21 Days of Clean

Although I'd generally categorize my diet as pretty clean with a little dose of hedonism and a sense of play, sometimes the balance swings a bit far. Birthdays, vacations, out of town visitors and Jewish Holidays have a tendency to add up from August through mid September, and sometimes the fun-loving social person in me wins out. Also, fall and spring are great times to turn over a new leaf. The seasons are shifting in a major way, and the temperature and daylight changes can have a huge effect on the system. Often I find if I don't pay attention at this time of year, I get sick.

Enter the cleanse! Yup, I said the C word. Not 21 days of fasting mind you, but 21 days of taking care of myself, cutting out the gunk, rethinking what works and what doesn't, and tipping the balance a little more toward health than hedonism.

Why 21 days? Well, as the Pure2Raw twins put it so well, 30 days just seems like a long time. And 14 is not nearly enough. 21 Sounds just about perfect. And hey, I usually ease back into "normal" slowly, so I won't suddenly be opening a bottle of Aglianico and going to town. The process ends up being more like a month, but 21 structured days is plenty.

I started last week with four days of simple. No alcohol for sure, lots of greens, largely vegan, no "white" foods like pasta. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I claim to avoid these things anyway, but the Challah at Rosh Hashanah the week before was just too tempting, and a couple of other things like that have crept in recently.

Suddenly at the end of last week, OOPS, it was Yom Kippur. I fasted, yes, but then had bagels and Challah again! Oh well, a slight derailment.

So the official first few days to jump start the plan are juice. It clears out the system and alkalizes it so quickly that I end up feeling terrific, and that gives me the will to go on with the "clean plan". Of course, I drink plenty of green juices for nutrition, and I sometimes bump them up with a little avocado blended in for energy and satiety. Also, one cashew milk or coconut shake at the end of the day, a la Blueprint (who I'll review in a separate post) so I'm not just depriving my body of what it needs in an action packed yoga/NY day. But really, by the last day I'll be craving big green salads and cooked Kale and all good things, and not only that, but my digestion will be ready to handle them.

So, with day 2 almost over, one green drink and a cashew milk to go, I already feel better, and I'm mulling my next move. More on the plan tomorrow, but right now the lemon water calls!