I have spent the summer struggling with a lot of fatigue as well as a really low level of willpower. It’s a dangerous combination if you want to feel good!  I decided after a trip to the Okanagan that enough was enough. So I decided to do a cleanse.

Cleanses are pretty popular (and heavily marketed) these days. There’s everything under the sun it seems to promote cleaning out oneself from the inside.  My goal was to simply return to my healthy dietary choices, focus on stress reduction and boost my energy. Since I didn’t want to engage the services of my naturopath for this, I decided to opt out of taking any herbal medicines and instead just focus on cleansing through healthy food choices.  I lined myself up for the food choices promoted by the Wild Rose Cleanse, a long-revered cleanse in Canada. It seemed a reasonable goal, not too overly strict but still strict enough to likely help out my body. I likely didn’t follow all the instructions exactly, but here’s how I generally chose to eat:

The details essentially of the diet were that I stop eating:

• white rice
• vinegars
• sugar
• alcohol
• wheat
• dairy
• meat (except fish)

It was to last for 12 days and it also included that I only drink a maximum of two cups of coffee a day. I managed 10 solid days. I quit one day early and had a beer the second to last day.  So in other words, I wasn’t that successful.

It wasn’t actually as difficult as I would have expected.  I thought that I would especially struggle with avoiding sugar.  Much to my surprise though the cravings weren’t that horrible. Mind you, I was able to eat vegetables like carrots and tomatoes, which have high amounts of natural sugars.  I did spend a lot of time cooking during this time frame as well, and when it came to eating out, I pretty much had to opt out.

But I have to tell you: my energy and mood soared.  It fell back down as soon as I returned to eating everything on the do not eat list (except dairy, as I am not supposed to eat that no matter what).

As a result, I have some investigating to do. What is it in my diet that is making me so tired and more moody?  The cleanse itself definitely helped me get back in line with some healthier eating habits, so I haven’t been bingeing on sugar or other items from the previously restricted list. All the same, there’s something definitely learned through this cleanse and now it’s time to start tracking my exhaustion and food choices more closely!