But there are times I get off track and don't eat as well as I should. This is what happened when we came home from vacation near the end of March. My husband and I ate healthily most of the time then, and did a lot of walking too.
The trouble began with our "souvenirs", regional goodies from some of the places we visited: chocolate-covered pretzels, more pretzels and a barbecue potato chips (all these treats came from small companies in Pennsylvania). And then Easter came along, with some candies from my husband. And so I ate them. That led to finding other chocolates around the house, which I also ate for dessert more evenings in a row than I should have.
Ugh. I started to feel bloated and sluggish, and I didn't like that. So I turned to this:
I'd gotten this book, discounted, from Sam's Club a few years back. It looked interesting, but frankly a little scary: for 10 days, one gives up meat, dairy, caffeine, starches, sugar and alcohol. What is allowed: 10 days' worth of green smoothies (recipes and shopping list included), plus a few approved snacks: crunchy vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, small handfuls of raw nuts, small amounts of nut butter with no added sugar or salt. Herbal teas are fine (stevia only for sweetening), and plant-based protein powder (no soy or whey)for the smoothies is optional. Lots of water every day is part of the plan, along with a couple of suggestions for keeping things moving (if you know what I mean).
I wasn't sure how I'd do on such a strict regimen, even for a relatively short time period. Would I have enough self discipline? I wouldn't miss alcohol, but caffeine? I've cut back on the amount of coffee I drink, but I do still have some every day, and the other no-no's during the cleanse are a regular part of my diet as well.
And I was worried about feeling weak from hunger and snapping at my husband. I could just see myself getting irritable as I fixed his dinners (I'm the cook around our place).
But I was curious to see what results I would get. As it says on the cover: "Lose Up to 15 Pounds in 10 Days!" Wow - that sounded like a great weight-loss boost!
Other common benefits are supposed to be clearer skin, more energy, better clarity, better sleep, better digestion and a few more pleasant-sounding results.
So, off I went shopping, ingredient lists in hand (various greens, various fruits, and a detox tea to be drunk every morning). That was 12 days ago, so now I can report on how it went.
I'm not going to lie: the first three days were very tough. I got a headache and the rest of my body felt achy at times too. Overall, I felt blah and out of it. But I still went for my usual fitness walk on those days, although a little more slowly.
I tried to distract myself from food deprivation by keeping busy doing other things. I did some projects that had been on the back burner for a couple of years or so, ran longer errands than usual, and at night, listened to lots of great music on my new headphones (a surplus store purchase). All these distractions helped.
I didn't really feel better until partway through the 5th day. It happened while I was going on my usual fitness walk: suddenly, I realized my joints felt more loose and limber than they had in ages. I definitely felt like I had more spring in my step!
And it wasn't my imagination: the next morning, while doing my usual morning stretch routine (to try to keep those joints loose and limber), I felt more flexible than usual. Considering that I do these stretches first thing in the morning, when my body is at its stiffest, the difference was striking.
And overall, I think that was the biggest benefit of this 10-day cleanse, that sense of feeling lighter and looser. I did sleep better, and I think my skin did look better, but that was hard to tell since my skin looked pretty good before this. I felt energetic enough that I didn't miss coffee at all!
I was disappointed in my weight loss though: 5.5" pounds. Now, I know that's actually a lot for ten days, but it was still hard to read the glowing testimonials (in the book and in online reviews) from people who had lost 10-15 pounds, or more, while on the cleanse. I felt a little cheated, as if I had done something wrong.
But as far as cheating, no, I didn't at all. Some of the dinners I cooked for my husband were entrees I don't like, so I wasn't tempted to sample them. But I didn't even as much as lick the spoon while making a rich dessert for some weekend visitors. And though it was hard to watch my husband eat pizza in front of me at a favorite local brewpub, all I had there was tea.
The smoothie recipes were, for the most part, very delicious, and were quite filling. (I did add the protein powder, which helped, I'm sure.) Smith does encourage snacking as well, to keep hunger pangs at bay and to keep metabolism up.
Did I lose less weight than a lot of people seemed to due to snacking too much? Not sure, as Smith is vague on just how big the snacks are supposed to be. But on other days, I think I waited too long to take a snack in between my smoothie "meals". And I think I didn't always quite drink the daily 64 oz water either. These factors could have slowed my weight loss down.
Then, too, it could be at least some of the testimonials were from people whose diets were worse than mine to start, so perhaps their bodies reacted more to a drastic change. (I'd already been drinking green smoothies off and on before I tried the cleanse).
The first few post-cleanse days aren't a call to pig out, of course: light eating and more green smoothies instead. And so that's what I'm doing. I'm still not sure how much of the no-no foods and drinks I'll partake less of from now on. I'm still fine without coffee, and I don't crave carbs like I had before.
And I don't know if I'll do this again since those first few days were such a drag. I'll continue with the green smoothies, though. The book has over 100 post-cleanse green smoothie recipes, and there's many other recipe sources as well.
Or, I suppose I could do another round, only this time do the modified cleanse version (green smoothies for two meals, and one healthy meal consisting of salad, sauteed vegetables and grilled or baked chicken or fish).
If you'd like to learn more about this book, go here.
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