Hiya guys!
Dairy Debacle: Not such a Moo Point!
I decided to let the discussion on the dairy debacle go on a bit instead of posting yesterday. Thanks for all the wonderful & insightful feedback! If you don’t feel like reading over the comments: it seems like most of you either run in to ethical questions in regards to dairy, or have quit dairy because of some of the symptoms I adressed (and experienced myself). There were also a few of you that have no physical problems drinking dairy but it is note-worthy that most of these commenters drink, indeed, raw, organic, full fat milk! I’d also like to emphasize once more (like I do in most of my posts) that your own body is always right, more so than what I or some research says.
The End of an Era?
Now on to the topic of today: the end of a detox era! Three weeks ago I announced I was starting the Crazy Sexy Diet 21 day Cleanse and suggested that anyone who’d like to to join, join. I got many great responses and I am very curious to see how you feel after these three weeks! Here’s how my three weeks went:
21 Day Detox guidelines
- no coffee, alcohol, black tea
Minus one cup of coffee, check!
- no gluten (wheat, rye)
Check: I ate gluten on three occasions. No low gluten foods (spelt etc) either
- no animal products
Doh
- no refined, processed sugars
I’ve eaten some processed chocolate, mostly in the first few days. Otherwise, check
- as little processed, refined products as possible
Check! I ate very little processed products because I ate high raw. Near the end I even replaced my precious soy milk with homemade almond milk!
- less cooked/acidic foods, more raw/alkaline foods (minimum 40:60 ratio)
Double-check!
- low GI fruits
Ehh, not so much. I eat bananas & dates like my life depends on it 
- all organic (I’ll buy the dirty dozen organic)
In the first two weeks I bought more organic, the last week 100% organic
- filtered water, lemon water (I bought a water filterer)
Check!
- herbal & green tea, juices
Check! Drank mostly water, juice, some herbal tea
- try and combine foods better: fruit seperate, no heavy starch & proteins in one meal
I’ve done this some but not as consciously as I would’ve liked. I have been very wary of eating proteins & starches in meals but other than that, not really
- lemon water, juices & smoothies until lunch if possible (ugh…)
I did this about half the time
- chew your food!
Meh, I could’ve done better here
- no/little water with food (ack!)
This was hard but definitely check!
- juice fast 1 day/week
Not in the last week but I’ve done two days and plan on keep doing one day every so often
- daily dry brushing (skin detoxification) already started doing this!
Check, love this!
- daily netti pot (nose shower) I might start this later
Nope
- daily meditation (I think I’ll do every other day)
I’ve started to really up the meditation in this last week, before I did it a few times a week
- light to moderate exercise most days a week (no streneous exercise)
Check
- daily affirmations
Does one day count….?
- organic & natural grooming products only (dumped all of my non organic shampoos, conditioners, bodylotions, toothpaste, deodorants, etc and got me some organic ones 
)
Check check check! So happy with this! I’ve also begun replacing hand soaps & detergents with organic ones. Feels good.
- include some: belly massages, yoga, Reiki, colonics
Check. I’ve done one colonic, received some belly rubbings from the boy , received a wonderful Reiki treatment from my mom & I practise Yoga quite frequently *just not as much in the beginning!)
- advised supplements: b12 (already take these), D (in my multi), enzymes & probiotics (ordered)
Check!
Now, let’s take a look at the goals I set out:
My Goals
- More energy
Check!
- Waking up energized and ready to go in the morning
Check!
- Better concentration / less fogg
Check! (the book Thrive is mostly to credit though)
- Better digestive health (no bloating)
Hmmm a little, but not 100% yet
- Increase in bowel movement frequency
Not really, altough on some days
- Getting rid of the tiny mysterious rash on my left arm
No!
- Less cellulite
Bit of a vague goal, I don’t really keep track of it haha. This is more a long-term goal actually!
- No more allergies?
No! I still get a sneezing frenzy whenever me & Isa cuddle too much
Conclusion?
