Last week I embarked on a Spring Cleaning for My Body. I cut out wheat, processed food, and refined sugar. And despite my love of cheese (seriously, how does one live without an occasional brie?), I have cut way back on dairy. Because of just these changes, I've seen some remarkable improvements.
First off, I dropped 6 lbs in two weeks. I've also seen a marked decrease in joint/muscle pain. I've had less headaches (even though I expected more during this detox). And best of all I've had more energy. For the first time in almost two years, I have been able to exercise. And best of all, after exercise I'm not in horrific pain, nor am I completely depleted the next day.
During this time, I've been taking time to sit in the sun and soak up Vitamin D. I've loaded up on my vitamins and am using a protein shake mid-day to make sure I am getting all the essential nutrients (including fiber, omega 3s, antioxidants, and probiotics) that my tired/achey still-healing body needs and deserves.
I've also been tracking my progress using myfitnesspal app which allowed me to see the truth about what I was eating each day. I kept insisting I wasn't overeating and was eating healthy. Truth is, I am and was eating fairly healthy meals, but was doing a lot of snacking in between meals, grabbing a couple of cookies or piece of candy here or a handful of potato chips there, that unbeknownst to me was adding up quickly in empty calories and carbs. Now I'm snacking mostly on popcorn or fruit or veggies, and not sabotaging my diet or health.
Some days I wish my body wasn't so sensitive to processed food and I could just indulge myself like others, without having to be so strict in my diet. I used to enjoy going out to eat and the ease of ordering takeout when I didn't have the strength to think about meal preparation. But truth is, right now, my body is still healing and needs to be indulged with the better things in life, and handled with care. I am trying to avoid sugar/gluten hangovers as much as possible.
Of course, a year ago, none of this was possible. I didn't have the energy to track my diet, or prepare healthy meals, or take trips to Whole Foods. No matter how many times I tried to exercise, it always ended in disaster, with me in intolerable pain. I was chronically fatigued, my Epstein Barr levels showing activation in my body (a long with a couple other nasty viruses), so that nothing I did or tried worked. It has taken twelve months of diligent healing to get to this point where I can actually make healthy lifestyle choices and not feel worse for it.
It has been a long road, but I am starting to feel human again. And that makes saying goodbye to ice cream and pizza worth it.
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