Lemon Detox

To detox, or not to detox, that is the question…

Well, it’s not really the question in this case, but I’m completely exhausted so it’s the best quote thing I could come up with. Apologies.

OK. So I managed to complete three days, that’s 72 hours, on this detox without eating solid food. My only intake was the sugared-lemon water (it really was sickly sweet), and the occasional peppermint tea and fresh juice. The detox guide suggests optimum “results” will be achieved by maintaining the fast for at least 5 days, if not 7 or 10. I think I could have gone another two days, but my body did not feel right, so I stopped it there.

Yes, I realise the tone in that last paragraph indicates perhaps negative connotations, and that’s partly correct. Despite feeling horrid for most of the time, there were several good things to come out of this detox/cleansing diet:

  1. It felt like a much easier way to go cold turkey on a few vices - caffeine, sugar etc. I’ve given up both of those before (caffeine for a week, sugar for two months), and it is very difficult to resist your usual temptations when you’re still eating and drinking everything else you normally would. But seeing as I wasn’t allowed any food whatsoever, I didn’t even notice I was missing out on those two things either.
  2. I am now commencing a healthier eating regime, which I hope to continue for a while. Prior to this detox, I had been eating way too much cheese, and food in general. So from now on, I’ll be minimising (if not excluding) my intake of: dairy, wheat, meat (obviously), sugar, caffeine, alcohol and processed foods. I acknowledge that starting a detox or diet change before going on holidays is probably not the smartest thing to do, but if I can set some boundaries now, at least it will make it easier to not overindulge on everything whilst I’m away. And when I return, I plan on making this a weekday effort, but allowing myself the weekend to enjoy a double espresso, or perhaps a glass of wine (or two) with dinner.
  3. One of the most significant things to have come from the abstinence of food, is the clearing up of one of my skin conditions. I have a rash/fungus thing over my stomach and back (sexy, yes?). It’s similar to eczema in that the skin flakes off (almost like dandruff), but it’s different at the same time. Anyhoo, at least now I can ascertain that it is caused by my diet. In the past, I’ve seen a naturopath about the condition as well. And it did improve after taking herbal supplements & drops, and applying topical cream, but once I stopped that program, it returned. So now all I have to do is figure out exactly what is causing it to flare up! Simple…

Some other minor improvements were that I lost 2Kg, plus my hair isn’t as oily as it usually is. I normally wash it every two days, but on the second day it really didn’t need a wash.

Do I consider this a success? All in all, I don’t consider it a complete failure (due to the above points), so by default, yes.

Would I do it again? Highly unlikely.

Would I recommend this detox to you? I wouldn’t tell you not to do it, but I wouldn’t encourage it either. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you think this could benefit you at all. I’m sure the same results could be achieved by seriously altering your diet to include only fresh, healthy, unprocessed foods. Plus that starving feeling is not pleasant in the slightest!

And after a full day of eating normally again, I’m feeling great. A little tired from not quite enough sleep, but other than that, I feel energised and happy. It also might have something to do with the fact I’m exercising again after a 6 month hiatus - I played in a band, and practice was on the same night as dance classes, so I’ve finally gotten back into that routine again over the past three weeks.

But I could do with a coffee. I really miss that high…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Blogging, Health, Self Love. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.