What I (didn't) eat: 3 Day Winter Detox

After participating in a weekend long dance festival, birthday parties, an infection in my face that made me look like Sloth for a few days, I decided it was time to treat the ol' body right.  I found a light 3 day winter detox on Mind Body Green that basically focused on eating whole grains, lots of vegetables and some delicious blueberries and decided to give it a try.  It also allowed sweet potatoes, which I am obsessed with eating, featured a little juicing which I also like to supplement with drinking as a part of breakfast, and some exercise.  My acupuncturist always tells me I'm too weak to do a cleanse and I need to be building myself up rather than taking away nutrients from my depleted body but as this one looked pretty simple and hearty, I ignored his advice.  I also had my trainer from Fit Body Boot Camp take a look at it and she thought it looked like a good and safe bet.

So, I went grocery shopping and bought up all of my vegetables and protein--I decided to go vegan for the 3 days so tofu and walnuts it was (plus I don't like chicken and reheating fish at work seemed like a terrible idea)--and decided to go Wednesday through Friday.  As it turned out, it was the 3rd anniversary of my friend Mikael the Mime's death the day prior so I would be fully loaded with toxins when I started.  I'd had 2 glasses of wine, 2 bittersweet chocolate cookies from Rustica, a whiskey cider and who knows what else when I got home.  Unfortunately, I was not very organized the first day but still got everything I needed done as far as cooking quinoa and brown rice, blending a smoothie, making juice, and gathering supplies, and made it to work on time. 

The first day I felt a bit crap but that was due to the late night on Tuesday plus all the delightful toxins I had ingested.  Also, there was a limit to only one cup of green tea so it may have been caffeine withdrawals as well.  I don't normally drink coffee but I drink a ton of tea, but it's anyone's guess on which combination of these was at work.  Day 2 was much better, I was feeling good, clean, and not deprived at all.  I sporadically use My Fitness Pal and my calorie intake was just about what it normally is and I was noticing that I was not feeling as deprived, confused, or generally gross like on other detox programs.  Eating vegetables, whole grains and a ton of blueberries seemed like something I might be able to sustain or throw in on a regular basis.  By day 3 I was totally acclimated to eating this way, not annoyed by the restrictions, nor was I sick of the vegetables because you could eat any type you wanted.  Overall, I felt good and like my body was happy.  My skin looked pretty and my energy level was alright, I was mostly tired from what kept being unintentionally very late nights but was otherwise fine.  I was able to work out and do yoga. 

It was a very successful cleanse, which I completely broke the next day at the grand opening of the gym by having champagne before 10 am, going to a birthday party and eating pizza and Nutella brownies, and about a ton of chips.  My body was displeased on Sunday.  It was lethargic, heavy, bloated, and generally cranky.  Even on Saturday night, every time I ate a chip, I felt my body getting salty, puffy, and dirty.  I might have to try it one more time before it turns to spring and look for a different seasonal cleanse! 

Here's my very Virgoan recap of pros on cons for what I think is a pretty great winter detox.

Pros

• Very simple to follow if organized!
• No need to buy a bunch of weird, hard to find stuff.  All vitamins were right there at Trader Joe's.
• Calorie intake similar to normal
• Encouraged working out/sweating (I had no trouble completing my regular level of activity and work out schedule)
• Protein!  I think this translated to no extreme hunger or kooky side effects

Cons

• Juicer required (luckily I have one)
• No eating after 7pm.  Sometimes I'm not even home at 7pm, I did end up cheating on this one as I was really hungry after working out and thought I'd rather eat than starve my muscles. 
• One cup of green tea!?  Cheated on this one as well, but usually by one or two cups only.  It didn't say anything about herbal so I drank it anyway.
• Not super detox-y.  If you are looking to really get rid of *everything,* this is not the cleanse for you but it was just fine for me!

Yeah!  Onto more Nutella Brownies!!!