Ok, so much for the schematic overview. I have actually learned and accomplished quite a lot more from this detox than I set out to. From the raving on raw recipes & me buying a dehydrator I think it was already pretty obvious, but: I definitely plan on keep eating much more raw foods! Yes, I know what you think, I thought raw food was weird too, until I discovered how much I love it. I love how simple the cuisine is (throwing together a humongous salad or making a huge batch of crackers like it ain’t no thang? Yes please!) and how, for the first time in my life, I crave veggies. For a long time now I have felt the importance of eating lots and lots of vegetables (and not the measely recommendations set by governments) but even though I know this was the best for my health, I never craved vegetables, and I had such a hard time eating them. Now it feels like a second nature and for that I am ever so grateful.
The second best thing that this detox has given me is energy. No, I don’t experience delirious energy like some people feel or claim to feel when eating raw or after detoxing/cleansing, and I won’t claim I am never tired anymore. Instead, I can report with all honesty that there’s a subtle but oh so important improvement in my energy levels. I have good to great energy every day but most importantly- it’s more constant. No more highs and lows, afternoon or evening crashes, some mild, some more severe. The more time passed, the more constant my energy became. I ascribe this to eating more pure and wholesome products, more raw and less stimulants (heavy proteins, processed sugar/chocolate/black tea). All my energy comes from non-stimulating foods now, with the exeption of raw cacao powder. I don’t wake up and jump put of my bed most days (but I do some days) but after some minutes of awakening I literally jump up and down on the bed, get in some Yoga positions or get cracking on recipes or house-work. I love being this productive and energized almost from the minute I wake up. I consider high energy (and thus, high spirit!) to be such an invaluable good.
As far as digestive problems go, I am actually not sure if this became less, I kind of stopped tracking my (less noticeble) progress (I know, lame). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have severe digestive issues, it’s just that I’d like to strive for none whatsoever. Right now, I have a feeling gluten are not a problem for me. I ate gluten twice in a considerable amount and the first time I did experience pain, but I now think that was because I ate fruit directly after my dinner. The other two times I tried to monitor my stomach and I felt nothing. So that brings me to the question: why do I then sometimes have gas/bloating/an upset stomach after eating? I actually suspect it might be due to overeating (90% of the time I am a member of the clean-plate-club…) and/or poor food combining. Or who knows, maybe some foods just ‘sit’ wrong with me. I plan on figuring this out though, by experimenting!
I had hoped to increase my bowel movements but alas, didn’t really happen. Oh what the heck: I consider it ideal to ‘go’ more than once a day. Yes people, poop is perfectly OK to talk about! I am really regular which is a very good sign, and my stools also look like they’re supposed to (based on the literature haha). For now I’ll leave it as is, this might come over time..
I experienced little to no detox symptoms. I did feel very tired & lethargic for two days (somewhere between day 14-18) and this might have been due to detoxing. I also got a rather annoying headache a few days ago, and the day after my colonic I got some zits. That’s pretty much it. I see no dramatic improvement in my skin (especially because zits tend to leave some traces on my face even after they’ve gone), rather it still looks good & healthy. Now special glow or anything, boo! Not that it was a point of interest (but, let’s be honest, of course it is…) but my hair also looks the same
All in all I am more than happy I did this detox. It was very different from what I expected: it was much less hard and I didn’t experience all the dreadful detox symptoms. The outcome and what I’ve gained & learned is a little different from what I had expected as well, but in a good way for sure. I have added another curiosity to my diet: raw food, and I love my newfound energy. Above all, I had a ton of fun eating very clean and experimenting with new cuisines, new ingredients, new equipment, new foods, new recipes, and showing the world how delicious detoxing can be
The Foods
Here’s an example of what/how I ate:
Morning
Lemon water, juice, green smoothie
OR
Lemon water, green juice, solid raw breakfast (recovery pudding, almond milk&rawnola)
OR
Some mornings where I was busy and/or less hungry: only lemon water & juice (& tea)
Lunch
Gigantic salad topped with nuts, seeds & homemade dressing
Dinner
Same as lunch
OR
I did a handful of mixed raw/cooked dinners, made some vegan sushi, sprouted some Quinoa, etc
Snacks
Anything with raw cacao powder
AND
Tons of nuts, every day, for munching
AND
Fruit & dried fruit
AND
Raw desserts (balls, brownies, etc)
AND
Brown ricecakes with homemade nut butters or apple butter (appelstroop)
Carrot sticks with Better Than Paprika Chips Almond Butter!
My fav salad: the Hearty Detox Salad !
