*This is a post about our personal results and what we believe to be happening from my collected readings over the years and more so from what I’ve learned through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
Anything I have stated below is not to be taken as fact and not to be used to diagnose and treat yourself or others. This is “food for thought” and hopefully will encourage you to look into it more on your own and be more comfortable with the idea of doing a cleanse.
This was a whole foods cleanse, not a fast or mini-fast with supplements that can be too harsh for some people, especially newbies. If not done correctly some of those types can really interrupt your life, meaning you live in or next to the bathroom. What we did, did not have any such effects.
If you have even halfway serious, complicated medical problems, please consult with your doctor before doing any kind of detox.
As I wrote before, my husband and I were on a liver/gall bladder detox and elimination diet. We have finished with some very welcome and some surprising results.
The entire process was easy with no discomfort or hunger. The eliminated foods were dairy, beans, grains, nuts, and eggs. We have added all these foods back now except beans without any symptoms associated with food sensitivities or allergies. Yay!
We also eliminated caffeine and alcohol, but haven’t added those back. So what did we drink? WATER. Lots of it and herbal tea, plus a some lemon and cranberry drinks.
WEIGHT
Ok, results. We haven’t re-measured yet, sorry. But this diet was more about cleansing than losing weight and inches. However, Gordon did lose 9 pounds and I lost 5.
BLOOD PRESSURE
The biggest thing was his blood pressure. It went from 178/105 to 135/79, sometimes even lower (122/87, one was 117/something), but 135/79 is probably the most representative.
We believe this to be mostly due to rehydration of the body. He went from drinking coffee and beer and no water, to drinking a good amount of water without any of the beer or coffee. And he did not quite reach his goal for the amount of daily water during the cleanse.
My blood pressure has always been fine, sometimes just a tad low, so there is nothing to report there.
JOINT PAIN
Previously, Gordon’s shoulder and elbow joints were getting bad and very worrisome. He was becoming less and less able to lift much and his range of motion was becoming more limited. Both arms were falling asleep at night. Those problems have cleared up.
We think that may be due to both hydration and blood cleansing.
The damaged ligament in my thumb doesn’t seem to be quite as painful, but I still have some pain with arthritis in one big toe joint and the muscular strain at my neck and shoulders from a loss of the natural curvature of the cervical spine. I could not expect chronic muscular strain to be resolved in this way.
SLEEP AND ENERGY
We both sleep better. We wake up less often, have a better quality of sleep and I sleep 1.5 to 2 hours less, from 10.5 to sometimes 11, down to 9 hours. We feel rested on waking and have more energy throughout the day. Gordon’s energy level has really sky-rocketed.
He barely snores now and the sleep apnea I’m not sure of, since it’s harder to hear him breathe without the snoring, and because I sleep more soundly. I’m assuming that has greatly improved with the snoring issues.
BRAIN FOG AND CONCENTRATION
These were issues only for me and they have improved.
MISCELLANEOUS
Neither of us is waking with congestion.
My skin texture has improved, even though I’ve had some breakouts from detoxification. (Plus I’ve had some hormone craziness with beginning menopause.)
My eyesight has been worse this past year and a half and there doesn’t seem to be a change there. With what I’ve been re-reading of Dr. F. Batmanghelidj’s work, “You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty! Water for Health, for Healing, for Life”, I would expect full hydration to help somewhat. But that may be a slower process and I don’t really know what factors are involved.
I had crossed my fingers that something about all this would stop the tinnitus, but no luck there. That one is a horribly tenacious problem, that just might have its roots in silent inflammation according to a brief Internet search I started the other day and haven’t gotten back to. (FYI, Dr. Barry Sears, “The Anti-Inflammation Zone; Reversing The Silent Epidemic That’s Destroying Our Health”,has done years of mind-opening research into inflammation and offers lots of free articles and links to validation studies on his website). There are believed to be other as yet unknown or little understood causes also.
