I just finished a 21 day mind body detox. I include the “mind” here because any time you are doing a detox the mind is going to get involved. Just as you are cleansing toxins from your body when you are detoxing, you are also cleansing negative thinking and old patterns from your mind. And let me tell you the physical part of this detox wasn’t so bad, it was the mental aspect that had me trippen!

The lay out of the detox was pretty simple, no supplements or powdered drinks, just changing my diet. The first week I cut out all gluten, soy, dairy, animal products, coffee, alcohol, and sugar. The second week I cut out all grains and just ate raw veggies, fruits, nuts, and sprouted beans. The third week was a juice cleanse, which consisted of freshly juiced fruits, veggies, and some coconut water. Simple and easy right?

Well it started out easy. The first week was really no big deal. It wasn’t that drastically different from the diet that I was already eating. I did miss my morning caffeine rush a bit and my after dinner piece of chocolate, but I could handle the cravings pretty easily. I was even able to go out and socialize without my cleanse bringing me down. Being the only one at a party not drinking or eating felt a little weird at first, but I still had a great time and was proud of myself for having the willpower to not give in. Major take away from this week; I don’t need to drink and eat junk to connect with others and have a good time. Does this mean I am going to give up my martini’s? No. But it does mean that when I have a busy week of socializing I can easily pass on the booze.

Week 2 was starting to get a little harder. This time I had to give up my yummy bowl of oatmeal in the morning and swapped it out for a green smoothie. Now the smoothie was delicious don’t get me wrong, but I noticed that it threw off my whole morning routine. I’m very habitual for the most part, especially my mornings, and when I alter my routine I start to feel really unfocused and off balance. I found that without my normal breakfast I got lazy and unstructured. It took me longer to get going in the morning, and I felt a little lost, like I didn’t know what I should focus on first. The majority of those mornings were totally unproductive and kinda frustrating. Now this makes no sense what so ever. Why would changing one meal change my entire morning? I don’t really have an explanation for this. Reflecting back now I can see  that I have been in the same routine for so long that changing just one aspect of it throws my brain off track. My big take away from this week; if changing just one part of my routine can throw me off so much, then I need to start introducing more variety to my life. Now I am working on finding a healthier balance to my structure and routine and learning how to switch it up every now and then.

Week 3 was a doozy! In fact I’ll be honest I wasn’t able to stick with it through the whole week. Juice cleanse’s have gotten so popular these days it seems like everyone I know has done at least one. I thought this would be easy for me, after all I’m pretty disciplined. But it was hell! The first 3 days I was absolutely miserable. I was starving and when I’m hungry I get angry (or hangry as I like to call it). And this is where the mental detox really started to kick in. So many emotions came to the surface I was an absolute mess the first day. I would go from frustrated and pissed off to crying in a matter of minutes. And forget about getting work done! I was so unfocused and scattered I couldn’t do anything productive. Which of course made me anxious (cause I got a lot of shit to do), and then angry at myself for not being able to handle this cleanse better. Where was that juice cleanse high that everyone was talking about? At some point during that day I did actually have a moment of clarity and insightfulness. I realized that I was thinking too far ahead into the future (which I do all the time). I was so focused on having to do this for 7 days that it was throwing me into panic mode. But when I stopped and just brought myself back into the present moment it wasn’t so bad. I said to myself, “Forget about the 7 days Lauren, can you just get through the rest of today?” For  that moment I felt a sense of peace. Yes, I could make it through today. Forget about tomorrow, and just take it one day at a time. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed about the future when you start thinking about all the things you have to do over the next few weeks. But if you just bring yourself back into the present moment and ask yourself, what can I do today? What can I do today to move closer to my goal, or what can I do to be my best self today? It’s a simple shift, but it made a huge difference for me.

Day 2 I gave up on trying to do anything productive and just went to the beach and to the movies. I found this day to be a lot more manageable and almost enjoyable. Getting out of my house and doing some fun activities really distracted from the hunger. And it also reminded me that I don’t do that enough. Taking the whole day off for me is almost unheard of. I always seem to have so much on my plate that it feels like if I take some time off I will fall way behind. But the thing that I realized that day was that I was not in the state of mind to do anything productive. I could have stayed home and tried to get some work done, but I bet I would have been unsuccessful. And we all have days like that even if it’s not coming from a juice cleanse haze. Why not give ourselves the break if we know we aren’t going to get much done anyway. Chances are you’ll come back rejuvenated and motivated to dive into some work again. Day 2 lesson learned and noted; take more time off.

Day 3 I expected to wake up feeling really good and not hungry. Everyone says it gets easier and I was counting on this being the day. But I was still really freaking hungry. I felt defeated that day and discouraged. I just wanted to give up which made me feel like a failure. I had to come to terms that maybe I wasn’t going to make it through the whole week. Maybe I just wasn’t cut out for this. There was a lot of guilt coming up for me around the thought of giving up and giving in. I spent some time meditating and realized that I needed to just forgive myself and cultivate some compassion towards myself as well. Sometimes you just have to give it your best shot in life and be ok with not succeeding. I had to accept where I was at. I just wan’t willing to commit to a whole week of torture, I wasn’t strong enough, and thats ok. I went to bed that night feeling peaceful and loving towards myself knowing that I tried and trying was enough. My plan was to break my fast the following morning.

Wouldn’t you know it that day 4 I woke up not hungry at all. In fact I felt fantastic! This was the juice cleanse high that everyone was talking about! So even though I planned on breaking my fast that morning I decided I would stick with it for another day. I felt energized and amazing all day. Day 5 I still felt good but I decided that it was time to start introducing some food back into my diet. I didn’t need to break the fast then but I was ready to. I was ready to return to some sort of normalcy in my life. And to be honest I was tired of dropping fifty bucks every day at Whole Foods on produce. The next few days was a mixture of juicing and eating small amounts of fruit and veggies. The funny thing was I found that I had no cravings. I thought the minute that I got a chance to eat again I would want to pig out, but I didn’t. I learned to really listen to my body over those last few days. There were times were all it wanted was a juice, and other times just nibbling on a few strawberries were enough. I didn’t follow specific meal times or a certain protocol. I just listened to what my body was telling me. Since then I’ve found that it is much easier to tune in and listen to what my body really wants and ignore the cravings that go on in my head.

So now I am back to my normal diet and I feel great! I’m still eating really clean cause I’m just not craving all the other junk right now and I want to continue to feel good. But I’m sure before the week is out I’ll have a piece of chocolate or two. I also feel a lot less stressed, even though the week ahead of me is extremely busy. I find myself just going with the flow and being more present. I’m taking breaks when I need them, which helps me to be more focused when I am working. Overall I think this detox was so good for not only my body but my mind as well. No it definitely wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. In fact I am actually looking forward to doing another one this fall! I know that the insights I gained will have a major influence on how I live my life, not to mention my body is feeling better then it has in a long time. I’m looking forward to what I’ll discover the next time around.

Have you done a detox before? Would love to hear any insights you might have learned from your experience. Please feel free to share in the comments.