Raw homemade almond milk & rawnola
Random chocolate ice-cream/pudding concoction =) (with spinach!)
Chocolate Chia crackers! (recipe soon)
Chickpea crêpes (recipe soon)
Calcium Balls (recipe soon)
Homemade Almond Milk (recipe below!)
Now what?
Now I am excited to keep going with the things I embraced during the detox, nix the things I didn’t, and improve those things that lacked!
Keepers:
- I plan on keep eating much more raw
- I’ll continue dry brushing
- I plan on doing a one day juice fast every once in a while
- Lemon water & herbal tea (and juice obviously)
- More green smoothies
- Raw almond milk instead of soy milk
- No liquids with meals
- Enzymes & pro-biotics, at least for now
- Yoga!
- Colonics
Bye bye:
- Coffee
- Alcohol (I keep going back and forth between zero alcohol and a little, but I prefer none)
- Processed sugar and processed chocolate (as much as I ‘can’)
- Gluten free, since I don’t think I am sensitive to gluten
- Three cooked meals a day!
- Liquid until lunch. I might do this some days but quite drankly, breakfast is too much fun to drink
Extra focus on:
- Meditation. I want this to really become a consistent factor in my life (do I hear a challenge?)
- Positive affirmations, I did practically none…
- Food combining!
- Thoroughly chewing my food
- Stop eating when I am almost full…..
Thank you all so much for the encouragement and for sticking with me & my crazy plans . Tomorrow you may expect a review on the Crazy Sexy Diet book, with a little surprise thrown in . For now, I’ll end with a recipe.
Homemade Almond Milk
Yields approximately 3 cups (750 ml)
* 1 cup raw almonds (120 grams)
* 4 cups water (1 liter)
* 4-6 fresh dates, pitted
* 1/2 t vanilla extract (optional)
* dash of salt
Required: blender, nutmilk bag (or other fine mesh bag/cloth)
Soak your almonds overnight by covering them with just enough water. In the morning, drain and blend with the other ingredients until smooth. Place your nutmilk bag over a container (like a glass jar), fasten with an elastic and pour the milk in slowly, catching the pulp with the bag. Close jar and let the milk strain for at least 45 minutes, in the fridge. After, your milk is done and you can make cookies with the pulp! (Plenty recipes online and I’ll place one soon as well). This milk will cost about €1,5 – €2 depending on the price of your nuts, which is much cheaper than store bought almond milk! When considering the amount of cookies you also can make with this recipe, it’s even cheaper than soymilk!
Again, I’d also love to hear your detox recap!!
Love,
Sabine
Echt super dat het zo goed bevallen is! Ik wil eerst 1 week gaan doen, dat heb ik gepland voor volgende week, ben heel benieuwt hoe het gaat bevallen!
Maar 1 vraag, ik heb het vast ergens gemist, maar waarom is het beter niets te drinken bij je eten?
XxxX
Gaaf, succes!
Als je drinkt bij het eten verdun je je spijsverteringsenzymen, waardoor je minder goed verteerd, meer last krijgt van maagproblemen, minder goed voedingsstoffen opneemt! en ik dronk altijd héél veel bij het eten!
My recap of the 21 (and some more) day detox:
- no coffee, alcohol, black tea
Check: I don’t drink coffee, I had alcohol on one occasion and I drank black tea the last couple of days, because I forgot to bring my own tea to work.
- less animal products, no dairy
Check: I incorporated some vegetarian days and ate almost no dairy
- no refined, processed sugars
Check
- as little processed, refined products as possible
Check, I dramatically decreased the intake of processed products and made a lot of things myself
- low GI fruits
Check, but I started to eat banana’s this last week. You shouldn’t post such delish recipes of ice cream made out of banana!
- herbal & green tea
Check
- chew your food!
Check
- no/little water with food
Check
- light to moderate exercise most days a week
I said I have to improve this one, but I realized a couple of days ago that I take a half an hour walk during lunch break every day. On top of that I really would like to exercise (more muscle training) some more.
- include some: yoga
No, not once…. It can only get better from now on.
- supplements: B-complex
Check, but I decided this is my last bottle. I want to see if my eating habits improved enough to keep my hair growing like crazy!
