December 22, 2010.....
I survived. Better yet, I succeeded with the 21 Day Quantum Wellness Cleanse. As a lover of all things butter, meat and diet coke, I was able to go vegan/sugar/gluten/alcohol and caffeine free for 21 days.
If anyone followed me on Twitter, you'd know I almost lost my mind at times; thought the tofu in the fridge was mocking and had a fear of soy milk.
Well....
I have to admit, I still have a fear of soy milk. I don't care what anyone says, you don't always get used to something. I grew up on powdered milk and HATED it. In fact, I can't bring myself to drink anything less than 1% milk and wished my husband would love 2% as much as I do. Nope. He's a 1% guy and has a stronger argument why 1% is healthier for you. Dang it for him being right.
I also learned to put less salad on a plate than most people. Because I eat slowly, I found out it took forever to finish a huge plate of salad AND my jaw would get tired.
However.....
I did find out I like tofu, but haven't mastered cooking it.
I also found out I really like this rice/gluten free protein shake I was having for breakfast.
The cleanse was more than just food. It had me setting aside time to meditate, declutter my home environment, visualizing (basically, learning to focus on my goals and make a game plan to succeed).
In the end, my skin feels great, I lost weight, feel calmer and happier, and realized I often focused my energies on other people's problems as a distraction to avoid mine. I've learned I can't do that anymore. This doesn't mean I can't be sympathetic, but it does mean I have to set up boundaries or it will distract me from focusing on what I should be doing. Besides, I also discovered when confronted with a friend's situation that was extremely difficult and unable to help, I was emotionally drained. It think, actually know, I would do this in the past and won't going forward. I realized it's okay to sympathize, or even emphasize with someone, as long as it doesn't consume you.
When I started the cleanse, I thought I was depriving myself because of all the food groups I was giving up. However, I was wrong. What I failed to see was, creating a strict dietary guideline and forcing myself to do the other things that are part of the cleanse, I was actually taking the time to care and celebrate me.
Will I do this cleanse again? Absolutely. I will probably do it twice a year. Am I becoming a vegan? Absolutely not. I do plan on serving less red meat per week, and possibly go meatless 2 nights a week.
12 comments:
nice. i am glad this went well for you...thinking on doing it myself...tofu, err...
Tofu SCARED me. I actually shuffled it around the fridge for weeks because I really didn't know what to do with it. So.... I ordered a tofu meal from Chinese restaurant. Because my appetite shrank while doing the cleanse, it last for 3 meals.
You can always do barley or beans for the protein AND there is no requirement for eating tofu on the cleanse.
Congrats to you on the success of your cleanse LMB. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!
mp - Thanks for the well wishes - looking forward to the holiday and I hope you have a great holiday too!
Well that is awesome. The benefits you took from this process sound like they gave you exactly what you needed in your life.
I never really thought about how focusing on other people's problems could be a way to avoid dealing with your own. But that is utterly logical and now I will have to see if that is what I am doing. I always seem to be trying to help other people with their issues and get overwhelmed by the lack of time left to deal with my own. Maybe it is really because I don't want to deal with mine at all.
As for the change in diet - when I changed my eating habits a few years ago I was amazed at how quickly the body adapts. I hate veggies but I eat a salad for lunch during the week each day at our office's salad bar. Many times on Monday mornings, I can feel my body craving those veggies after being deprived of them over the weekend!
Wow, that is wonderful. I think I'd have to go away somewhere to a retreat or monestery to accomplish something like that. And, you are completely right about it focusing YOU on yourself, which is really important (from what I hear, I have utterly failed at trying to do that, which is probably why I feel so drained and crappy all the time.) It must be great to feel so healthy!!!!! Congrats and Merry Christmas!
Good for you...happy to hear you survived and found a new perspective!
I would love to know of your inspiration and source for the cleanse.
Andrea - I used to go away with my sister, when I had lots of disposable money, to Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, MA. I'd spend hours without technology, reading, journaling, eating healthy and getting awesome spa treatments. I missed it and realized how important that time was to me. I just down scaled it and realized 21 Days = 0.13% of the time I've been alive and that didn't seem to daunt me.
Sullygirl - I actually have done 2 posts since I started my cleanse -- this one http://littlemsblogger.blogspot.com/2010/12/going-vegan-and-other-things-for-21.html tells why I started it and which cleanse I chose. I did more than change my food which is what I really liked about this cleanse.
Congrats LMB! I give you a lot of credit. Am happy that you finally got over your fear of tofu because it really is a great source of vegetarian protein and it's pretty versatile. I have a block in the fridge right now. Interesting that you saw all the other correlations as well with your skin, etc.
Now, if you had only embraced some yoga during the cleanse, it would have been perfect :).
love, yoga girl
Congrats! I can barely manage 3 days on any kind of diet/health kick/fast so well done you on managing that long! Glad you felt the benefits as well!
You are a wise woman. Two things helped me get over caretaking a long, long time ago. One was attending Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings (they changed my life). The other is reading books about co-dependency, including one by Melanie Beatty(?) called Co-Dependent No More. Good luck on your continued road to wellness.
This reminds me of my mom, who used to wake up in the morning and look at my dad to see what kind of mood she was in that day.haha
Just came across your blog as I am going to try the Quantum Wellness cleanse myself soon. I'm a bit nervous also about how I am going to do with the sugar part....but the other things you wrote make me optimistic!
Annette@(running)In the right direction
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