well, as I suspected Halloween weekend full of parties and birthdays and potlucks put my cleanse to the test. I had a feeling it would be challenging for me to stick to it completely so I tried something a little less militant and a little less stressful. I decided to try letting a little leeway in without throwing in the towel completely. It worked! I was able to stick with the cleanse even though I had a couple of exceptions. This felt great. I realized that rather than getting more strict with the cleanse, that what I would try is staying with it loosely for longer.
I completed the 7 days, and still have more kicharee to eat. I thought I would keep eating it, but bring in more vegetables and salads and maybe try adding in a few things at a time. I have decided to continue avoiding caffein, and keeping alcohol and sugar to a bare minimum. Maybe just as a treat on occasion. Once I got over the initial withdrawal from caffein (the others weren’t nearly as hard to go without), I realized I feel much better without these vices. Currently I am needing to sleep more at night, but I have noticed I have a lot more energy throughout the day. I did get some amazing bodywork, and acupuncture and this helped a lot for me to stabilize the emotional detoxing as well as the physical.
Overall, I would say that the cleanse was very challenging at first, but getting over the initial hump, I feel so much more connected and at peace with my body. My emotions have been a bit more on the surface, but this also feels more honest- that maybe they were there before, but the food (or coffee) as vice was just acting to keep me numb enough to keep functioning at lightning speed without slowing down enough to feel them completely. I am feeling much more in alignment with my bodies natural rhythms currently, and with that, the emotions are also finding their way to harmony.
