The Conscious Cleanse

I do not do well with dietary restrictions. Back in July Ted and I tried a 3-day cleanse that was meant to give the liver a break. It was not a juice fast, but rather it was focused on eating 7 antioxidant-rich foods:

1) broccoli

2) almonds

3) blueberries

4) spinach

5) lentils

6) avocados

7) beets

Broccoli Stir-Fry with Ginger-Avocado Sauce.  

Source: Vegetarian Times

Sounds good, right? The broccoli stir-fries were delicious. The breakfast beet and avocado smoothies were not. And always, a half hour after eating one of these healthy meals, I would crave something crunchy and gluten-y the way a heroine addict must crave that next hit.

We made it a day and a half before breaking down and eating cheeseburgers and fries.

Anyway, it's time to reset my diet. I've gotten into some bad habits as far as coffee, pizza, and alcohol go. I have a feeling it's affecting my energy levels, skin clarity, sleep, and other things I'm not even aware of.

So I'm ready to try again! But I fear that after falling flat on my face in a sprint, I have signed up for a marathon. A 14-day cleanse, complete with optional pre- and post-cleanse steps that could stretch this diet overhaul into a month-long experiment in deprivation and mood-management.

I have signed up for and paid to participate in the Conscious Cleanse, created by Jo Schaalman and Jules Peláez. This cleanse is meant to remove common allergens from your diet (like soy, gluten [wah!], dairy, and sugar), let your body reset (I accidentally just typed 'resent' and thought about leaving it in), then slowly re-introduce foods to find out what bothers your system. Ted has courageously agreed to do it with me.

For part of this cleanse we will be at a family reunion in Bend, Oregon, and in my family, as soon as we finish breakfast we're asking, "What's for lunch?" That will be the biggest challenge next to forgoing bread, bagels, pita chips, and potato chips for two weeks. But, in the interest of thinking positively, I'm up for it! I'm ready!

We've already started the transition phase, drinking some green smoothies for breakfast and cutting out sugar and alcohol today. Tomorrow it's bye-bye caffeine. So for the next two weeks you will be hearing a lot about what we're eating around here. If you're not at all interested, well, it should be safe to come back to the blog in about 3 weeks!

BONUS:  You can get 10 FREE Conscious Cleanse recipes here: http://consciouscleanse.com/ecookbook