I really enjoyed being so conscious of the things I put into my body. The end of the ‘official detox’ doesn’t mean I quit the things that I think are an improvement. Things I want to continue or add:
- no coffee, no black tea, be conscious about alcohol
- no dairy, try to add vegetarian days more often and plan an all vegetarian week
- no refined, processed sugars
- as little processed, refined products as possible
- herbal & green tea
- chew food, no/little water with food
- exercise more (muscle training), and include more yoga (at least twice a week!)
- quit the B-complex
- eat more (green) smoothies
I didn’t experience any detox symptoms, but I think I didn’t push it far enough to ‘achieve’ that. I don’t feel like I’m eating very differently, I just feel I substitute products and add even more great things. My skin feels better I have to say, but I don’t experience less (or more) zits. I still have zits now and then and during the wintertime I always feel like I’m 16 again, because I have them on my back as well. I didn’t see any changes in that either (booh..).
Things I want to learn (more about):
)
- find out what’s a good blender. I think I pushed my little blender a little to much with making nut butters. The knives aren’t sharp anymore, so it doesn’t blend anything properly, it’s even got a hard time with fruits now…. (and the paprika chips almond butter came out not like a butter, but more like sprinkles.. The taste is great though)
- try to make my own milks (when I have a new blender..). I think the milks from the store are way to sweet and I really miss my buttermilk. Do you have a substitute?!
- try ‘new’ fruits and veggies. I thought I knew exactly what a mango was. I thought it was something like a peach… Well, it’s not! Haha, and I always thought I knew my fruits… So I want to try as many fruits and veggies as I possible can.
- buy the dirty dozen organic (use my android-app for that!
- find a way to buy from Iherb.com without a credit card..
Well, I feel like I have my own blog, by posting such a long reply to your blog, but I hope it’s a nice overview. Oh, and thanks for making such a great blog. I learn so much every day!
Wow I am really impressed, you did so well! And going for a walk on your lunch break is really good, it’s habits like these that form longterm health, not necessarily exercising every day. quite the contrary actually.
for buttermilk: add some lemon juice to homemade milk to make it more tart!
I order from iHerb with my moms cc, maybe an idea
?
Even een vraagje.. Waar heb je die onwijs leuke fles vandaan?
Blokker! Hij is gaaf he!
Blokker?! Neeeeee joh! Nooit verwacht! Ga ik meteen kijken
- I took this opportunity to cut out as many processed foods as possible, and have made nutbutters, date balls, vegan fudge, hummus and more.
- I also tried to incorporate more veggies and fruit in my diet and made a smoothie every day.
- Before the detox I already never consumed coffee, alcohol or black tea, and I drink a lot of green tea every day. I now try to drink more water though, when I’m at school.
- I dry brushed occasionally, not every day.
- I’ve started exercising again.
I’mgoing to continue doing all of this, because for me the detox was more about gradually moving towards a healthier lifestyle.
Also, I think I’m over my chips addiction now! I really felt addicted, and I had chips every day, but over the last 21 days I limited it to 3 times, so I’m really proud of myself, haha.
wow congrats! chips is so unhealthy and going from every day to once a week on avarage is amazing. for me the detox was also to push myself into a new healthy direction
Way to go! This is a fabulous recap of your cleanse. I’m doing one right now too… my biggest challenge is chewing more. I keep forgetting to do it and when I do, my jaw starts hurting from all the chewing! My favorite of all the recipes you shared were those brownies. I have to give those a try!
haha yes switching to more veggies also did that for me! it’s a bit sad when you think of it
WOWOWOWO! i seriously loved this post- hearing about how it all went for you! im glad you learned s much and wil continue to eat a few detox way thangs! i learn so much from you!!!!
ps. arent bananas low on the Gi index?! oops!
thanks babe!
about the bananas: I def don’t think they’re low GI, but the unripe ones are (but ew!). the riper a fruit, the healthier, but also the higher the GI because theres more sugar in them. I think ripe bananas are moderate to high GI and very ripe ones are def high GI
oh ok thanks!!! good to know!!
Your such an inspiration. My project-Me month is about to start and it involves a lot of the goodness listed above. To be continued…
wow a ME whole month, amazing! I’ll be following!
Hmm that chickpea thingy looks so nice, can’t wait to see that recipe!
I only did four full days of detoxing. I was very tired most of the time, but that was probably because of the lack of caffeine.