Additionally I feel all around calmer and somehow “lighter”. I’m not quite sure how else to describe that one.
ABOUT THE PLAN
The plan we followed was developed by an Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) graduate who is also a certified detoxification expert. As I stated before, it is based on whole foods and eliminates dairy, beans, grains, nuts, and eggs.
We ate some fruits and lots of vegetables except for white potatoes. The largest portion of the vegetables were dark leafy greens with fresh herbs. Meat was allowed but minimal and only clean (organic) poultry, beef or shrimp, no pork. We had some deer in place of beef, since we cannot get organic, grass-fed beef here and we skipped out on the poultry, again no clean source, and had wild-caught salmon.
We were never hungry though we were eating seemingly less than what we had been eating over winter. There was one day that I felt really tired. I think I had neglected some protein the day before. (I seem to be a protein type.)
The plan got us eating some different things instead of just thinking or talking about it, and doing so on a daily basis, not just once in a while.
I’ve recently realized that throughout my life my dislike for some foods was actually due to the texture rather than the taste. This got me mostly over that hurdle. For example, I used to have a really hard time with the leafy greens. I’m much better with that now.
Another thing I got used to during this plan was the sour type flavors with the oil and vinegar based dressings. I was never really into pickles or sauerkraut! Ranch dressing was always my favorite, and an ocean of it on those greens to cover the texture. Now I don’t mind the slight vinegary taste.
That’s a good thing not just because of the calories in those creamy dressings but because I want to start experimenting with lacto-fermented foods. You can control how much the flavor develops by the length of time in storage, but there is still going to be some of that flavor. FYI, lacto-fermented foods are full of the beneficial bacteria (probiotics) we need for good digestion. Cooking and canning destroys these. Check out www.culturesforhealth.com.
I did not really crave sweets or carbs, or my favorite, salty potato chips during this. I didn’t crave anything at all but some protein on that one day I felt really tired. Gordon had a few times when he thought he wanted something to snack on, but drank water instead and the perceived hungry feeling dissipated.
Gordon went cold turkey on the coffee and didn’t really miss it. That was the one thing he was most worried about after he found out we could have some meat on this plan. He hated water before and now likes drinking it, especially after he has personally experienced what it can do for you. I went cold turkey on soda and haven’t really missed it.
AND…. neither of us felt bloated or like we were going to float away with all that water. I calculated I should be drinking around 11 – 8oz glasses a day and I met that. Gordon has now hit his goal of 13 – 8 oz glasses and says he is definitely sticking with it, as well as the other good foods vs going back to the not so good stuff.
I hope this encourages anyone to seriously consider doing a whole foods cleanse or even just making sure you are adequately hydrated. There is much more to that than just drinking some water. We can’t rely on our thirst mechanism. It has not adapted to today’s way of life. There is a wonderful quick explanation for this in “You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty” on page 54 of the paperback edition.
I have read 2 of Dr. Batmanghelidj’s books, the one referenced above and a previous publication “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water”. The latter is I think a quicker, easier, read and introduction. The other book “You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty! Water for Health, for Healing, for Life” is slightly technical but is still written for the lay person. I highly recommend all of the resources referenced in this blog.
NEW DETOX COMING SOON!!!
Tonight I’m going to join a conference call to find out about the upcoming detox plan that targets a different organ. I’m excited about doing this detox, but also I will find out about purchasing the plan for the rights to offer it to others. These are pretty low cost plans for the end user compared to so many others out there that are available to anyone.
The plans include a guide, shopping list, meal plan, recipes, other helpful tips and tools, and email or private FB group support. If you have the slightest interest, leave a comment and/or email me at genahowe.health@gmail.com. I will be glad to answer your questions and guide you on a path to feeling better!
RESOURCES:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031021_tinnitus_inflammation.html
http://www.drsears.com/Home/tabid/330/Default.aspx
Finding Health and The Cat Lady 