). The juices were timetabled out into easy to follow day plans and thankfully, were delicious. Nutritionists carefully select the superfoods and supplements in the juices, providing all the nutrients and vitamins your body needs.
The advice is to slowly cancel out excessive sugar and caffeine from your existing diet to ease yourself in. The first 3 days of any cleanse are known to be the hardest. Your body goes through rapid changes in this time, so you are prone to feeling fatigue, low energy and suffer from headaches. For this reason, it’s a good idea to plan when to do this cleanse. If you have an important deadline or event happening it’s best to reschedule. In hindsight, I’d do this over a quiet weekend or, the dream would be, at a spa!
It’s important to surround yourself with supportive people as the cleanse can be a mental challenge as you face lower energy rates. Negative talk or unsupportive comments can be particularly draining at a time when you need to be conserving your energy and resting. This includes negative self-talk. Be gentle on yourself and be grateful to your body for adapting and doing its work. Light exercise such as walking or yoga works but I left the harder workouts for after the cleanse!
It’s a perfect opportunity for self-inquiry and journaling. Take notes on what time you have your juices, how you feel and when. When you meet those more challenging moments take a second to think about where this is coming from, along with your behavioural patterns and habits. Meditation can help in adjusting to this new frequency. It also brings awareness to how you actually feel and what you think you feel. How does your stomach feel? Are you really hungry? Or are you missing eating or chewing? The ritual of mealtime can be sorely missed as we attach different meanings and feelings to our routines.
It’s also worth noting observations or changes post-cleanse. As an example, after having caffeine and alcohol again I noticed I was absent-mindedly chewing the insides of my mouth and scratching my arms. I had initially thought my long-standing mouth chewing habit was just me but it appears to be a result of caffeine.
The cleanse has been a positive experience for my body and mind. I feel lighter, not so much in weight but energy. Weight loss was never the goal. I don’t personally believe in weighing myself. It’s not a relevant indicator of my health. It’s about how I feel. I’m ready to return to a healthier regime and this was the perfect way to bring back awareness to my relationship to food. I’ve learnt more about myself than I initially thought I would and my natural energy levels have improved so I’m not reaching for coffee as often as usual. I now find myself pausing to check in with myself before I reach for more food. Turns out slowing down to pay attention to our relationship to food is a doorway to further self-discovery as well as self-care.
The team at The Detox Diet were on hand throughout the cleanse and came back very quickly to any queries I had.