Notes from the Cleanse

Yesterday was last day of my twelve-day cleanse, and since the very first day—the day I had the first colonic—I’ve been feeling great. From that first day I also dramatically changed my diet, cutting out, among other things, wheat, sugar and dairy, eating only organic food, drinking fresh vegetable juice daily along with plenty of water, and taking the herbal supplements provided in the Wild Rose Herbal D-tox.

Seriously: I feel fantastic. I’m clear-headed. I have loads of energy. The near-daily headaches have cleared up. I’m not waking up in the morning all stiff and achy and reaching for the ibuprophen. The fact that I’m only sleeping four hours a day is a bit of a concern, but I stopped taking stimulants eleven days ago, and this may be some kind of rebound. I’m not tired, but I’ve been oversensitive and combative. Worse than normal? I’m not sure.

With the not sleeping and the wild emotions and the spike in energy, I have to wonder if I’m a bit manic. I’m not actually bipolar. I go up and down some, but never into a zone where pharmacological intervention is required. My upswings are brief and all too rare. At the moment, though, I do seem to have taken the turnoff for Happy Trails. I hope it’s the result of the detox, but if it’s capricious brain chemistry at work, the worst that will happen is that I’ll get some refractory depression. Maybe not this time, though. Maybe this is the way I’m really meant to be (note to self: you always think that).

The Wild Rose Herbal D-tox is much lauded around these parts. I’d never used it before, but from what I’d heard, taking it would cause a succession of evils to be purged from my body, via my ass. If I recall colorectally (couldn’t resist – sorry), it was supposed to be rodents the first day, snakes the second, and winged demons the third.

I’m disappointed. I didn’t get the demons.

Food has been interesting. The first day, before I’d figured out the guidelines, I hardly ate at all. I noticed right away that organic vegetables have more flavor than conventionally grown produce. Eating all organic increased my food bill by 40-50%, but it seems worth it to me. I’d probably have forgone the $28 dollar almonds (2lbs) if I’d noticed the price. I enjoyed them, anyway.

I’m not used to cooking so much, but I enjoyed that, too. My favorite was a stew with organic beef and fresh rosemary. I was sorry to see the end of that. I ate more grains than I normally do, including amaranth, and that was alright, but I still found myself craving protein late at night. Most days my breakfast consisted of oat groats, ground flax seeds, amaranth and berries, with stevia for sweetener. I think of this as the GPS breakfast: gluey, pasty, and slimy, and sets you off in the right direction. It actually tastes pretty good, and you know you’ve had breakfast when you finish off a bowl of that stuff. I enjoyed the juices, using them to assuage the mild sugar cravings. That worked quite well. I don’t miss the sugar at all. Except I had some last night. Oops.

This morning I had my second and final colonic. I don’t know what the cleanse stirred up, but this one was quite a bit more unpleasant than the first. I’ll spare you the details, but I was relieved to flush that stuff out of my body. Still no demons, though. Bummer.

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Previously:
1. Spring Cleaning Inside/Out
2. Colonic Blogging