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Post 7-Day Spring Cleanse Follow-Up
Hello Everyone!! Happy Spring Equinox. How happy are you that for us in the Northern Hemisphere we are celebrating saying “Goodbye” to Winter and we can now say “Hello” to Spring!!!
I DID IT!! I completed my 7-Day Spring Cleanse and I wanted to take a quick moment to follow-up with you guys after finishing, to let you know how I am feeling and where I plan to go from here.
The first 2 days on the cleanse were pretty rough, day 1 was more mental and emotional, dealing with the idea of how terrible I have been eating, how terrible I was feeling and maybe I was mourning all of the things I had chosen to give up eating for the next 7 days. Day 2 was ALL physical. I felt pretty awful, pounding headache, stomach ache, even a little nausea at the end of the day. My skin was looking rough as I was detoxifying my body from all the toxins and excess yuckiness. By day 3, I was still feeling tired and sluggish, but the headache was gone and I was starting to feel a bit more energized. Day 4 was MAGICAL. I felt free, I felt lighter and I had so much more energy, more than I have had in months. Those feelings all just got better and better on days 5, 6 and 7. Each day I found myself with even more energy than the last. Oh and check this out ladies – for the first 6 days of this cleanse I was technically premenstrual, so if I can make it through a cleanse and PMS without all of those foods (especially some dark chocolate) anyone can!
For me, although I wasn’t eating terrible, the last few months had been so crazy, transitional and a bit messy. A lot of days, with everything we had going on from packing up our home and a moving truck to living with my parent’s, I was just eating what was there and in front of me. Sugar, processed foods, alcohol, etc. I may have been lying to myself about just how bad it was, until I started this cleanse and my body was detoxing from all of it.
In three months, moving your life, your family and your business from where you have lived together for 10 years, into someone else’s home for 2 months, then across the country to somewhere completely new – is definitely a LOT of change in a short amount of time. By cleansing just after we arrived here and at the start of the new season, I am excited to say I feel like I am a new person and I am ready to embrace all of this newness and change. Besides all of this amazingness, my skin has significantly cleared up, I no longer feel bloated and sluggish and I am FULL of energy. Plus the extra bonus to all of this, is dropping several unwanted winter/stress pounds. I HATE weighing myself, so I am not sure just how much, but after being weighed this morning for our life insurance physicals, I believe it to be at least 5 lbs. My clothes are all fitting me so much nicer!! Love that.
So, where will I go from here? I plan to continue eating as great as I possibly can, with a continued focus on TONS of fresh, local, organic fruits and vegetables. I really want to get back to making ABSOLUTELY everything I eat completely from scratch. I am really enjoying eating less (gluten-free) grains and I notice a huge difference when cutting them out. I will never go totally grain-free, but I do want to be more mindful and aware of how often I am consuming them. I plan to allow some meat and eggs back into my diet, as I do notice a big difference in my health, energy and vitality when consuming animal protein. But as always, I will only eat it if I know where it comes from, can be 100% sure it was raised humanely on a pasture diet, without hormones and antibiotics, even better if I can buy directly from the farmer. Obviously, I will continue to eat gluten-free, processed food free, dairy-free (minus some goat milk dairy products) and refined sugar free.
How are you feeling? Did you complete the cleanse, start your own or are you planning one soon? What is your favorite part of doing a cleanse?
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7-Day Spring Cleanse Shopping List
During a spring cleanse when we are transitioning from the dry cold winter season to the warm and wet spring season, we should be looking to eat more foods that are Pungent (Spicy), Bitter, Astringent / Light, Dry, Warm: such as flavorful steamed veggies, brothy soups, brown rice. Eat less foods that are Sweet, Sour, Salty / Heavy, Cold, Oily: such as fried foods, ice cream, heavy dairy.
Below is my personal shopping list for the upcoming week. Please remember you always want fresh, never frozen or canned and always look for organic, local and non-GMO. Herbs can be fresh or dried.
Again, as I previously mentioned in my original post about the basics of this 7-day cleanse, this isn’t a specific cleanse and I am not a medical professional. I base what I will be eating on this cleanse both on traditional Ayurvedic knowledge and knowing my own body well enough to know what gives me difficulties. Your cleanse and your shopping list will likely look different. Ayurveda doesn’t limit corn, soy or dairy, or even lean meats and fish, on many of it’s cleanses, I however find that I have issues and troubles digesting these things in large amounts and I am choosing to remove them on this particular cleanse to give my body the rest it needs at this time to heal, energize and rejuvenate in preparation for the new season ahead.
Vegetables
Artichokes
Avocados
Asparagus
Beets
Bell Peppers
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Carrots
Celery
Collard Greens
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Green Beans
Kale
Leeks
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Onions
Peas
Spinach
Swiss Chard
WatercressFruits
Apples
Blueberries
Coconut (fresh and dried)
Grapefruit
Lemons
Limes
Papaya
Pears
Pomegranates
Strawberries
All BerriesLegumes
Any Sprouted Beans
Adzuki
Garbanzo
Kidney
Lentils
Lima
Mung
Split PeaGrains (sparingly)
Amaranth
Brown Rice
Brown Basmati Rice
Millet
QuinoaOils
Olive Oil (in moderation)
Ghee (in moderation)Nuts and Seeds
Flax Seeds
Chia Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Sunflower SeedsSpices and Herbs
(Really anything goes, but here are the ones I like to make sure to have around during a cleanse)Black Pepper
Cardamom
Cayenne
Cinnamon
Clove
Cilantro (fresh)
Coriander
Cumin
Fennel
Fenugreek
Ginger (fresh and dried)
Turmeric (fresh and dried)Additional
Almond Milk (unsweetened, use sparingly)
Coconut Milk (use sparingly)
Honey
Herbal Teas such as hibiscus, chicory, cinnamon, dandelion, jasmine, lemon balm lemon grass, peppermint, yerba mate, etc