Like you, I also don’t think I have a problem with gluten. I couldn’t feel a difference with our without it.
Here are my ‘keepers’:
- Drink only decaf coffee, green or herbal tea. Seems I don’t need caffeine anymore.
- Eat more salads and veggies.
- Watch the sugar. Having as little as possible makes me feel much better.
- Reduce my dairy and eggs to a minimum. I even drink my coffee black now! Never thought I could make the switch.
I really love your milk bottle! And the fact that it’s filled with almond milk.
it’s amazing the things we’re able to do that we never thought we were capable of. turns out, we can do literally anything we put our minds to!
Loved reading all this! I used to be a raw food vegan and felt amazing in the beginning months. It was crazy how much energy I had! It eventually tapered off, but I was exposed to a lot of things (chia seeds, FRESH almond milk, dehydrator, etc.) that I would have never considered to use otherwise. Plus, it got me off the sugar roller coaster
I have gone off gluten for the past few days and feel that I don’t have a problem with it. Even though a lot of reports have said wheat and gluten isn’t good for you, I like bread.
I’ve cut processed foods out a lot in my diet. It is a little bit tough because eating out is a pain (especially when there are only chain restaurants here) but I feel so much better about it. I know what it is like to crave vegetables too! I rather eat salads and an apple for lunch than a sandwich and chips. It makes me feel happier
My friends think I am crazy, unfortuately!
What is the point of not drinking with meals? And what exactly just dry brushing do for your skin? Does it make it more firm? I have been reading about it on a lot of blogs lately and it sounds interesting.
Thanks for being so honest about your detoxing
I definitely don’t agree gluten are ‘bad’ either, it’s just that a lot of people are intolerant of gluten and it goed unnoticed for so many, which is a bad thing!
mind me asking you why you’re not raw/vegan anymore, if you felt so good with it? and any beginners tips
?
I felt good for the first month or two (and was quite literally bouncing off the walls), but afterwards that feeling went away and I started to feel the same as I did before becoming vegan. Very tired as well. I baked one day with sugar and lost my raw mindset (and I could FEEL that sugar through my body. I even started sobbing for no reason. lol.) Also, my digestive issues were still present and since all the fibre I was consuming, it made it a bit worse. Let’s just leave it at that
My advice would be to try and not get so complicated with raw recipes. There are a lot of raw recipes out there that are very time consuming with soaking nuts or dehydrating and that is where I messed it up the most. I was making all these fancy raw foods all the time (dehydrated scones, dehydrated pancakes, sprouted cereal, raw pizza, “chicken” fingers…etc.) when I should have just ate salads or something simple like that. It didn’t occur to me then though. It looks like you are on the right track and you eat simple and well. And using a dehydrator is so much fun! There is so much you can do with it & it is great to experiment with it. Good luck:)
hm that sounds odd, that you did get tons more energy but that it disspiated after a while? too bad!
thank you for your tip! as I wrote in my last post though, I have been getting a bit sick of salads and am trying some more ‘fancy’ raw stuff instead. I think for me its the other way around, I started with the most basic raw meals: juices, smoothies & salad, and now I crave more variety and complexity. but I can see how it would tire you out as well!
I love this!!!! I know that whenever I detox, I feel a little tired, but it may just be from your body getting all of that stuff out and such.
So glad you liked the detox!!! I plan on getting the CSD book this weekend and hopefully get started on a detox for April! (just wasn’t prepared this last time around.. mentally or financially
)
[...] for a little update of sorts! It’s almost been a week since the end of my detox and I thought you might be interested in how it’s been going since. Well, I am definitely not [...]
[...] for ages I had been meaning to write about the sorta raw food blues I experienced following my 21 day cleanse. I sorta naturally fell in a very high raw state of eating and got a bit lazy and ambivalent about [...]
[...] Raw nut milk with raw buckwheat cereal 2. Fresh fruit topped with raw nut butter or coconut butter 3. Fresh [...]
Ik heb je site net pas ontdekt, hardstikke leuk!!
Maar ik vroeg me af hoelang je zo’n fles amandel melk kunt bewaren in de koelkast?
Keep on going!!
Hoi Sanne, de melk blijft ongeveer 3-4 dagen goed. invriezen werkt ook prima!