My Life Post Cleanse

It has been almost a month since participating in a juice cleanse with my wife (Pre, Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3).

My participation was reluctant at best. Mostly, I did not want to say no, and I was curious to see if I could do it, as well as experience the side effects it would have on my body.

During the cleanse, the effects were not exciting. I felt tired and irritable. My brain definitely wasn’t operating at peak performance, and my workouts were much less intense.

I also missed eating solid foods.

Things weren’t all bad though. A juice every two hours meant I wasn’t actually hungry, which I expected to be a major problem. On the immediate plus side, I lost 12 pounds in 3 days.

Now, as I look back 18 days post-cleanse, I can say there have definitely been some lasting effects.

This, of course, means admitting my wife was right. The cleanse has changed the way I live and eat.

Some of the side effects were reinforcers of habits I used to have when I was a healthier person.

The three days of having a juice every two hours reminded me of the importance of eating small meals throughout the day, rather than large meals infrequently. This keeps the body’s metabolism going and helps avoid the crash following a big meal. For the most part, I have been able to stick with this since the cleanse.

The difficulty, as always for me, comes at dinner time. Not only trying not to over eat at meal time, but to avoid snack afterwards.

The biggest shock for me has been the removal of two major indulgences: sugar & salt.

I have not bought a bag of candy since the cleanse. I haven’t even really had the urge. I have bought more fruit, and while on the road, I usually grab a container of raisins if I do have a craving for something sweet. The sugar carbs are there, but way better than the processed sugar found in my usual go-to: Twizzlers and jelly beans.

I have even cut back on the amount of sugar I put in my coffee. I haven’t exactly cut it in half, but it is close. The biggest change is being more precise in monitoring how much sugar I am using. I no longer reach for the sugar canister and dump in a few seconds worth of sugar. Instead, I go for the packets and am more attentive to the number of packets I use.

As for salt, I still eat it. Sodium is in most foods. But, I have not been adding it to my food. I eat it as it comes, without the additional shakes I had been adding.

I may even have to find a new go-to adult beverage. The first, and only, dirty martini I had since the cleanse felt like eating a spoonful of salt.

It is amazing to me how effective a three-day cleanse has been in changing my habits for the better.

Kudos wifey.

This too may pass, but it seems to be sticking with me so far.