Don't feed the animals. They're on a cleanse.

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After our whirlwind romance with New Orleans, we decided to do a little less talking about doing a cleanse, and actually DO said cleanse.

Ladies in need of a cleanse.

We’ve wanted to do one for a while this summer. As much as I love summer for its parties, cookouts, camp food, and general fun times, it packs a heavy punch to the ol’ body. But after the shear volume of booze and food consumed in NOLA, we decided it was more than time.

I think people go on cleanses to rid themselves of the toxins acquired through daily life by eating and drinking less than natural, more than unhealthy things. At least that’s the impression I get, and the reasons I had. We did a little research on cleanses before picking one.

The most common one we found was the Master Cleanse, or the Lemonade diet as we’d heard it called. It’s an intense, 10-day, all liquid diet. It’s supposed to have some major health benefits, but it seemed a little too advanced for first time cleansers and food blog havers.

We also heard about different herbal cleanses and whole-body wraps that sounded interesting too. Suddenly Slimmer body wraps are definitely something I want to look into when I have the extra money. From what I gather, it’s a mineral wrap, and you’re basically wrapped from head to toe like a mummy for 60 minutes. Supposedly, you lose inches off of every part of your body that’s wrapped up, and the inches lost are toxins, not water. Some people at work have done it, and swear by it!

Anyway, we decided that a baby-step cleanse was probably our best bet for our first time. Our friend Anna told us about the cleanse she’s done in the past, and it actually involved some eating, so we went with that one.

So we started on a Tuesday morning. We would have started Monday like normal people, but my Dad treated us to La Tavola on Monday night. We’ll never say no to free La Tavola!

We kept a little Detox Diary of sorts. Beware of TMI. To quote Anna herself: “it's ok to be pathetic and gross while detoxing”.

NIGHT BEFORE CLEANSE

  

July 16, 2012: 10:33 pm:

Chris:

I’m a little nervous and excited. We’ve bought the goods & prepared some quinoa. I’m mostly worried that all day my mind will be distracted by images of my favorite foods that are not apart of the detox. Let’s be honest.... I’m excited to talk about it every chance that I get. So let’s hope I can be faithful to just drinking water and abstaining from Gatorade. (I’ve been known to throw back some yellow Gatorade.) As one last parting gift, I’m having two Reese’s peanut butter cups tonight! Let’s go!!!!!

Katy:

Well, I’m feeling tired, greasy, and a little bit crusty. I’m excited to start this cleanse so that I feel like a (as Chris would say) new person. We had such an amazing time in NOLA, but this detox is exactly what we need to get our minds, bodies, and souls back in tiptop hot-to-trot shape. I’m definitely a little nervous about being hungry, tempted, and pissy, but let’s be real, this is for my own good. I’m going to go chow down on my last pre-cleanse treat...DARK CHOC Reese’s.

For 5 days, we ate:

Our cart at Trader Joe's

Breakfast:

-       1 cup cooked quinoa (Make a lot at once so you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week)

-       1 cup fresh fruit

Lunch:

-       2 cups steamed or raw veggies

Snack:

-       A handful of almonds

Dinner:

-       1 cup steamed or raw veggies

-       1 cup fresh fruit

All day:

-       LOTS and LOTS of water with lemon

Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well. It was harder than it seemed.

DAY ONE

July 17, 2012 at 10:41 AM:

Chris:

If it were not for this lemony water, I would be gorging on some inappropriate snack! I feel good about myself for making healthy choices and not succumbing to the flashy packaging of snacks that I know aren’t good for me. Let’s just hope that nannying doesn’t prove to be too difficult around all of Jackson’s snacks.

July 17, 2012 at 02:47 PM:

Katy:

Well, I’m hungry. I don’t feel that great. I’m super gassy and tired. Is this what pregnancy feels like?! Luckily there’s nothing to tempt me at work today. Jeff hasn’t brought candy in a while. I will say that I’m actually enjoying lemon water, and I might make that a staple in my life post-cleanse. I really really wish I could have some coffee. I’m going to do my blog post to keep my mind off of it. And we have to get more sleep tonight!

DAY TWO

July 18, 2012 at 11:13 AM:

Katy:

I feel awesome! Other than super hungry, but that’s ok because it’s almost lunchtime. I really think we’re going to feel a lot better after this is all said and done. Hot mint tea seemed to be a great substitute for coffee...for a few minutes. I still feel really tired, but it was good for the moment.

DAY THREE

July 19, 2012 at 04:03 PM:

Katy:

So I feel way better today. By last night, I was absolutely exhausted. I wasn’t so much hungry was I was tired. I still really want a burger. That’s what I want as soon as the cleanse is over. Except that I’ll be at camp. Camp food may be a good way to ease back in to real food though, because I don’t eat that much at camp anyway.

Chris:

If I don’t get Mexican food soon I’m going to go crazy. If I have learned anything it is all about portion control. Portion control is a mental game I have been losing. I always pile food on but then over feed myself and will walk away feeling sick from even snacks. I’m learning to listen to my body so much more!

POST-CLEANSE THOUGHTS

Katy:

I was hungry. And felt weak. Day 2 was the worst I felt, day 3 was probably the best I felt. By day 5, I felt like a zombie. I also really missed coffee. I usually have a cup every morning when I get to work. It helps me get my day in motion. Anna told me I could drink mint tea. I was skeptical, but I think it really helped. It was probably all in my head, but hey!

I’m still undecided as to whether or not the cleanse was worth it for me. I hated feeling weak and tired all day. If I were to do it again, I’d do it when I didn’t have to work everyday. I will say that I think my stomach shrank, and I think my skin looked better post-cleanse. The experience definitely made me think more about what I put into my body. We eat pretty healthy on a normal basis, but I really want to be more aware of the amount of sodium and processed things I consume.

Chris:

For those of you that don't know, I spend most of my days nannying. Four-year-old little boys love to snack. Love to snack. Usually their first, second, or third choice of snacking is not a super healthy option. For me this cleanse reminded me of healthy snack options and listening to my body. I feel that I sometime mindlessly snack on the four year old junk and stuff myself when I'm not even hungry. Now I feel much more in tune with my body. I have relearned to recognize when I'm hungry versus snacking to snack. Now I crave to snack on healthy options because of how reenergized I felt after eating such clean, pure foods. I hope I can carry these lessons with me for a long, long time!!!

Our original plan was to cleanse until Sunday morning, but by Friday night, we’d both had enough. Whitney and Roxann came over; we made our yummy Avocado Chicken Salad, and drank wine. We both felt like we came back to life almost instantly. It took probably another day to feel totally back to normal.