spring cleanse for busy bees
It’s Easter Friday. I woke up exhausted- I’m in the midst of babysitting a pug and he’s been insane, but I’ve also been stressed about life in general lately and the changes that Spring seems to often bring for me.
I woke up, looked in the mirror, noticed a flaky scalp and new breakouts, and then decided despite being stressed and busy right now - I’m going to embark on an easy ten day cleanse. Everything external extends from internal factors - be it emotions, gut health, or energy. Of course, our external factors - like life changes, toxins, environment also play a huge role. (My belief is that external factors show up to heal internal ones, but that’s another post.)
So, I figured, with my roommate away and a new season upon us, I wanted to showcase a very easy and gentle cleanse that’s also effective for clearing skin, aiding with gut health, and improving sleep and energy levels. Will I still be drinking coffee a bit? Yes. But I will be opting for green tea, matcha, and other forms of energy.
So the basics - sugar, alcohol, refined grains - those are all OUT. What’s IN are- veggies, low sugar fruits, organic teas, coconut bread (fibre), eggs, chicken, beef, tofu. Incorporating low glycemic foods, lots of protein, and clean sources of fuel - this is how we can reduce inflammation, candida, and bad bacteria, while increasing tissue repair, sleep quality, hormone function, etc. While a ten day gentle cleanse won’t fix all of your health issues, it can give you a sneak peak into feeling better. Of course, there are myriads of factors affecting your health, and that could be where a wellness session with me comes in.
Supplements: In the past few years I’ve decreased my supplements, but I will be taking a food based multi vitamin, and a food based iron. In a week, I will introduce a a parasite supplement for killing bugs - “Parasite Purge”. But that’s it for supplements.
For extra detox support, I would recommend adding milk thistle, probiotics, and alpha lipoic acid or NAC (potent antioxidants that help with detox and liver health)
Day 1 -
I wake up craving English Tea and Scones - I look in the mirror, my scalp is flaky. This is the day to start a detox.
I look in my fridge. Shit. I’ve got some organic tofu, avocado, and unsweetened almond milk. Perfect. This is a quasi breakfast - low sugar, high ish protein. Matcha latte, sauteed tofu, and a chopped avocado.
Lunch. Half Chicken Breast, Avocado, Sparkling Water with Grapefruit Essence. Americano with Splash Oat Milk.
Dinner: Other half chicken breast, two eggs, spinach, chopped red pepper.
Day 2
Breakfast - Giant Matcha with Unsweetened Almond Milk, 2 baked sweet potatoes w grass fed butter, 2 eggs.
Lunch - Hummus, baby carrots, sliced red pepper.
Dinner - Large Bowl of Vegan Organic Chilli
Snack - Cashews and Dried Mango (oops sugar, but all good)
Day 3
Breakfast - 1/2 cup grass fed yogurt, nuts and seeds mix, frozen berries. Giant Matcha with unsweetened almond milk.
Snack - Nuts and seeds mix. Low Sugar Protein Bar.
Lunch- Scrambled Eggs, Potatoes, Side Salad. Coffee with Oat Milk.
Dinner - Salad From Turf
Dessert: Grass fed Yogurt and mixed nuts, seeds, goji berries.
Snack: Organic Popcorn with Grass fed Butter.
Day 4
Breakfast - Protein Smoothie with berries and unsweetened almond milk.
Snack: Vegan Protein Bar, Coffee w Oat Milk.
Lunch- Scrambled Eggs with chopped veggies, olive oil. Giant Matcha w unsweetened almond milk.
Dinner - Burger, No Bun. Side Salad.
Snack - Keto Chocolate Almond Bites
Day 5
Late Brunch- 3 eggs, chopped kale and veggies cooked in olive oil. Jasmine Tea
Snack - Coffee with Oat Milk, Keto Chocolate Almond Bites
Dinner - Cooked Broccoli, carrots, potatoes, red peppers, huge scoops of hummus.
Day 6
Breakfast - 2 Free Ranges Eggs, Grassfed Butter, Almond Flax Bread. Coffee with Oat Milk. Introducing “Parasite Purge”.
Lunch - Half Chicken Breast, Cooked Red Pepper, Baked Sweet Potato. Matcha with unsweetened Oat Milk.
Dinner - Half Chicken Breast, Cooked Red Pepper, Piece of Almond Flax Bread w Grass fed Butter
Snack - Spicey Cashews
Day 7
Breakfast - 2 Eggs, Almond Flax Bread, Coffee with Oat Milk
Snack - Vegan Protein Bar
Lunch - 2 Eggs, Bacon, Side Salad, Potatoes, Gf Toast (oopsies)
Snack - Dried Organic Mango
Dinner - Tofu, Veggies, and Garlic Sauce
Day 8
Breakfast - 2 Eggs, Almond Flax Bread, Coffee with Oat Milk
Lunch - Smoothie and chicken & veggie soup. (Post Dentist)
Dinner - Cooked Veggies and Tofu
Desert - Keto Chocolate Cupcake
Day 9
Breakfast - 2 Eggs, Spinach, Avocado, Coffee with Oat Milk
Snack - Low Sugar Vegan Protein Bar
Lunch - 2 Eggs, Potato, Avocado, Bacon, Side Salad
Dinner - Tofu, Broccoli. 1 piece of gluten free pizza (oops)
Dessert - Chocolate Keto Cupcake
Day 10
Breakfast - Mixed Berry Smoothie. Coffee with Oat Milk.
Lunch - Spinach, Scrambled Eggs, Avocado.
Snack - Spicy Cashews
Dinner -You guys… I officially ended my “cleanse”. I ordered a cauliflower crust pizza and ate the whole damn thing.
Summary - It was easy to avoid refined sugar on the go as there are a lot of no sugar/low sugar options out there. A tough one for me, was that I wasn’t actually cooking very much, so a lot of my meals looked like a toddler threw them together. I had gf toast once, which is not cleanse friendly (as well as the pizza-oops) as it basically just turns to sugar. Otherwise - If I was to take this up a notch, I would cut down on coffee, replacing it with green tea and then completely avoid sugary fruits such as mango, etc. But otherwise, for a busy gal, this wasn’t bad. The rash I had cleared up, and my bloating went away.