Week One
I am a purist and I have willpower of steel – or so I am told – so following the instructions isn’t difficult for me – because it’s what it says to do. I figure if you want the results, follow the instructions. Karen keeps telling me how admirable my willpower is. I like her. So when the instructions say “no gluten, no peanuts, no tomatoes” (my favorite snack – I eat ’em like candy!), no this, no that… that’s what I do. I’m not going to write all the specifics here because I don’t have them off the top of my head. They are on a list on my refrigerator door – which is where I need to see it. The first section and the second section (this is a 3 week detox; the first and third week are split into two sections and the second week is a full week – 5 sections total) are pretty similar and you can have lean meat (chicken, turkey, fish). This changes in week 2 so you want to make sure you take advantage of all you can do when you can – still within the instructions (remember, I’m a purist). The only difference between sections for week one and week three are the number of servings for a particular detox shake powder that are instructed – sometimes it’s one before breakfast, sometimes it’s two – before breakfast and dinner. It’s not a bad tasting shake and we’ve found that you can mix it with chocolate almond milk or vanilla coconut milk and then it tastes really good. As far as the food you can eat, when you see the things that are restricted you get worried about “what’s left?”. Karen made it real easy for the first week. Some of the recipes she came up with were really good. I’m sure you’ll be able to read about them soon. A lot of lunches were salad but that’s what I’ve been eating for the last 2 years anyway, except for this three weeks there will be no tomatoes (tomatoes are reported to be an “inflammatory” food although I can’t see it – maybe it only happens for some people – but I’m following the instructions anyway). Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale) are supposed to also be detoxifying so there’s a lot of snacking on those things. I think it’s making a difference. I don’t feel too hungry most of the time and I drink a lot of water, but only when I’m thirsty or hungry. I don’t want to *pack on* any extra fluids! Energy levels are good and I’m continuing with my work out schedule. I was told that I may not feel energetic enough to continue working out but so far that has not been my experience. My average mile run time is just over 9 minutes now. I think I’m doing OK for energy. We’ll see what week two brings.