I Did A Cleanse! (Or How To Have More Willpower)
I did a cleanse! To some of you that may not seem like a big deal but my takeout ordering would put the Gilmore girls to shame and I keep a secret stash of Sour Patch Kids hidden in my house at all times. After a long and deliciously gluttonous holiday season, including two weeks eating my way through Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA (click here for my favorite places to eat down there!), I knew I needed a radical shift. Now, this is not a health or nutrition blog so I won’t go into the details of the cleanse but I will describe my process in the context of motivation and goal pursuit, something you can apply to nearly anything you are trying to accomplish.
The Basics
I chose the Standard Process 21-day cleanse. For the first 10 days I ate only fruits and vegetables. In the next 11 days I could incorporate eggs, chicken, and fish. This was accompanied by a plant-based protein powder for 2 smoothies per day, plus a series of supplements to support the cleansing of the liver and digestive system.
How I Did It
Pre-Planning
As a non-cooker it took a lot of conscious effort, especially in the beginning, to plan my meals, make sure I had the groceries I needed, and schedule time for cooking. The first few days this was overwhelming. I hated thinking about food all the time. After about a week I got into a rhythm with it and it felt easier. Every night I would make myself dinner and lunch for the next day. I also started making big batches of soups that would last a few days and were easy to throw in a thermos to take with me on the go. I also had to make sure to always bring snacks with me (an apple, baby carrots, hard-boiled egg) so that I didn’t get hangry and tempted to eat something I wasn’t supposed to.
Social Support
I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it a million more, social support is so important to achieving any goal! A good friend of mine is a nutritionist and she facilitated a group of us through this cleanse together via a Facebook Group. In the group she posted recipe ideas and encouragement. We could also contact each out with questions or just to vent about the cravings we were having. I’ve done cleanses in the past without a network of support so it’s certainly not impossible, but it was so much nicer to know I had a group of people going through the same thing with me and that I could reach out if I needed to.
Listening to my Body
How many times have you eaten something and not felt well afterwards? Maybe it was too rich or you ate too much or it just didn’t agree with you? Well, all of that was acutely accentuated on this cleanse. Because I was eating so clean by body became extremely sensitive to everything. For example, one day I ate lentils (which are permitted on the cleanse) but they tore up my stomach. No more lentils after that. I also made sure to choose foods that I knew would be satisfying and filling. I really thought I would be hungry all the time due to the lack of protein and grain-based carbohydrates but I wasn’t! I was shocked by how satiated I felt, nearly all the time. The keys to my lack of hunger were sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and avocado – all hearty, filling vegetables. And I made sure to have blueberries on hand if I had any late-night hunger pangs (this goes back to the pre-planning). I heard a quote years ago that I’ve always loved and I’m sorry I have no idea to whom to attribute it but it always helps me when I’m struggling to make a healthy choice: “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.”
Self-Love
The last thing that contributed to my success on the cleanse is a bit less tangible. I didn’t do this cleanse to lose weight (side note: my scale broke the day before my cleanse started so I have no idea if I actually lost weight or not). I did it because I had been struggling to make healthy food choices for a while and I knew I wasn’t feeling my best. I sometimes struggle with moderation so I knew a structured program with guidelines and social support (have I mentioned how important social support is?) would help me kick start a healthier lifestyle in 2020. The times when I would’ve killed someone for a piece of toast or was drooling over a cheese plate, I reminded myself that this process is a gift to myself, that it’s only three weeks, and that I’m worth it.
So whatever goal you are working towards, how can you apply pre-planning, social support, listening to your body, and self-love to help you reach it? Set aside time to plan what you’ll need, reach out to people who have similar goals or people who will support you, listen to what feels good in your body (Do you have a sinking feeling every time you think about the next step? Maybe it’s not the right next step, or maybe there is some unprocessed material to work through on your path to your goal. Reach out if you need support.), and remember always that you are loved and worthy of all that your heart desires.