Happy Spring!
I love this time of year because the sunshine and the warmer
temps mean that soon it will be really hot! Yay! Spring time also means that I
get the urge to cleanse (also referred to as detox), both my house and my body.
Have you ever felt this way? The heaviness of winter makes way for the
lightness of Spring and Summer and suddenly I realize that a few bad habits
have crept back into my diet. This, in addition to the extra pounds left over from
the winter holidays, means that I am itching to lighten up! The change in
seasons from heavy and dark to light and bright means that spring is a natural
time to cleanse.
There are many different types of cleanses from intense to
mild and I think all of them are great. But, I’m definitely one to take the
desire to lighten up and jump right in with both feet, only to quickly get
completely overwhelmed and fall off the wagon. For example, I made it 1 day
into a 3 day juice cleanse before I begged my husband to help me finish the
remaining 2 days of juice that I had purchased. What is even worse, a few weeks
later I tried again, with the same result! I experienced an even bigger failure
when I tried to do the Master cleanse, which requires you to drink fresh
squeezed lemon juice in water with cayenne pepper and maple syrup for at least
a week. I made it a whopping 3 hours! I have also tried eating only fruit, I
made it 1 ½ days, and a mono diet of kitchari, which is delicious but I still
only lasted one meal. So even though my body craves cleansing, I am obviously
terrible at it! I get so bored eating the same thing all the time and to make
things worse, I turn into a monster when I am hungry.
As you can see, I am notorious for taking on too much and
quickly becoming overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion and extreme anxiety. I
have come to realize that taking a much more moderate approach to habit and
lifestyle changes ultimately leads to greater health and happiness minus the
overwhelm! So this time around, I decided to approach cleansing from a
different angle, one that I could maintain. So I wrote down all of the bad
habits that I had let creep back into my diet. I picked a couple of the worst
offenders and decided to focus on dealing only with these few bad habits. Based
on this goal, I wrote out cleanse guidelines and committed to following these
guidelines for a very short time (for me that was 1 week). Again the goal was
to begin to make small changes without feeling overwhelmed. I wanted this to be
something that was actually achievable for me and would have a positive
influence on my health.
I realized that the key to being successful was to take my
time before beginning to ensure that I had a solid and doable plan. During this
planning phase, I looked at all of the meals that I know how to cook already
and decided which of those meals fit into the scope of my cleanse guidelines. I
organized the meals into a meal planner and stocked up on anything I didn’t
currently have in the house. Picking familiar meals and foods helped me stay
sane and within my comfort zone and I didn’t have to buy any strange
ingredients or try out new recipes. As a bonus I already knew that I loved
everything that I would be eating during my cleanse, which helped prevent
falling off the wagon!
And you know what? It worked! I completed a cleanse for the
first time ever! And I feel amazing!
So if you are feeling the pull of springtime to lighten up,
then I hope you will check out the workbook, called The
“I don’t have time to cleanse.” Spring Cleanse, at the link below. The workbook contains
the exact steps that I took to help me decide how to set up my perfect,
personal cleanse that was stress-free, overwhelm-proof, and easy. It is perfect
if you want to let go of any bad habits but don’t have a ton of time or a
strong desire to do an intense cleanse. And remember, the cleanse does not need
to focus on food. This is also a good time to start a meditation practice or
train for a 5k. The cleanse can be whatever you feel will help you receive more
lightness and joy as we move into the lovely heat of summer. Let me know how it
goes!
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