Our 21 day cleanse challenge

We are gaining a greater awareness of food and its affects on us and our behaviors, illnesses, organ functions and acne. We have been gradually changing our diet to consist of more natural and organic food now for about almost 2 years. We have almost completely eliminated fast food restaurant food and pre-made and packaged meals. With more knowledge of our consumption of foods, we felt it was best to clean out our system and start fresh. Reboot. So I researched into all organic friendly cleansers and the price. We found one that was just what we were looking for through Standard Process. We can eat through out the whole thing as well. We have to watch what we consume of course and do what we can to get the absolute cleanest food. Here is our experience! (This will be updated daily with our experience) My friend from High School decided she wanted to do the cleanse as well and we could compare results. Here is her experience on this blog.

Day 1: By noon we had only had one smoothie with all our supplements and it was very filling. By about 4p.m. we were ready for actual food. So we made some quinoa and sautéed bell peppers. I had a date night with some high school friends and they wanted to go out. I just took my shake. We made hummus with clean alternatives. We noticed we both had a bit of a headache and we were craving everything because we knew we couldn't have it. Getting started isn't cheap and is a little daunting when you realize how much clean food costs. If you pay attention to the world though and it's direction you may notice that the world is generally becoming more aware of health and food. Good food is getting cheaper and processed, conventional food is getting more expensive. Slowly but surely they will even out more and become more and more that way.

Day 2: Still have a slight headache. We have made some dressing for dipping veggies in with avocado and lemon juice and a tiny bit of olive oil. We are working on finding recipes that can work as a substitute for eggs so we can use coconut flour in meals and get more calories and substance. We keep talking about and joking about what foods we will introduce first and dreaming about the succulent taste of those foods when the day comes. Hubbs says his stomach is going to go into hibernation because our blender does all the mixing and breaking down of our food for him. Then he asked what the hard white objects were in his mouth and if he would be able to use them for the next month. I was confused and then realized with all the smoothies, our teeth won't be getting as much of a work out. We haven't had much of a "clearing out" (pooping) as you think you would on a cleanse. We are attributing it to eating healthier prior. My friend who eats differently than we do is doing this with us and she is having a different experience. We have gone number one an awful lot but that's about it. Our fridge is packed with veggies. More full than our fridge has ever been since Hubbs decided his career path.

Day 3: Poop- It's started but less frequently than the usual, probably because we are consuming less solids and we need to drink more water. Also, muscle weakness has kicked in and feels exhausted all the time. Our patience level is less than usual. Headaches are still lingering bit by bit. We pee all the time!

Day 4: Muscle tenderness lingering a little. We are hungry but learning to control our hunger. I feel hungry but I don't feel like eating anything because I feel bloated and overly obese. My biggest pair of pants are tight and hard to move around in. I have been trying to work out more as well and limit food consumption. Hope this helps more. With working out, E and I are both weak and our work outs have been a little less because we didn't have the energy we needed. We are going to be altering our sessions a tad to go back and start over with some of our routines. Still working out 6 days a week though for over 30 minutes a day at least. Hubbs is fairly normal and the only thing that's changed for him is minor aches, hunger and peeing all the time. That's it. This isn't like normal cleanses. We get to eat still and I noticed my mood swings have been varying as well. I noticed that I am happier more often and that I get frustrated easier. I think that is because of the hunger feeling. It seems to be going faster than we thought it would during the first two days. Now thinking about it, we are close to finishing our first week. We are over the hump of the first day. The hardest part of the cleanse is just taking the supplements and finding meals that are aligned with our guidelines for eating.

Day 5: We went to a party and thought it was going to be easier than it was. We were mistaken however, we made it work. I started to get a bit nauseous at one point and just sat there in our seats at a baseball game. We are getting use to the diet and getting foods down. Poop is never a fun thing to talk about especially when it's your own and with strangers. I have noticed that there are changes already. I have had issues with my liver and not filtering out the fatty foods as well as it should be. I have had orange colored stuff and now it's changed to brown, the color it needs to be. Sorry for the information being a little much but it's changes we are noticing. I have started losing weight and I have noticed differences in my foods and which ones are heavy and which ones are light. It's nice noticing how it makes me feel as well.

Day 6: I got a nasty headache that turned into a migraine and lasted through the night. It was not fun. I started finding new ideas for food like homemade veggie burgers and soups and such. I will be making those for dinner.

Day 7:Food ideas are coming along and it's easier than I keep thinking when I get overwhelmed with the thought of making dinner EVERY NIGHT. It's date night and all I want is a nice big piece of pizza, juicy burger, fries and a baguette. Withdrawals from gluten is the hardest! Now the hardest part of the diet is drinking the smoothies twice a day. The pills are a breeze in two swift chugs of water. The smoothies are getting ridiculous and we can't run to the store everyday to get more fruit to cover everything up.

