Hello, world!
On Monday, I will begin 10 days of nothing but fresh, homemade juice!!! My boyfriend and I decided to embark on this experiment/cleanse after watching the incredibly informative, accessible, inspirational film,
"Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" (watch it—it will change your perception of food, dieting and nutrition... and much more).
Follow my blog during the 10 days of my cleanse, and I'll fill you in on what I'm consuming and how I'm feeling.
But first:
Reasons I'm doing this cleanse:
1. Cleanse my system.
I was diagnosed with
celiac disease this summer. Basically, when I eat gluten, a series of symptoms occur (including a
colorful array of GI issues, "
brain fog," and dry patches on my skin) as a result of the gluten damaging my GI tract. The less gluten is in my system, the healthier I feel, clearer I think, and more vibrantly I see the world. This cleanse will surely help to get it all out!
But even if I didn't have celiac, the average person has about 60% processed foods in their diet. Our systems are not built to handle highly processed foods, so we end up carrying a lot of that around in our system, making our cells sluggish. In other words, we could all use something to clean out all the waste we build up in our bodies. Again, "FT&ND" has a fantastic way of illustrating this.
2. Clear my mind grapes.
If you get that reference, you are officially awesome.
When you juice, you are consuming pure essential nutrients.
NO processed foods
NO added sugars
Heavily processed foods weigh your brain down and make thinking more sluggish. By eliminating all processed foods, your thinking becomes more clear. To help with this, I'll be doing at least 30 minutes of meditation a day (hopefully more!!).
3. Encourage better eating habits.
When you do most diets, you can't wait to get off of them and start eating "normally" again. As a result, you immediately gain the water weight you lost, as well as any other weight you lost. This makes you depressed which, for most of us, makes us want to eat more.
With a juice fast, you're training your taste buds (not to mention your body) to enjoy nutritious, healthy foods—fruits and vegetables. After you finish your cleanse, you'll want to keep up the energy you've felt during your cleanse (after the initial 3 days of detox, of course!), so you'll be more inclined to sustain a healthier eating regimen and keep juice and healthy foods in your diet. For more on that and to be convinced further (cuz lord knows I'm probably not doing the best job), watch
"Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" and go to
www.jointhereboot.com.
4. Encourage a better lifestyle in general.
We as humans tend to be relatively extremist creatures. When we go in, we go all in. When we throw in the towel, we can be incredibly stubborn about getting off our asses. This is why, if I go out to eat, I have to tell myself before I begin eating a large plate of food that I will only eat half of it and take the rest home. Otherwise, when I'm 3/4 of the way done and am rather full, I'll just say,"To Hell with it!" and eat the rest.
When we do something good for our bodies and our minds like a cleanse, it makes us more motivated to do other nice things for our well-being. It's kinda like how doing yoga (another way to cleanse your body, mind, and soul) makes you hesitate to eat anything that will damage the zen state it puts you in (or at least should).
I plan on doing something active everyday, whether it be biking (fingers crossed for fair weather!!), swimming, hiking, or walking. I will also start every day with yoga. Namaste ;)
Disclaimer: The things said in this blog are things that I have learned over the years, but I am by NO MEANS an expert on nutrition or health. I've done a lot of research, watched a lot of videos, been to a lot of different yoga classes, saw a holistic nutritionist for a while, and am surrounded by well-informed friends and family that have taught me a lot, but I have NEVER attended classes or gone to a nutrition school. I still have quite a bit to learn. This is why I have provided some excellent references should you decide to become more informed. As always, if you decide to do a cleanse, you should consult your doctor to make sure you're in good condition to do so.
