Since I just turned 31 years old -ahem- young, I figured it was time for a detox. I wanted my body to experience a clean slate so-to-speak. Luckily, my dear friends at Lifefood Gourmet happen to have a program just for me! Well, just for everyone else, too.
It was 4 days of drinking 3 liquid meals/day made of organic, raw super smoothies and veggie soups. Although the meals tasted good, I definitely discovered many new things about myself.
First of all, I am a hungry little girl. I needed to add another shake per day because of the amount of food my body was asking for. Of course, I was sick previous to starting the cleanse so that didn’t help my appetite either.
Next, I calculated a very simple equation; my irritability level goes up as my food intake goes down. Not so fun for those around me, including myself.
Thirdly, my attachment to the ritual of eating food at a table with friends and family sharing in an engaging experience is strong. The reason it is strong is because since birth eating has been instilled in me as the avenue to connect with others and communicate thoughts, ideas and life. I found myself sitting at a table sharing less because I was the only one not eating; therefore, I was listening more.
In addition, at parties, everyone offers you something to eat and drink, so socially it felt rude to say no because the look on their face said, “What? You aren’t going to eat free food and drink alcohol?” It was rather entertaining. Luckily for me, I have always been the random person in the party that asks for a drink of water.
I enjoyed missing the foods I have so readily available. I found myself feeling lucky and blessed to have a kitchen full of food and having the choice not to eat any of it. Especially since in most countries, people are starving everyday for just a nibble of something. I can’t say that I can understand how those people feel because I don’t, but I did feel an experience of ‘not-having’ even if to an extremely small degree in relation to them.
Besides feeling blessed, I definitely experienced a bit of glutton in regards to the way that we, which includes me, eat. We assume that food will be there for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We can eat whenever we want, whatever we want and that is why I also wanted to constrain my eating habits for a certain amount of time. I wanted to see what would happen to those automatic, habitual tendencies and ways of thinking that are so programmed into my character. And I did! Of course, it was all fascinating to observe and enlightening to experience.
Now, after the cleanse, I am still cleansing. Besides the periodic trip to the toilet, I am also not craving the foods that I originally ate EVERY DAY like cheese, bread, sugar or caffeine. It’s amazing! I hope it lasts for awhile because I do feel lighter and with more energy. I am sleeping better and waking up earlier with less struggle, which is a great achievement (as you may know from one of my previous blogs.) I also feel a positive effect in my yoga practice. So, what other perk do I want?
I encourage you to at least try cleansing for 4 days… Just don’t do it during the weekend or while you are sick like I did. Although, since I love a good challenge, I enjoyed the extra hurdles.
Bottoms up! More like, bottoms down! ☺