Day 8: Today is the first day without taking the cleanser pills now and we are taking green pills, that are filling us up with greens. We are counting down the days till meat. We have deduced that eggs are categorized in the meat department and once we can use eggs our foods open up drastically! Four more days. We are past the first week now and really craving real food but in smaller amounts. We are aware of the healthier foods now and such. This is hard getting over this hump of the first week. We still are getting headaches here and there. Hubbs thinks it's because of the over exposure to sun when we do sports and such. I agree to an extent. Our fridge is full again of fruits and veggies. We have been venturing out into the world of new foods and it's been surprisingly delightful. We both tried eggplant for the first time the other night and had a mouthful of flavor in our altered veggie burger. Tonight we are having friends over for games and usually we have a small snack to munch on... tonight, veggies and hummus. I am hitting a resistance to taking the pills every day. I have NEVER liked taking pills for anything! I HATE PILLS! Not because of the disgusting flavor but because I don't know what all is smashed up in that tiny disgusting pill. I don't like being tied down to a commitment of having to take a pill or eating at a certain time. I like to do my own thing, when I want to do it kind of thing. When I get into crafts, I can easily go a whole day without eating or drinking or even using the restroom. Sad but true. I get so into things I don't think about anything but that. I have had massive cravings for chocolate. So much so, I bought totally organic powder from Trader Joe's and put it in my sweet potato (I used that for the sweetener) and shakes with banana. Not tasty at all I might add. I spit that out real fast! I just open the tub of it and sniff to get flavor in my mouth. So bad. I am an addict for this stuff. I ordered candy bars for a party I am hosting and the box wasn't even opened that had the ice packs, packaging, stuffing, and then the actual box of bars, I could smell the chocolate from outside this sealed box. I have noticed as well that my seances have all been reset kind of thing. I like more savory flavors and I can smell clearer than before and I know I am paying more attention to it so that could just be it but it's something we both have noticed.

Day 9: We started a new set of supplements yesterday and I think we are experiencing a little bit more of a detox. I have a splitting headache. This could be a lack of eating a full meal and already being 2p.m. I have noticed that my skin is less oily and clearer pores. Having people wasn't a big problem. We pulled out crackers and chips and stuff for them to enjoy while we ate our hummus and peppers. They wanted to join in with us anyway so that wasn't bad. I have noticed that sleeping isn't as big of an issue as normally. I have a love hate relationship with sleeping. I love sleeping but can't sleep sometimes and I hate this. I have become a light sleeper since being married and I have nights were my body is so wrestles and needs to get moving or something and I end up staying up all night. I have noticed the last few days that my sleeping habits have changed a bit. I have been able to fall asleep/wake-up faster and easier than usual. I wake up less in the night, meaning my sleep is deeper and I don't wake up to Hubbs chomping at the bit in his sleep.

Day 10: Nothing really new today, just counting down for Wednesday and eating meat. I am also planning a trip at the end of the week and figuring out food and what we are doing during our time out of town.

Day 11: Planning our anniversary trip(s) is exciting and between planning and doc appointments and work, I have been consumed and yesterday I didn't eat anything until about 9p.m. I wasn't hungry. I didn't care. That's kind of how I feel today. I feel my energy level is low today though and with work tonight I am lucky because it will be one of those easy kind of days. Nothing really new here.

Day 12: We can eat meat today!

Day 13:

Day 14: 

Day 15: I have some catching up to do. Basically nothing has changed the last few days. We are still feeling pretty good and sticking to the diet is getting harder and harder because of our reluctance with the powder for our smoothies. It kind of dominates just about everything now and we are really no liking it. Taking 19 pills a day is getting to be a little annoying too. Activities in our lives is kicking up and we aren't around to make smoothies or I forget to take pills for a meal and so it's starting to slip or become laxed. Tomorrow is the first day of a vacation we are taking to celebrate several big momentous occasions in our lives. We plan on cheating a little with our diet so we can enjoy it. The manual says that we can, we just stick to it as much as we can and get right back on track as soon as possible.

Day 16: Today we found a farm to table restaurant to celebrate a bigger dinner at and still be healthy. These are more popular than I had thought originally. Sadly the town we are in doesn't have as many as the city, which we didn't feel like driving to because of the distance. Then we got cookies and our control went on a rampage. This is both of our weaknesses.

Day 17: We had waffles for breakfast and everything else we ate was on diet. Then for dinner we went to a really nice place to try their appetizers and we were really surprised afterward when we asked the waitress what all was in our food, how much of it was approved. Still brown sugar and cheese were not. Then the cookies again. WARNING TO THE WISE. Don't add all the food groups all at once. It makes for some unpleasant experiences in the john. Our stomachs were very unhappy with us and growling and turning, making all sorts of vicious sounds that would scare a small child. Luckily we stayed in our room and the pool for the majority of our trip. We went biking and walked a bunch too so that helped.

Day 18:

Day 19:

Day 20: Back on track and we are still dealing with our interesting growling because of all the foods we introduced all at once. We needed to introduce one type at a time with a day or two at the very least in between adding new foods. For the healthiest, most comfortable results.

Day 21: We still have a lot of supplies like the supplements and the powder we still have over half of the second container left and two full unopened containers. We still have two whole fiber jars unopened and some cleanser pills left. We plan on still using most of this as directed but eating what we want. We are clear on the understanding of "Moderation". All things in moderation are good for the body. We are giving away all of our white flour and white sugar, our white rice and all modified foods so we don't have them in our home, but we still will eat cookies, cake, bread and such just with healthier and more pure ingredients than previously. We are going to be using brown long grain rice and quinoa instead of regular rice. We are also going to go back to splitting a chicken breast for dinner and eating smaller portions. We are already planning more meals where we aren't going out to eat so we can use that money for traveling to see our families in different states. When you eat wiser, you benefit in so many other ways.

Day 22:

Challenges we learned from this...
1. we needed to learn more about other foods and what they tasted like and if we liked them at all.
2. We learned that you really do have to plan your meals a bit more if you are going to be successful. 3. Creativity can taste good and bad. Mixing foods that have similar colors is generally a good rule for flavor specifically in smoothies.
4. You really need to pay close attention to the ingredients in the food we buy. Knowledge is a great tool. Even going out can be fun when you know what you are eating.
5. Eating clean is expensive sometimes.
6. I don't crave sweets in the evening like I did. Only in the morning now and that is when I get my fruit intake so it works. I also work out in the morning everyday so I can easier base my meals by how much work I do earlier in the day.