After three days of hard-core, all-raw, all-natural body cleansing, Joshua and I fell through the cracks. We both worked every day and cared for our son while we weren't at work. We went from eating crap and lots of it, to cutting our caloric intake in half. We were exhausted, and both experiencing headaches, weakness, and dizziness. We both work in hospitals so working under these conditions were not safe, to say the least. We finally decided...maybe we had went a little to far with our commitment. So, instead of delving straight into a cleanse and then going on a diet, we decided we should probably diet first - change our eating habits and slowly work towards lowering our calories and eating cleaner - then we could take on a 5-day cleanse without as many of the adverse repercussions.
A friend of mine has turned me onto the Paleo diet. It is basically a hunter-gatherer lifestyle diet. Paleo is short for "paleolithic" which was an era before processed foods existed. The idea of this diet is to cut out anything that you could not make, grow, or hunt yourself. You can still have meat and all the fruits and veggies your little heart desires - just no bread, pasta, or things that involve being processed.
We are going to begin this diet by educating ourselves on the exact do's and don'ts involved in the Paleo diet. I am getting a book called It Starts With Food which is basically a 30-day, clean-eating, paleo diet. It talks about all of the benefits of going paleo and how it can affect all sorts of ailments without the use of modern-medicines. Granted, I work in healthcare, I obviously believe in seeking treatment for your issues, but I also like to explore all of my options in the realm of natural-remedies before seeking more drastic, medical treatment.
I am looking forward to trying out the new paleo recipes I've been finding on Pinterest! And, although I am sad that Josh and I failed to complete our cleanse, I also realize that our bodies can only take so much change. Moving toward living a healthier lifestyle is not something you can dive into blindly. It takes more of a slow approach - at least for me - in order to be successful. I'm still determined to succeed on my quest to lose this last 20lbs. I just plan to take a more logical, healthier approach this time!
