Let's start a Detox Revolution!

Bonjour mes amis!

Confession: I actually hate French but when typed, it actually looks quite posh.

I have a somewhat special post for today. As you all may or may not have gathered by now I have been reading up a lot on holistic and alternative healing practises, detoxing and cleansing in particular, and all that it entails.

Yes I too was once a big sceptic. I mostly just hated the way some people would refer to doing a detox or cleanse when in fact they meant they’d starve themselves for some weeks as a means to lose weight, and I still do. But, honestly, I was also sceptic of the theory behind detoxing for health benefits. We have a liver, kidneys, our skin, these all detoxify round the clock for us, so why on earth would there be a need to ‘detox’?

But since it is my dream to help people find health through other means than the standard Western diet or medicine, it was inevitable for me to cross paths with alternative methods, such as fasting and detoxing. And the more I have been learning about these Ancient old practises (so no, they are far from fads), the more I became intrigued. The more I read (in the past week alone I have read 2 books and visited multiple forums), the more I became a believer.

The reason I am prone to believe these alternative healing methods can work is because, well, what we are doing right now is obviously not working. Overweight and obesity, heart problems, cancers and tumors, auto-immune diseases, they are all thriving really well on our little Western diet and lifestyle approach. Let’s face facts: how many friends and family members do you have with serious conditions? Diabetes, obesity, cancer, arthritis, hypertensia, high cholesterol? How many friends or family members do you have without these life threatening diseases but are still living par vibrant health? Think returning headaches, colds, allergies, skin conditions (zits, rashes, eczema), bowel or digestive problems, fatigue, migraines, cellulite, weak immune system, etc? Personally, I cannot count the people nor conditions on one hand.

Actually; I don’t know if detoxing works, but I am on a mission to find out. Because above realization makes me very, very sad. Because I want, need, to find a better way to go about our health than is the standard today. I really, honestly, get very frustrated with the way the health of a whole society is rapidly declining before our eyes and no-one has a real answer. I want to find a better solution and share my knowledge with as many people as I can, to help as many people as I can, to get healthy. I wish every person on this planet would make health a number one priority and hold themselves and no-one else accountable. No more relying on popping pills, frequent doctors visits or operations to fix the mess we’ve ultimately made ourselves.

So I’ve been gathering information like my life depended on it. Sometimes I do things before I even feel the ‘click’, make ‘the connection’, but I keep going in that direction for no apparent reason, although I suspect subconsiously I know why (if by now I’ve maxed out your hippy/voo-doo quota for the day, by all means skip the rest of this post and come back another day for yummy recipes or whatnot ). However, while reading and reading and thinking and pondering and reading some more, I still felt a little sceptic. Afraid, too. If it works it’s fantastic, but I was hesitant to take the plunge myself. That is, until I saw the documentary Sicko a few days ago. Sicko, another great doc by Micheal More (Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine) gave me the final push I needed. In it the viewer gets a look in the sick world that is America’s health care system. Now, European health care is not even remotely comparable to that of the States, but when a respected ‘health care professional’ confessed she had let a man die of cancer so she would get a big promotion and 6 figure salary along with it, I was revolted. As a soon to be health care professional I felt ashamed. And right then and there I vowed to myself I would do anything in my power to actually, genuinly help people get healthy.

Which brings us to today. I have gathered the courage to start the 21 day cleanse presented in Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet book. Kris Carr was diagnosed with a rare and agressive form of untreatable cancer and since then has done everything in her power to heal herself, and with success. Her cancer has been hibernating, instead of progressing, for years, and she doesn’t experience symptoms. Even though she is a cancer patient, she is healthier than a lot of other people can say for themselves. I think this is awesome, and I think there’s a treasure of information to be gathered from that. Tomorrow or the day ofter I will do a post on why & how fasting and cleansing can be beneficial for health, but first I’d like to share what it is I’ll be doing for the coming three weeks/what the 21 day detox entails.

Lots of big, luscious salads, that’s for sure!

21 Day Detox

- no coffee, alcohol, black tea
- no gluten (wheat, rye)
- no animal products
- no refined, processed sugars
- as little processed, refined products as possible
- less cooked/acidic foods, more raw/alkaline foods (minimum 40:60 ratio)
- low GI fruits
- all organic (I’ll buy the dirty dozen organic)
- filtered water, lemon water (I bought a water filterer)
- herbal & green tea, juices
- try and combine foods better: fruit seperate, no heavy starch & proteins in one meal
- lemon water, juices & smoothies until lunch if possible (ugh…)
- chew your food!
- no/little water with food (ack!)
- juice fast 1 day/week
- daily dry brushing (skin detoxification) already started doing this!
- daily netti pot (nose shower) I might start this later
- daily meditation (I think I’ll do every other day)
- light to moderate exercise most days a week (no streneous exercise)
- daily affirmations
- organic & natural grooming products only (dumped all of my non organic shampoos, conditioners, bodylotions, toothpaste, deodorants, etc and got me some organic ones )
- include some: belly massages, yoga, Reiki, colonics
- advised supplements: b12 (already take these), D (in my multi), enzymes & probiotics (ordered)

My Goals

- More energy
- Waking up energized and ready to go in the morning
- Better concentration / less fogg
- Better digestive health (no bloating)
- Increase in bowel movement frequency
- Getting rid of the tiny mysterious rash on my left arm
- Less cellulite
- No more allergies?

These are all things I suffer from only mildly but still think could use improvement. Especially the energy thing, which is why it’s on the top of the list. The boy once mentioned I wad the first girl he’d seen without cellulite (orange skin as he calls it) but there’s still some. I does not bother me, but it is a sign of accumulated toxins, which is why I am very curious to see what happens to it. I made a list of goals so I can also track my progress in another way than just going by how I feel. I do this for myself, but I also want to really evaluate the benefits of detoxing so later on in life I can give the best possible guidance to people that suffer from ill health. Ultimately, I want to find out of detoxing could really be an answer to our health epidemic.

Water filterer, gluten-free (Spelt) bread, kamut based pasta

Healthy snacking obliged

It was hard stashing my black tea collection away, until I found this beauty!

Yeah baby!

I will start this Wednesday, March 9, the first day of lent. Now my question is: who’s up for a little challenge? I suspect a full detox will be too rigid for most of my readers, but I’d like to challenge you all to pick one (or more) healthy habit from the list above (or come up with your own!) to strive for the next 21 days. Maybe you’d like to kick your sugar binges to a curb or you could fast from meat for 21 days. Abstaining from coffee or eating one big lush salad every day for 21 days also seems like a worthy and healthful goal. Or, like Genesis, you could detox from Internet (hallelujah, I’ll definitely add this to my list!). My point in case is, we could all be doing more for our health but we have to take on a more pro-active attitude!

Thank you for reading & enjoy your Sunday!

Love,

Sabine

Ps: let me know if you join the detox revolution!