Although they are often talked about interchangeably, there's a big difference between a cleanse and a fast. A fast involves reducing the intake of calories so that your body goes into starvation mode and starts breaking down its fat stores to turn them into glucose, or fuel. A cleanse is typically eliminating items from the diet that are "unhealthy", undesirable, or non-food, and focussing on nutrient-rich foods, for the purpose of improving one's health.
Two common misconceptions about cleanses are that they are rigid, difficult or expensive to maintain, or that a cleanse or fast will medically purge or purify parts of the body (e.g. liver or digestive tract). Regarding the first, you can design your own cleanse in a way to make it pleasant and easy to follow. Regarding the second, more realistic outcomes of doing a cleanse are to break oneself from poor eating habits, to bring greater awareness to one's eating behaviours, and to have intense dedication to optimal nutrition for a short period of time.
How do you design a cleanse that you can stick to for 3 days or more? Choose first what you want to eliminate from your diet. Do you believe that you are having difficulty digesting dairy products? Are you eating too many desserts? Want to cut down on refined flours and coffee? Make a list of what you'd like to not eat or drink and decide on how long a period you'll try to stick to this.
Some ideas for cleanses:- no sugar for a week
- no coffee from Friday to Sunday then back to just one on Monday morning
- eliminate all dairy products for a whole week
- no flours or starchy foods or sugar for an entire weekend
- go without meat products from Monday to Friday
- do a juice fast over the weekend; that's consuming only fresh or purchased juices and is best with a focus on vegetable juices and fresh juice (i.e. not store-bought)
- go macrobiotic for one week (fish, vegetables, brown rice and fermented foods)
What you might see during a cleanse:- any change to what you take into your body will affect what comes out. Expect to see a change in bowel movements. Watch out for red-coloured urine if you drink beet juice. It's shocking to see but perfectly normal.
- bodily changes such as skin, nails or hair that is less dry or brittle
- a smaller tummy. If you're eating less or different food, you may find that your stomach is smaller and flatter. This is due to either having less in it or less gas production from the elimination of problem foods for you.
- a bigger tummy from more gas. This can be an unpleasant side-effect of eating more vegetables or raw foods in your diet. If you continue to have problems with gas, this means you are having difficulty digesting these foods, due to not chewing your food enough, or you may be lacking in sufficient enzymes or gut bacteria to break down your food properly.
- weight loss. If you greatly reduce your caloric intake, you may see a loss of a few pounds. Unless you continue to eat in the same way, it's likely that all but one or two pounds will return when your diet normalises.
Some important things to remember when doing a cleanse:1.
Take notice of all that you're feeling/thinking and keep a journal. This is the most important thing you can do. We spend so much time cooking/eating/thinking about/cleaning up after food. Often a cleanse means you are eating or preparing less food, and this often frees up lots of time for reflection. Being away from comfort foods also can create a lot of unexpected emotions and it's good to be able to capture this information, as it may tell you a lot about your relationship to food.
2.
Have a buddy or a supporter. It's hard to make a dietary change on your won, especially if you make food for others who may not be as interested in doing a cleanse. Make sure you have people to talk to who support your idea.
3.
Drink lots of water in between meals. This will help you feel more full if you're eating less than usual, but will also make sure you are staying hydrated, help to keep things moving in your system and flush out any toxins.
4.
Eat slowly. If you're going to be eating a lot of vegetables for the first time, make sure you chew well to aid with digestion further down the line. If you're doing a juice cleanse, you will want to drink slowly so your meals don't end in less than 5 minutes.
5.
Don't do a cleanse when you have a lot of social engagements. It's tough to restrict your diet at a party or when eating out, especially as others often see this as a time to indulge in rich foods.
6.
When the cleanse is over, reincorporate the "forbidden foods" slowly into your diet. If you were doing a juice cleanse, slowly start back on eating solids with foods like cooked rice, cooked vegetables or crackers or toast. You may find that you don't want to bring some of the foods you eliminated back into your diet at all.
