Check out part 2 of Becky’s journey on the Conscious Cleanse. Her story is a powerful testimonial to what “clean eating” for just a few days can reveal. Enjoy and let us know your feedback and thoughts in the comment section below. We would love to hear if you’ve ever experienced anything like this.
As part of the Conscious Cleanse it is my job to become an investigator of my body and its reactions to certain foods. In short, it’s about becoming conscious of how I feel inside and out both physically and emotionally. This go around, I decided to use the transition week (the 5 days before the cleanse) to get a jump start on giving up my caffeine and sugar addictions.
Day 1 was easy. Day 2, I missed them, but it wasn’t unbearable. And by day 3 I felt that I was pretty much done with coffee and sugar – at least for next few weeks.
So there I was on day 5 feeling great. I had been eating well all week, not drinking coffee, alcohol or eating any sugar. The problem was I was about to embark on a 2-day long party for my 20-year high school reunion. I know things will always come up in life and that the key to being healthy is not making excuses for what life puts in your way. However, that being said, I knewI was about to reintroduce some “bad” habits and I choose to do so consciously.
Just before heading out on Friday night I made my first conscious decision. It was about 4 pm and I knew that if I was going to stay up late for the festivities, I was going to need some coffee. To my defense, I have a 10 month old daughter so I have been in the habit of turning in by 9:30 pm most nights.
To fast forward, on Friday night I ended up having a great time! I also had another cup of coffee and 2 jack and diet cokes. As an appetizer I indulged and had a couple of chicken fingers, 1 onion ring, and 2 fried mushrooms, all dipped in ranch dressing, and all delicious by the way. My entrée was a big salad. I drank about 10 glasses of water because I was driving home and wanted to wash away all the crap I had eaten. See…I was conscious about it.
What happened next was nothing short of shocking.
The next day I woke up at 6:30 am and for the next 12 hours I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed. I typically have horrible seasonal allergies so I am very aware of what it is like to have an allergy attack and I was definitely having one. I showered and left the house blaming my parents for their down pillows and dust mite air conditioner. The sneezing didn’t stop no matter what I did. I took allergy medicine and showered again and nothing helped.
By 5 pm I was not sneezing as much but still had a runny nose. Still feeling pretty awful, I started to wonder if I had a cold. Feeling completely wiped out, I drank a bunch of water and reluctantly dragged myself to the reunion.
The next day I woke up with no voice, still feeling crappy. Later on that afternoon, somewhat abruptly, it was as though the fog started to lift. Did I just have a massive allergy attack to plethora of foods I ingested in my squeaky clean system? Did I shock my body? Or did I just have a 24 hour cold? Is there such a thing?
What I know for sure, is that my body was really pissed off at me for cleaning it up and then basically dragging it down a sewer of hell in such a short window of time. It was too much and I’m left wondering how does that type of food really affect me when I’m not paying attention? Have I been missing the obvious signs and symptoms all this time?
I am happy to say that I am back on track with the Conscious Cleanse. Thank goodness that high school reunions only come around once every 10 to 20 years. In the meantime, I am curious to see how my allergies are over the next 2 weeks and when I introduce items back into my diet, if I have any allergy attacks. What did my body not like? I guess we will find out in a few weeks! Stay tuned!
