I did a three day cleanse last week. I had smoothies for breakfast, liver cleansing salads for lunch, and gentle soups for dinner. All for the sake of giving my digestive system and organs a rest and getting my hormones back on track. The hardest part was not snacking, staying away from chocolate, and not eating 3 hours before bed. After falling asleep with chocolate in my mouth last week, I knew I would benefit from pressing the reset button.
Liver Cleansing Salad
I realized a few things. I really do need snacks. Every body is different, and some work better with just three meals vs. five smaller ones. I realized I really do need something at 4:00. The thing is I often have something at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, all the way up until dinner, and then after until bedtime.
Lightbulb! When you can’t engage in your normal patterns, you are then able to actually realize what they are and why they exist. It’s nice to take a break so you can take a look.
Then this happened. On the fourth day, I found myself at the table scarfing a tray of middle eastern delicacies. Dipping countless pita chips into the various dips like there was no tomorrow. Red wine sandwiched my bites, and then cheesecake and chocolate espresso cake completed the feast.
Nice easy way to exit the cleanse right? Alcohol, sugar, dairy, bread, the works. Those certainly weren’t the perfect foods to ease my body back into normalcy, but this issue wasn’t about what I was eating. It was how I was eating – out of control, like there was no tomorrow, like this was my least meal.
While I was so in control for those previous three days I swung the pendulum far over to one side, that it had no other choice but to swing as far over on the other side to balance it out. Exhausting and informative. The cleanse, and the post cleanse is not the place for me to be regularly – on one side or the other.
But rather the ability to find the middle, the ease the exists there. This place is enjoyable and you could stay there for a while rather than dancing on these extreme edges. Finding the choices that keep you as close to the center as possible. This is why dieting doesn’t work long term. Instead of quick fixes, it is about finding a lifestyle that is supportive to meet your health and wellness needs.
So be gentle, get curious, and tune into what your body needs to stay in the middle. The point requiring the least amount of energy to be and function in.
If you’d like to add a little liver cleanse into your daily routine – without swinging from one side to the other try out above picture: Kale + Fennel + Red Onion + Lemon juice and salt + topped with olive oil before you serve. Nicely paired with quinoa + salmon.